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Welcome To Waterwide WATERWIDE is a wholly owned private British company specialising in the supply of chemicals, technical service and support to the Industrial Water Treatment market.
Waterwide covers the whole of the UKWith the head office based in the heart of the Midlands, WATERWIDE operates throughout the UK looking after water quality for a wide variety of clients. Waterwide is a highly innovative, forward looking company which makes best use of all the latest technology, both in the field and at head office. All of our professional engineers are highly trained and technically competent in their own right. Head office provides additional support in specialised areas. Our philosophy is to develop a long term working relationship with all of our clients providing them with the best water treatment products and the highest standards of technical service available.  ServicesSome of the services we provide include:-
Current Newsletter - Watch this space for updatesBoiler Water TreatmentClick here for the full newsletter. Hover over the red text for a definition
Make up water is usually pre-treated to remove some of the scale forming ions. To do this a base exchange softener is usually used. This takes calcium and magnesium out of the water and replaces it with non scale forming sodium ions. This softened make up water and condensate return make up the boiler feed water. There are several problems which can occur within a boiler system. The major problems are; scale and sludge deposition, corrosion and boiler water carryover. If left untreated these problems can in extreme cases cause steam boilers to explode and it is for this reason that standards have arisen on how to treat and maintain boiler systems. Waterwide works to BS2486 which specifies the chemical conditions required to be maintained in the boiler water to avoid scale and corrosion and to ensure that the steam produced is pure and dry.
Much of the calcium carbonate is removed from the make up water by the base-exchange softener but some hardness may remain. The water should be regularly tested as boilers cannot tolerate large amounts of scale (BS2486). Other compounds may remain dissolved even under high temperatures and pressures (eg. calcium sulphate) until the point of saturation when they precipitate out as suspended solids. These solids can bake onto heat transfer surfaces and affect efficiency. The solids can be conditioned with the use of phosphate and polymers which create an amorphous sludge which can be removed through blowdown. There are many types of corrosion that can occur in a boiler. Two common types are oxygen corrosion and carbon dioxide corrosion. All natural water contains oxygen. This dissolved oxygen can cause oxygen pitting but can be removed using an oxygen scavenger which absorbs the oxygen from the water. The gas carbon dioxide can also be dissolved in water and can be neutralised using Amines. Boiler water carryover is where water droplets are carried over into the steam line thus creating wet steam. Wet steam has less energy and introduces impurities into the condensate return and thus the boiler feed water. Carryover can occur when the boiler pressure reduces or when the water in a boiler foams. It is important, therefore, that boiler pressure is maintained and that foaming is minimised. Foaming can be caused by a high alkalinity in the boiler water (a boiler should maintain alkalinity between >350ppm P alkalinity and <1250ppm total alkalinity - BS2486). High alkalinity is caused primarily by a high level of dissolved solids. Controlling dissolved solids should serve to maintain alkalinity within the BS2486 guidelines. Waterwide supply boiler water treatment chemicals for use as part of a boiler’s ongoing treatment regime. If you require further details, please contact us.
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A boiler is like an industrial pressure cooker. A sealed cylinder containing water is heated up by burning gas or oil. Steam is driven off through a regulating valve in the boiler and used to heat up a process or application on the site. As steam is pure water vapour, the boiler content is maintained and replenished with more water called feed water. The steam once used in the application is either lost or is condensed and returned to the boiler plant. This is called condensate and has no solids dissolved in it. Even in the most efficient plant however, it is not possible to recover all the steam as condensate thus the condensate has to be added to in order to maintain the boiler water level. This water is called make up.
Scale and sludge deposition are the result of the precipitation of compounds that are no longer soluble. Calcium carbonate (chalk or limestone) is one of the most common of these compounds. When water dissolves calcium carbonate, calcium bicarbonate is formed. When this solution is exposed to heat, as in a boiler, the calcium carbonate re-precipitates out and forms a scale within the boiler.