Forget 二塁打-glazing or solar パネル盤s, you can make 抱擁する 貯金 by blitzing limescale

By Richard Dyson, 財政上の Mail on Sunday

Updated: 10:04 BST, 4 March 2013

Keeping warm: Homeowner Charles 英貨の／純銀の with his dog Bristle

The 政府’s 議論の的になる Green 取引，協定, which 許すs homeowners to borrow to 改善する home energy efficiency, has 焦点（を合わせる）d on expensive 選択s such as 二塁打-glazing or solar パネル盤s. But what about easier, cheaper choices? One that receives little publicity but can bring 劇の 貯金, is cutting limescale in water systems.

Plumbers and engineers have long known about the 損失 and costs 原因（となる）d by limescale ? calcium carbonate deposits that form when water is heated ? but water 供給者s, housebuilders and homeowners are only now waking up to the 貯金.

Calcium leve ls 変化させる by 地域.

概して, 所有物／資産／財産s east of a line between 物陰／風下d and Southampton are 分類するd as having ‘hard to very hard’ water with high calcium.

Only Cornwall, western areas of むちの跡s and parts of Scotland have ‘soft or moderately soft’ water.

In ‘hard’ areas, homeowners will 定期的に need to clean deposits from showerheads, kettles, dishwashers and other 器具s.

But the more serious 損失 is harder to see and 除去する.

Of the 普通の／平均（する） home’s total 年次の energy 消費 ? 23,000 KWh and costing £1,250 ? the 政府 見積（る）s that 84 per cent goes on heating. Much of this 伴う／関わるs heating water to use 直接／まっすぐに and to fill central heating systems.

Limescale on boiler elements and in 麻薬を吸うs 徹底的に 減ずるs the efficiency of a heating system or even 難破させるs pumps and other 器具／備品.

The 炭素 信用, which advises on energy efficiency, calculates that every millimetre of limescale on

a boiler’s element 上げるs energy 消費 by seven per cent. Limescale builds in hard water 条件s at about 1mm a year.

研究 by the University of Plymouth 設立する that a boiler with no limescale took 90 minutes a day to 供給（する） the 普通の／平均（する） home’s hot water, while a boiler with 5mm of 規模 took more than four hours. With 10mm of 規模, this rose to more than six hours, 追加するing hundreds of 続けざまに猛撃するs to a 世帯’s 年次の gas 法案.

In 2006, the 政府 要求するd new homes in hard water 地域s to have water softeners 任命する／導入するd. Several 地元の 当局 are now putting them in during 会議 所有物／資産／財産 refits.

There are two major ways of 扱う／治療するing hard water. 伝統的な systems, known as ‘イオン 交流’ softeners, introduce salt to the water as it flows into the 所有物／資産／財産, offsetting the 影響 of the calcium.

These systems （問題を）取り上げる 重要な space, cost from about £300 and 要求する 時折の refilling with salt at about £30 a year.

The advantages are that the water is noticeably ‘better’, with 使用者s 報告（する）／憶測ing easier lathering and いっそう少なく detergent residue on 着せる／賦与するs. Many 報告（する）／憶測 改良s in 肌 条件s such as eczema.

Other systems rely on electric fields 生成するd in coils of wire on the 供給（する） 麻薬を吸う. The field alters the structure of the calcium and 妨げるs it 蓄積するing, it is （人命などを）奪う，主張するd. Instead of a hard limescale, a powdery dust appears that is easily 除去するd.

消費者 group Which? says: ‘Electric and 磁石の 治療s have little 科学の 証拠 to support their 有効性.’ But such systems are ますます used in 商売／仕事 前提s and homes, with growing numbers of 満足させるd 顧客s. The advantages are low cost ? as little as £100 ? and simple DIY 取り付け・設備.

Thames Water is 促進するing two softeners to its 14?million 顧客s, 含むing the electronic 急速な／放蕩な Systems Scaleguard 部隊 at £118. The electricity to 力／強力にする it costs just £5 a year.