Your boiler deals with high levels of water pressure. Pressurized water can be dangerous if you don’t know how to handle it, and in some systems it can endanger you and your family. With a boiler expansion tank, you reduce the amount of pressure in your boiler and pipes.
There are different types of expansion tanks, but each of them have the same purpose: to reduce water pressure from dangerous levels and keep you safe. It’s time to learn if a boiler expansion tank is right for your home.
What Expansion Tanks Do for Your Home
Your home plumbing is supposed to have some level of water pressure. Otherwise your faucets wouldn’t run the way they do. At a certain point, water pressure becomes dangerous. Expansion tanks help alleviate pressure that builds inside of your pipes as hot water expands.
With most expansion tanks, one side of the tank has pressurized air. The other side contains water. As hot water enters the tank, the pressure inside increases the psi of the air while letting water flow in to account for thermal expansion. It’s like giving your water boiler a lung to breathe out pressure.
Average Cost of an Expansion Tank
This varies depending on the size of the expansion tank you require, which will in turn depend on the boiler you have in your home. Thankfully expansion tanks are not a very expensive addition to your boiler and are not hard to maintain.
While they aren’t expensive, they are specific. If you notice that your home’s water pressure reaches high levels, it’s best to have a plumber inspect your boiler and determine which expansion tank brand and size will work best based on your current needs.
Boiler Expansion Tank Maintenance
Your boiler expansion tank is a fairly straightforward piece of equipment. Water is normally stored in the top-half of the tank. If you touch the outside of it, the top should be warm but not too hot to touch. Exercise caution when testing this out.
If the expansion tank feels warm on the top and not on the bottom, it’s working as intended. If it feels burning hot to the touch, it may have failed. If you can feel that same heat in the bottom half of the tank, that’s another indication that it failed.
Depending on the damage, most boiler expansion tanks can be repaired. Due to their relatively cheap cost, many homeowners opt to simply replace one if it fails. Your plumber may also make this suggestion.
Optimize Your Boiler, Improve Your Safety
Now that you know what a boiler expansion tank does, it’s time to discuss whether or not it makes sense for your home. If you have a closed water system you not only benefit from a boiler expansion tank; you need one to keep your family and your home safe. You put less stress on your system and your state of mind with a boiler expansion tank.
Contact us today to keep your boiler running throughout the year with maintenance and replacements.