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Cooling towers are notorious for growing things; especially microscopic things? They are warm and moist. They have areas that get a lot of sunlight and other areas that kept fairly dark. Whether it's algae or bacteria, it's no wonder that cooling towers provide the perfect environment for all kinds of little organisms to proliferate. In fact, an improperly treated cooling tower can act like a giant Petri dish.
So what's a couple hundred million microscope critters living in your tower mean anyway? It's not such a big deal, right? A little bleach will keep them at bay, right?
WRONG!
The truth is that those little organisms can be much more of a liability than you think. Most facility operation managers are well versed in or have at least heard of the dangers of waterborne pathogens, like legionella, emanating from their cooling towers; it is why most facility managers find water treatment companies that provide water treatment services for their main water systems. While legionella presents a worst case scenario, it is not the only bug that can cause major operational issues in a cooling tower, and is why proper tower water treatment is so important to the overall operational health of a cooling tower system.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you haven?t heard yet, ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188-2015, Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems was recently released and it has major potential impacts on how building owners need to think about legionella in their water systems. Click this link if you would like read our previous post about Legionella and ASHRAE Standard 188.
Almost all bacteria have one thing in common... they really, really, really want to live! And they will do whatever they can to protect themselves. One of the clever things they do, especially in water, is to band together and produce a slimy matrix that covers them while they breed and grow. This material is actually quite resistant to most biocides. It is technically called biofilm, but many people also refer to it as bioslime (because hey, it?s slimey!) and if you have it in your tower, you probably have other issues.
One thing about bioslime that many people do not realize is that it acts as an incredibly good insulator. When you get bioslime on an active heat transfer surface, like on inside surfaces of the tubes of a chiller, it becomes harder and harder to produce chilling. In fact, a bioslime layer that is less than one fifth of one millimeter thick can impede heat transfer by more than 10%! That means that you will have to use more energy to produce the proper levels of cooling. In a larger chiller system that could mean tens of thousands of dollars in wasted energy... all because of a little slime in the towers.
Water Treatment Fun Fact: There are no issues with bioslime in boiler water treatment. The heat inside a boiler is typically way too hot to allow biological growth. The kind of issues that plague boilers are usually scale and/or corrosion related.
Check out this short video to see what bioslime is all about:
So what should I do about bioslime in my cooling tower?
The most important thing you can do is keep your cooling tower clean and make sure that your water treatment professional is aware of any issues that you see. Sometime it might not seem like you have a problem, but the best way to tell in not with your eyes. Even if the water looks completely clear, put on a rubber glove and run your hand over part list of polymers the cooling tower basin. If the basin feels "slick" or "slimy" you almost certainly have bioslime in your tower.
Options for removing bioslime vary from system to system, but it is almost always a good idea to get your water treatment professional involved and possible even employ the help of a reputable HVAC Cleaning company. Ongoing proper water treatment is the only way to prevent bioslime from ever forming. Your water treatment service provider should be able to describe their methods for keeping biological growth under control in your cooling tower.
Current industry standards dictate the use of a three chemistry system for cooling towers:
An oxidizing biocide ? kills microorganisms by destroying their cell walls and oxidizing protein within the organism. Chlorine is an example of an oxidizing biocide.
A non-oxidizing biocide ? kills by ways other than oxidation, including interference with cell metabolism and structure; more like a poison. DBNPA and isothiazoline are non-oxidizing biocides.
A corrosion inhibitor ? provides protection to the metal surfaces against corrosion. Especially helps counteract the corrosive properties of the oxidizing biocide.
This standard water treatment protocol for cooling towers is often referred to as a ?dual biocide program?? because to the two biocides used, and it is still considered the best defense against microbiological growth in a cooling tower.
The latest advancements that have been made in the standard dual alternating biocide program doesn?t actually change the chemistry much at all, but instead changes the way in which those chemicals are fed into the cooling tower system. Most water treatment companies rely on liquid chemicals which are pumped into the open condenser system via chemical metering pumps. Up until now, the benefit to this type of system was precise control over the dosage rates of each chemical via highly calibrated, electronic metered pumps.
Today, there are highly improved solid feed delivery systems that use dry chemistry to achieve the same level of control without the headaches and safety issues of liquid chemistry. These newer types of solid feed systems, like EcoSafe Solid Feed System powered by Smart Release, have all but completely revolutionized the way that we treat cooling towers today.
If you would like more information about what to do if you have bioslime in your cooling tower, please do not hesitate to call us! If you would like to learn more about how to navigate the new ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 188 and implement its core philosophies throughout your facilities, please follow the link below to our brief questionnaire.
Thanks for reading!
ABOUT CLARITY WATER TECHNOLOGIES
Clarity Water Technologies is known throughout the east coast as an innovative industrial/commercial water treatment company. To put it simply: We make commercial HVAC and industrial process machinery last longer and run more efficiently, with less fuel and less downtime, by chemically treating the water that runs through it. Typical systems that we treat include steam boilers, chillers and cooling towers; however, we also offer advanced wastewater, glycol services, odor control and fuel treatment services. We are one of Northeast?s most trusted Legionella remediation companies and are widely accepted as one of the best consulting firms to establish best practices for the implementation of ASHRAE Standard 188 - Legionellosis: Risk Management for Building Water Systems.
As water treatment experts, we know that chemical treatment is only part of what makes a mechanical system operate at peak performance. The other part of the equation is proper physical cleaning and maintenance. Today, Clarity offers one of the most reliable and effective HVAC cleaning services available throughout NY, NJ, CT, DE and PA. Clarity is a NADCA Certified HVAC Cleaning Service Company. Over and above physical equipment cleaning services, our team also offers iron removal, on-line cleanings, chlorine dioxide disinfection, Legionella remediation and the installation of the EcoSAFE Solid Feed System?one of the most advanced water treatment systems for Cooling Towers in the world! Call us today for a free estimate on your next project or click the link above for more information.
New York City Water Treatment Consultant, Greg Frazier is an expert in Industrial Water Treatment and is currently the Managing Partner of Clarity Water Technologies, one of the best Water Treatment and HVAC Cleaning Companies in the North Atlantic Region of United States. Mr. Frazier has over 19 years of Industrial Water Treatment experience and holds a degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Tennessee. Clarity Water Technologies specializes in comprehensive water treatment services. Clarity's service goes far beyond administering Cooling Tower Water Treatment chemicals - it also includes Cooling Tower Maintenance and HVAC Cleaning Services.
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The best pre-treatment for water is a matter of what?s required of the water. If you?re intending to release it back into the environment, there are laws and standards to attend, and for other destinations or applications, water will have differing properties. The means by which you want pre-treatment applied to your water should be the best process by which the most desirable water is achieved.
Many water companies provide filters or resins for pretreatment, though this can be regarded as an incomplete approach. Any business or institution that?s going to invest in an ideal form of water pre-treatment would benefit from consulting experts to evaluate whether or not the apparatus in place is ideal. Often, they can be improved upon, as water technology is an active science.
If a water company is going to offer you pre-treatment water solutions, you would be best served by one that offers solutions that include optimizing your existing apparatus. An engineer with a background in water technology is what?s required here. If your existing apparatus proves to be ideal for the task at hand, that?s valuable information. So is knowing about the areas of opportunity in your system as explained by a seasoned professional.
If you?re in Etobicoke, polymer supplier Ontario, or in the surrounding areas, and you have a pre-treatment water process that requires attention, we at Ion Water Solutions can offer comprehensive assistance. With our backgrounds in chemistry and engineering, we offer holistic solutions to water technology issues so that your pre-treatment process will be ideal.
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Selecting the right metering pump is an essential step in the development of a water treatment program. A common question asked of the Technical Team is: ?What size pump or flow rate, do I need for dosing a certain application???
The first formula example will be sizing a pump for continuous flow applications while feeding AquaTrol C-2712 (Note: C-2712 is 12.5% Chlorine which is equal to 125,000 PPM)
System flow rate: 50 GPM
Feed: 4 PPM of AquaTrol C-2712
50 GPM x 4 PPM x 1440 Minutes / 125,000 PPM = 4.6 gallons per day (GPD)
It is also important to know the backpressure (working pressure) of the system the product is fed into in order to properly determine the pump?s pressure rating. The pump needed for the application must have a higher pressure rating than the working pressure of the system ? otherwise, chemical injection will not be accomplished.
Let?s say that the system pressure is 80 psi ? now we know that we need a pump that will pump at least 5 gallons per day against 80 psi. In order to allow for the dosage rate to be increased we should size the pump for 10 to 14 gallons per day against 100 psi.
Momar?s AquaTrol Division distributes Advantage, LMI, Pulsafeeder, and Walchem pumps. Please contact your local AquaTrol Sales/Services Representative or contact Momar for the appropriate pump for your application.
The next formula example will be sizing a pump for a contacting head water meter (pulse output) feeding the same concentration of AquaTrol C-2712 (4 PPM) with the same flow rate (50 GPM). Here, the same principles come into play. You will need to know the following:
System pump output rate: 50 GPM flow rate
Required dosage: 4 PPM
Solution strength: 125,000 PPM
Water meter rating: 1 GPC (gallon per contact)
This is basically a three step calculation:
Chemical injection GPM = 50 x 4/ 125,000 = .0016
(Where: 50 = flow in GPM, 4 = dosage, 125,000 = solution strength)
Contacts per minute from meter in strokes per minute (SPM) = 50/ 1 = 50
(Where: 50 = flow in GPM, 1 = gallons per contact rating of water meter)
**Note: The SPM (strokes per minute) cannot exceed 125
Pump rated output in GPD (gallons per day) = .0016/50 x 125 x 1440 = 5.76 GPD
(Where: .0016 = chemical injection GPM. 50 = contacts per minute from water meter. 125 = MAX Strokes per minute of the metering pump and 1440 is the total minutes in a day)
It is typically recommended to oversize the pump from the formula by multiplying the result by 2. For this application we would use a 12 GPD pump. As in the first example, we need to determine the pressure we need to pump against for a final pump selection.
With these calculations as a tool, DADMAC (https://www.iropolymer.com) you can use them for any solution strength, required dosage, system flow rate and contacts per gallon.
To get in touch with an AquaTrol Representative call 800-556-3967 or fill out our contact form.
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Water technology companies that don?t take your apparatus into account are not offering you a full range of possibilities with regard to your ideal system. Some companies may specialize in filters while other specialize in resins and from there they will try to provide you with an acceptable solution. However, this not an answer that takes everything into account. Some changes to the apparatus may improve how everything flows while being cost-effective. This is an aspect to water technology which should interest anyone seeking water solutions that work better and save money.
If you?re searching among water technology companies for a project in Etobicoke, Ontario or the surrounding areas, think of us at Ion Water Solutions. We pride ourselves on offering a holistic approach to water solutions, taking into account the water and the apparatus as well. With our backgrounds in chemistry and engineering, dadmac polymer we offer an opportunity for a business or institution that?s looking for water solutions. A free survey is available for those that want their water optimization to be comprehensive, so call us today.
