Reducing Water Costs in Building HVAC Systems

  • 5 avril 2022
  • Author: Chem-Aqua, Inc
  • Number of views: 4200
  • 0 Comments
Reducing Water Costs in Building HVAC Systems

The HVAC system is the largest user of energy and water in typical commercial buildings. In the past, energy costs overshadowed water costs. Recent droughts and the need to expand municipal water supplies to support growth have led to increased water costs nationwide. Combined with the focus on water conservation in green buildings, the payback associated with reducing building water usage is greater than ever. Most commercial buildings use water cooled chillers to provide air conditioning because they are much more energy efficient than air-cooled chillers. Achieving these efficiencies, however, requires large quantities of water to operate a cooling tower. Most buildings also use re-circulating hot and chilled water loops to distribute heating and cooling throughout the building. Although not designed to routinely use water, these systems can use large amounts of water if undetected leaks occur. As the major consumer of water, the building HVAC system is an obvious target for water conservation efforts and often provides significant saving.

How Chillers Work

  • 14 janvier 2020
  • Author: James McDonald
  • Number of views: 14349
  • 1 Comments
How Chillers Work

Factories, warehouses, healthcare facilities, commercial buildings, and office spaces generate unwanted heat that must be removed from the process, equipment, or occupants inside. Chillers may be used to remove this heat by transferring it to the atmosphere either by air or water cooled chillers. At the heart of the chilling process is the evaporation of a liquid refrigerant into a gas. Two basic types of chillers include vapor compression and absorption. In this blog, we will focus on the vapor compression chiller.

Water-Cooled vs. Air-Cooled Equipment

How Should You Stay Cool?

  • 5 mars 2019
  • Author: Chem-Aqua, Inc
  • Number of views: 14174
  • 2 Comments
Water-Cooled vs. Air-Cooled Equipment

When seeking to cool a large scale commercial or industrial facility, insufficient information often leads to an unsatisfactory solution. While some stakeholders choose water-cooled chillers because they believe the cooling tower in these systems offers more efficiency, others prefer air-based cooling systems because of the less prohibitive upfront price. And with recent technological advances made in both air and water-based chilling systems, determining which option is the right fit has become even more challenging. To decide which system best suits a specific project’s needs, it’s important to understand the pros and cons associated with each option.

Active Chiller Approach Temperature Monitoring Leads to Increased Operating Life and Efficiency

  • 23 janvier 2018
  • Author: Chem-Aqua, Inc
  • Number of views: 71671
  • 0 Comments
Active Chiller Approach Temperature Monitoring Leads to Increased Operating Life and Efficiency

In many facilities, chiller and condenser systems are the largest energy consuming component of the plant. Operating a chiller at its peak performance saves energy, as well as maintenance costs, and can keep the facility’s loads properly maintained. Chiller performance varies significantly with operating conditions, and any opportunity to improve efficiency and extended equipment life is greatly desired by any facility manager. One major indicator of chiller performance is the historical values of the chiller approach temperatures. These temperatures show the heat transfer efficiency and can be a precursor to a potential issue in the system. With proper, routine monitoring of approach temperatures, the chiller’s operating life and operating efficiency are greatly increased.

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