Thermal energy storage (TES) systems are cooling systems that can use ice banks, brine systems, or chilled water storage tanks to capture BTUs for the purpose of removing a heat load at another point in time. In practice, the chillers for the TES operate outside peak electrical load hours and store the BTUs in the preferred form for use during peak electrical load hours. This practice reduces strain on the electrical grid and provides both cost and energy savings for the owner.

The purpose of a boiler inspection is to provide assurance of equipment integrity to minimize safety issues with operating a pressure vessel. A minimal frequency is established by law and the Insurance Company that is covering customer liability in case of any operational failures. It has a useful secondary function of acting as an early warning of potential problems and determine the water treatment program’s effectiveness.

An internal boiler waterside inspection consists of all waterside areas of the vessel (e.g., steam and water areas, blowdown lines, feedwater connections, and low water safety devises) as well as dearators, superheaters, economizers, and blowdown heat exchangers. If possible, this inspection...

Cooling towers are a critical component in many water systems, providing comfort or process cooling across a broad spectrum of technologies and applications. Cooling towers vary greatly in design and footprint, but all have the main goal: to provide removal of waste heat from processes or building systems. Control parameters are critical to maintaining any cooling system to improve water and energy efficiency, maximize equipment life expectancy, reduce hazards, and minimize downtime.

Hospitals and healthcare facilities are becoming more aware of the dangers of waterborne pathogens that can exist in their manmade plumbing systems. With growing concern of preventing infections, point-of-use (POU) filtration has been more frequently used in the healthcare market to aid in reducing bacteria counts found in water. However, not all filters are created equally, and it is important to understand the basics of microbiological filtration.

We detected the presence of Legionella in one or more of our building water systems….. Now what do we do? This is probably the second most commonly asked question, surpassed only by:  “Do I have to test my water systems for Legionella?”  Often the question is posed this way:

“We recently performed Legionella testing on our building water systems and found one or more positive sample results.  What should we do about it?”

Each day people all over the world are exposed to ice. Whether it be from their refrigerator ice machine, their favorite restaurant, during their hospital stay, or on an airplane, people sip on their ice cold beverages or suck on ice chips unaware of the microorganisms that could be sitting dormant within the ice.

The simple answer is no (not directly), and here’s why:  There is no known safe level of Legionella in a building water system.  Therefore, even a non-detect sample result is not necessarily “safe.” The reason why is because the life cycle of this organism, coupled with the stresses put on it via temperature, disinfectants, etc. found within building water systems, may cause it to enter a viable but non-culturable (VBNC) state. 

Chlorine and bromine based biocides are widely used for microbiological control in cooling tower systems. These halogen compounds form strong oxidizing agents in water, which is how they kill bacteria and other microorganisms. Routine testing is important to confirm effective halogen residuals are maintained. Low residuals can result in poor microbiological control. High residuals can cause corrosion and destroy inhibitors.

Water softeners are ion exchange systems designed to remove scale-forming calcium and magnesium ions prior to boiler, cooling, and reverse osmosis systems. The amount of hardness a softener can remove between regenerations is known as the softener capacity and can be expressed either in grains or in gallons. Capacity is important when sizing, configuring, or troubleshooting a softener.

The source(s) of water supplied to cooling towers, boilers, and processes may vary greatly daily or even hourly.  The impact this has on water systems must be closely monitored to avoid scale, deposits, corrosion, inefficient water usage, and other negative impacts on operational costs.