two water cooling towers

Water treatment is one of the least glamorous but most important parts of keeping your facility functional and efficient. Proper treatment is required by law and can even prevent certain types of catastrophic equipment failure.

The Importance of Water Treatment

One of the cornerstones of the safe and efficient society we live in today is water treatment that was entirely absent from previous eras. Today, water treatment isn’t only necessary for people’s health, but also for the safety and efficiency of the equipment business’s everyday operations. Particularly for industrial facilities, a lack of proper water treatment can lead to downtime and significant equipment repair costs. Untreated water can lead to:

  • Organic Growth
  • Fouling
  • Scaling
  • Corrosion

A number of factors contribute to these problems. They can include:

  • Alkalinity
  • Hardness
  • Chloride 
  • Iron 
  • Organic Matter 
  • Silica 
  • Sulfates 
  • Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)
  • Total Suspended Solids (TSS)

Industrial equipment is calibrated to work with water that meets a range of qualifications, and water that suffers from problems in the above areas leads to, at best, inefficiency and, at worst, total equipment failure.

Cooling Tower Water Treatment Basics

Cooling towers are often the water treatment solution of choice for industrial facilities. Depending on regulatory guidelines in your area and manufacturer recommendations for your equipment, your system could look different from another. However, the basics are still the same. All cooling tower systems include clarification, (ultra)filtration, ion exchange/softening, chemical treatment, and automated monitoring.

 

Weighing all these factors to create the ideal water treatment system for your facility is not something to be taken lightly, and it’s important to work with experts in the industry to determine the right system for you.

Local Law 77

Local Law 77 (LL77) includes a variety of mandates that businesses must comply with to avoid public water contamination and legal issues. Essentially, LL77 mandates a maintenance program that ensures your cooling tower system is functioning properly. These requirements include:

  • Tower inspection by qualified professionals
  • Legionella testing

 

The testing and maintenance requirements of LL77 exist to keep your systems, and the water they consume, safe. However, the testing involved is also crucial to ensuring your system is operating at maximum efficiency and will detect any problems that can lead to downtime.

 

This testing must be conducted every 90 days, your system must be cleaned twice per year, and your system must be disinfected using a Category 7G pesticide. The details for how React can help with all of this can be found here. If you’re not sure about any of these conditions or are looking to schedule an inspection to verify that your system is operating properly, make sure to contact us and we’ll be happy to help.

Source water quality, equipment recommendations, and more must be considered in proper water treatment. Ensure your system is working properly with React Industries.

Ongoing Treatment and Maintenance

Even if water treatment wasn’t mandated by law with stringent requirements, you would still be incentivized to clean and maintain your system. Keeping your system efficient is, on its own, enough of a reason. Massive repair costs are involved in replacing equipment or even just cleaning scaling. Plus, downtime means lost production.

 

The 90-day testing and semiannual cleaning requirements are in place because those are the ideal time frames for you to catch and mitigate issues before they become a problem. This is not a one-and-done solution, and a number of potentially changing factors must be taken into account. Having the right system for your facility, maintaining that system with experts who are familiar with your needs, and making changes whenever necessary are key to cost savings.

The Cooling Tower Experts

React Industries has the experience you need to attain compliance and remain that way. From initial installation to regular inspections, ongoing maintenance, and regulatory compliance, we handle it all. Your systems depend on a properly calibrated cooling tower water treatment system, so an investment in true expertise will pay dividends far into the future. Contact us today and we’ll come out to your facility and take a look. Even if only for peace of mind, an inspection could save your business.