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Organic Water Treatment
Chemicals
Steam Boilers, Cooling Towers,
Hot And Chilled Closed Systems
Fuel Oil Treatment
(Home of D.M Concentrate)
Five
major problems associated with
water quality and equipment
problems are:
- Scale
Formation
- Corrosion
- Fouling
- Foaming
- Caustic
Embrittlement
Scale:
is an extremely hard
substance created when mineral
salts come out of solution as
their solubility drops with a
rise in water temperature.
Scale-forming salts adhere
directly to heating surfaces
forming layers of insulation on
the metal substantially
decreasing its heat transfer
efficiency.
While 1/16th-inch thickness of
scale in a fire tube boiler will
increase fuel consumption by
12.5% -- any accumulation is a
problem. Scale results in metal
fatigue/failure causing
overheating, energy waste, high
maintenance costs and
unnecessary safety risks.
Corrosion:
Occurs when metals (by acid
or electrolytic action) attack
metals. The metal is eaten away
similar to the generalized
rusting of an automobile fender.
Corrosion increases maintenance
costs, results in premature
replacement of equipment and
causes unnecessary safety risks.
Corrosion occurs where levels of
oxygen or carbon dioxide are
high, where pH values are low,
where contact occurs between
dissimilar metals and in damp
environments or corrosive
atmospheres.
Fouling:
Occurs when restriction develops
in piping and equipment
passages, creating inefficient
water flow. The major
consequences of fouling to
boiler room equipment are energy
waste and increased
operating/maintenance costs.
When fouling is allowed to
continue and proliferate in a
system, cooling towers, heat
exchangers and other critical
devices could give rise to the
emergence of health-related
issues such a Legionnaires
Disease.
Foaming:
It is a condition in which
concentrations of soluble salts
(aggravated by grease, suspended
solids or organic material)
create frothy bubbles
(resembling the foam in a beer
mug) in the steam space of a
boiler.
Foaming can cause priming
-- in which the bubbles break
and create a liquid that
combines to form slugs of water
that are carried over into the
steam system. Pressure from the
steam can create velocities as
high as 80-100 miles per hour
for slugs of water discharged
into steam lines. These slugs
can wreak havoc with turbine
blades, actuating devices and
piping downstream of the boiler.
Caustic Embrittlement:
Occurs when hairline cracks
appear in highly stressed areas
due to high concentrations of
alkaline salts that liberate
hydrogen, which is then absorbed
by the iron in steel,
effectively changing its
physical properties. This
condition is caused largely by
boiler water with pH values 11+
and manifests itself in
high-temperature areas of the
boiler.
Unless Embrittlement problems
are constantly monitored and
controlled, they will take their
toll in higher fuel costs,
increased safety risks,
unnecessary downtime and
equipment replacement.
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