Seven Major Industrial Water Mistakes

Each component in an industrial water system has to be serviced according to the system’s maintenance schedule. In order to prevent the facility from grinding to a halt during maintenance, it’s important for each component to have a backup component, so that normal processes run smoothly while the system is being checked or serviced.

Some industrial processes grow over time, leaving companies with the need to update their water systems in order to stay functional. Instead of investing in a custom fitted water system, companies tend to try to add on to their existing systems, resulting in a tangle of tanks, valves and pipes that often cannot be accessed without climbing through a maze of components. This could easily lead to injury and increased maintenance costs.

When implementing an industrial water system, it is imperative that the sizing of the filter bed is correctly calculated for the needs and specifications of the system. Errors in filter bed sizing require the inordinately wasteful expense of trying to keep the filter running at 100%. Experts know to always allow for a substantial reduction in flow based on the normal reduction expected over the normal life cycle of the component.

Although the use of incorrect individual components themselves may not lower flow drastically, a system comprised of many incorrect components, especially when arranged improperly, can lead to a significant reduction to the flow rate. When choosing components, it’s extremely important to take the entire system into account in order to ensure smooth operation.

Industrial water filtration systems have been found to fail when seemingly similar filters are placed in the wrong order. One such example is that hard water with elevated iron levels will wreak havoc on water softeners; however, if a manganese green sand filter bed is placed before the softener in the system, then the softener will not be impaired at all by the water passing through.

In order to reduce unnecessary maintenance costs and repairs, monitoring equipment should be placed throughout an industrial water system. This allows for the system to be constantly checked, allowing systems to be maintenanced when needed, instead of simply relying on a set date.

Each process within an industrial water system has to meet certain standards and requirements as to what kind of source water it uses. In order to stay in compliance with these regulations, it is important to have a reliable way to test source water before using it in industrial processes.