How The Summer Heat Affects Water Treatment Systems
We’ve said it before, but it bears repeating! Summer has arrived – time for fun in the sun, and re-tuning your water system for warmer temperatures! What does warm water mean for your system operation?
If you’re operating media filters or ion exchange systems, it means you need to adjust your backwash flow rates. Warmer (i.e. less dense) water requires a higher flow to achieve the same amount of bed expansion when you backwash, to effectively remove particulates. Conversely, when it gets cold again you’ll need to cut the flow rate back so you’re not backwashing the media out of the tank(s).
For membrane systems, warmer water means more permeate flow, lower operating pressure, and slightly higher salt passage. If your feed pump is equipped with a VFD, this is already taken care of for you; if not, you may need to throttle a few parameters.
Warmer water can also speed up biological contamination. Carbon beds are notorious for growing “bugs”, and with warmer water, the rate of growth is accelerated. We also see more accelerated rates of biofouling in membrane systems when the weather gets warm, so if you’re not addressing this in your cleaning regimen, a cleaning/sanitization plan is a good thing to have and be ready to implement if you need to.
Be aware that drought conditions, when they occur, can wreak havoc with your water system, especially on surface water supplies. Evaporation means more solids (both dissolved and suspended) are going into your system, so you may need to change filter cartridges more often, backwash more frequently, or clean your membranes more often than usual.
If you need to stock up on support products or need assistance getting your system ready for summer, give us a call at (513) 791-3338! And if any of the warm weather “gotchas” getcha, we’re available to help!