Whilst the sunny, warm early days of October were a welcome surprise to most of us, there’s no doubt that autumn is on its way as temperatures start to drop and the evenings draw in. But as our focus turns to images of the guy in the red suit, turkey dinners and building snowmen, it’s important to spare a thought for the welfare of your chiller equipment over the coming months.
Last winter, when outside temperatures plummeted to all time lows, our service team took an increasing number of emergency calls from companies whose chilled water systems had frozen, often beyond economical repair. The majority of these clients had been carrying out in house checks on their glycol levels but, in 90% of cases, glycol sampling had been taken incorrectly, by unskilled people, on the wrong part of the system, just disguising the potential problem.
Yet a simple preventive maintenance contract from Aqua Group would have ensured the problems had never occurred in the first place and would have saved each business a small fortune in repair and replacement equipment costs. Our Engineers ensure you have the right amount of the correct type of glycol in your system at all times, eliminating the need for in-house checks, taking away any uncertainty or room for error and giving you complete peace of mind.
Having the correct glycol level is critical and it is particularly important on free coolers and air blast units. It protects your equipment from low ambient and freezing process conditions. If your chilled water supply temperature is below 7°C then it’s likely you’ll need to use antifreeze. At this temperature flash freezing of the plates in the evaporator can rob a system of its efficiency, in some cases causing permanent damage. The right level of glycol will also offer protection from freezing in heat exchangers and free cooling coils. Equally, an excessive concentration of antifreeze will reduce system capacity.
It’s also vital to use the right type of glycol for your system’s requirements. Process chillers more commonly use ethylene or propylene glycol which is available in temperature ranges of -51°C to 177°C.
Pharmaceutical and food applications often require food grade antifreeze.
All our Aqua glycol has multi metal inhibiters as standard.
A preventive maintenance plan from Aqua will ensure the longevity, efficiency and cost effectiveness of your system and therefore actually save you money. To arrange a visit, or if you’d simply like some free advice, call our Service team.
