There are many important factors to owning or running a business. Employee management, payroll, budgeting, and forecasting are typically thought of as some of the most important factors.
One thing that may be as important but sometimes overlooked - water. For some businesses, water is only used for drinking and appliances. For others, it is an essential part of their business operations and manufacturing.
Here are some of the most common examples where a commercial or industrial company will need a water softener or water treatment system.
Commercial water softeners
Any business can benefit from installing a commercial water softener. Even if water isn’t an essential part of your business operations.
Over 85% of homes and businesses in the US have hard water. That means there are varying levels of calcium and magnesium running through your company’s plumbing and water-using appliances.
Most companies have at least a few water-using appliances like a refrigerator, washer, or dishwasher. Due to high levels of calcium and magnesium, many types of equipment fail to work properly, which can lead to an increase in energy costs and/or complete failure of the equipment.
It doesn’t matter if it is a small business or a large commercial or industrial plant. A properly sized water softener can keep your appliances and equipment running efficiently.
Commercial reverse osmosis
Many people believe that reverse osmosis systems are for residential drinking water. However, it was originally created by the US navy to filter seawater into drinkable water on their submarines.
A commercial reverse osmosis system (RO) is used to remove TDS from water using pressure through a membrane that separates the water into the concentrate (reject water) and permeate (product water).
The systems operate in a pressure range from 200 psi to 1200 psi depending on the application. The higher the TDS, the more pressure is required to overcome osmotic pressure. Commercial RO systems are typically broken down into 3 categories: Traditional, Brackish, and Desalination.
- Traditional - Traditional reverse osmosis systems operate with a feed of 200 psi to 400 psi. This means that a minimal amount of energy is used to pump the feed water through the membranes to overcome the osmotic pressure. The feed TDS levels are typically 100 ppm to 1,000 ppm.
- Brackish - Brackish reverse osmosis systems tend to operate over 400 psi and require more energy as a higher pressure pump is necessary. Brackish water has higher total dissolved solids than water that is fed through a traditional reverse osmosis system. The feed TDS levels are typically 1,000 ppm to 5,000 ppm.
- Desalination/Frac - Desalination reverse osmosis systems operate at 800 psi to 1200 psi. At 800 psi and above, a special high-pressure pump is required. The feed TDS levels for desalination/frac reverse osmosis systems are typically 5,000 ppm to 40,000 ppm.
In many cases, an RO system along with a softener system is recommended as the softener will protect the filters and membrane of the RO from many particles. This means a longer lifespan for the RO filters and membrane.
If your commercial or industrial facility needs further filtration than what a water softener or filter can provide, it is important you contact a professional. Our engineers can design reverse osmosis systems for any application. Because we custom design our systems for each individual project, we are not limited by flow rate, size, or customer-specific requirements.
Commercial Boiler Water Treatment
Many businesses, healthcare facilities, and manufacturing plants use boilers for heating, humidification, sterilization, and more. Some boilers are used to create hot water itself, while others are used to create steam.
There are 4 main types of commercial boilers:
- Firetube Boilers
- Watertube Boilers
- Condensing Boilers
- Electric Boilers
Keeping a boiler running efficiently and effectively is essential to any business. For many, this means installing a commercial water softener system to your boiler feed.
Hard water can wreak havoc on a boiler. The build-up of calcium and magnesium inside the boiler can lead to costly repairs or complete failure. This can lead to business downtime and lost revenue.
A commercial water softener for a boiler feed can filter out the magnesium and calcium before it enters the boiler. This will improve the lifespan of your commercial or industrial boiler and keep it running efficiently.
To size a commercial water softener for a boiler feed, there are 4 main factors we take into account.
- Boiler Horsepower
- Condensate Return
- Operating Pressure
- Water Hardness
Most of the answers can be found in your boiler manual and water hardness should be provided by the city. However, if you need help find any of these answers, give us a call.
Boiler feed typically consists of alternating water softeners to allow a continuous feed of soft water. Because of the efficiency of boilers, capacity and not flow rate is the main issue in designing the water softener system. The higher the operating pressure of the boiler, the more stringent the water quality requirements will be.
Cooling Tower Water Treatment
In cooling towers, an industrial water softener removes calcium and magnesium from the make-up water or is incorporated to continuously soften a portion of the water as a side-stream system. This can eliminate (or at least manage) the amount of calcium and magnesium in the tower bulk water, reducing the scaling potential of calcium and magnesium related deposits.
A custom Robert B. Hill Co water treatment system for your cooling tower can reduce corrosion in blowout systems and greatly improve failure-rate. It will also discharge cleaner water into the environment leading to a smaller environmental footprint.
