Goodway Technologies Recommends Focusing on Descaling as an Impactful Resolution for 2020

News

Created:

Tue, 03/10/2020

Last Updated: Mon, 08/14/2023

Stamford, Conn. – March 10, 2020 – As plant managers look ahead to 2020, Goodway Technologies is highlighting an often-overlooked challenge—the presence of scale. While scale is common, it can negatively impact a facility’s efficient operations, resulting in loss of production, reduction in profitability, and even equipment failure.

Scale is a type of fouling caused by mineral within a water source that can fall out of suspension and develop on hydronic-based equipment and piping. Scale can adhere to the surface area and act as an insulation barrier on the heat transfer exterior, which results in the loss of actual heat transfer and proper functionality. This means your equipment is using more energy to complete a routine task.

“The best approach to addressing scale is to perform regular preventative maintenance on equipment,” says Tim Fregeau, Director of Technical Sales and Business Development at Goodway Technologies. “Finding the right descaling methods for your plant or facility will help to ensure efficiency and equipment longevity.”

In one case study, a major sporting arena had significant mineral scale build up over the years inside the brazed heat exchangers. This was causing significant heat loss transfer and the unit was tripping on high head pressure. After using Goodway’s GDS-C40 descaling pump system and ScaleBreak-MP liquid descaler, the head pressure was reduced by 40 percent.

Since scale is prevalent in facilities and equipment of all kinds, it can be daunting to determine where to start. Scale can be found in heat exchangers and condensers, cooling tower fill, evaporative condensers, and fluid coolers, boilers, and pumps, and piping.

Here are some tips on how to tackle scale:

Consider chemical descaling. Chemical descaling is an effective clean-in-place solution that doesn’t require disassembling equipment. During a chemical cleaning, descaling solutions are circulated through the water passages of equipment. The base ingredients in the chemical descaling solution penetrate the scale deposits and dissolve them into a liquid suspension.

Conduct visual inspections. While performing annual maintenance is crucial, it’s also beneficial to perform ongoing visual inspections to be on the lookout for any signs of scale.

Monitor for evidence-based assessments. According to the Hartford Steam Boiler, evidence-based assessments are one of the best ways to determine if chemical cleaning is required. Regular monitoring of flue gas temperature can also indicate a problem. If the temperature rises when boiler load and excess air are held constant, scale is the likely culprit. Other reasons to consider a chemical clean include one or more system failures due to corrosion, or if you replace a significant amount (more than 10 percent) of your boiler tubing. Other hydronic pumps and systems, like chillers and other heat exchangers, can use pump pressures, or head pressures to identify potential scale issues.

Measure the impact. Take the time to evaluate the impact of descaling. Compare your energy bills prior to and after the descaling. It’s always good to share cost-savings and positive impact on the bottom line, so make sure to highlight your successes in improving efficiencies.

Goodway is partnering with several manufacturers, including Camus, Multistack, and SWEP, to provide education on safe and effective descaling solutions. Goodway also developed free, online descaling calculators that help companies and facility managers see the potential cost-savings when using Goodway’s ScaleBreak descaling solutions.

For more information, visit www.goodway.com or call 1-800-333-7467.

About Goodway Technologies
Founded in 1966, Goodway Technologies has been delivering better maintenance solutions for more than 50 years. Goodway Technologies provides innovative maintenance solutions for a wide variety of industries including commercial HVAC, food and beverage processing, power generation, and manufacturing. Over the decades, Goodway has worked with our customers to create better solutions for tube cleaning systems, industrial vacuums, cooling tower maintenance systems, dry steam solutions, descaling systems, coil cleaning products, and practically everything else for the care and maintenance of HVAC systems. Further information is available at www.goodway.com. Goodway is recognized as an ISO 9001:2015 certified company.