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Automatic Control Equipment

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Automatic Control Equipment

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We provide a range of automatic control equipment to deliver chemicals into engineered water systems including closed loop systems, cooling towers, evaporative condenser towers, boilers and swimming pools. Automatic control equipment can deliver specific dose rates of chemicals into water systems.

 

What does automatic control equipment do?

 

Automatic control equipment will automatically dose the primary biocide, secondary biocide and inhibitor chemicals, reducing the need for manual intervention.


Automatic control equipment is primarily used in cooling towers and evaporative condensers. These are the most efficient way of cooling a process system, however, these types of systems are classed as high risk and so compliance with technical guidance HSG 274 Part 1 must be achieved. Automatic dosing can assist with 24 hour monitoring of the system. 

 

By allowing the automatic dosing equipment to distribute the primary biocide, secondary biocide and the scale and corrosion inhibitor, you can help prevent microbiological activity and the formation of scale and corrosion.

 

 

 

How does automatic control equipment work?

 

The primary biocide can be redox controlled via a mV measurement. You will have an upper and lower set point for the redox control. If the probe records a measurement lower than your minimum, the primary biocide will automatically be dosed to ensure you have the sufficient amount of chemicals to kill the bacteria in your system.

 

Your secondary biocides will be timer controlled. The equipment will dose a calculated volume of chemical at set times. This is to help prevent the bacteria becoming immune to the primary biocide.

 

Your scale and corrosion inhibitor will either be dosed via timer (for example, set to be on for 5 seconds every 10 minutes), or we can wire a water metre signal cable into your control unit. The water metre will measure the amount of pulses each spin, and will turn on the scale and corrosion inhibitor for the set amount of time programmed into the controller as and when required.

Why is automatic control equipment useful?

 

Automatic dosing can be carried out by automatic control equipment to help your business achieve compliance in accordance with the technical guidance.

 

Automatic control equipment reduces manual handling of chemicals, helping to keep your workers safe as well as ensure your system is properly maintained. If you are concerned about the initial input of chemicals into your system, and you’d like to further reduce any manual handling, please speak to us about our dry dosing options that can completely remove the need for liquid chemicals.

Automatic Conductivity Control

 

In order to maintain good water quality, you need to set parameters on your control panel. The parameters set for each system will depend on the quality of water going into your system. The probe in your water system will constantly measure the electrical conductivity of the water flowing through your system, and ensure it is within the set parameters.

 

When the reading on your probe is higher than the parameters you have set, the system will automatically open a valve to bleed your system, drain the water, and automatically allow fresh water into your system. This will reduce the conductivity of the system water back below the set point programmed into the control equipment.

 

The higher the conductivity of your water, the more sediment there is in your system. High levels of conductivity could lead to pockets of bacteria and poor water quality.

What are the benefits of automatic conductivity control?

 

Technical guidance HSE 274 part 1 states that cooling towers should have daily on-site checks, as well as weekly quality checks carried out by someone on-site or by your water treatment provider. Without checking your water treatment levels , you could risk the proliferation of bacteria in the water system.
 

Checking the water quality within cooling towers is therefore essential, but can also be labour intensive without automatic control equipment. The system will still need to be visually checked on a daily basis for operation.
 

The alternative to automatic control is manual control by site staff.  The water treatment parameters would need to be checked at least four times per day to ensure the water quality complies with HSG 274 part 1. By utilising automatic conductivity control, the whole process is automatic and requires a reduced amount of input from site staff.

Remote  Monitoring of Control Equipment

 

Modern automatic monitoring systems allow you to log in to control panels remotely to check the status of your system, and make adjustments if needed. As well as showing data and  graphs of your system, certain control systems can also send automatic texts or emails to the relevant person if an issue arises, alarming them that something needs to be done.

We can offer a vast range of automatic control equipment. High end systems are incredibly robust, making it simple to keep on top of your water quality.

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