Filtration Facts

Effective Filtration Equals Great HVAC Energy Savings

Evaporative Condensers Reduce Costs of Refrigeration

It takes a LOT of energy to keep a popsicle frozen in the desert.  Come to think of it, it takes a lot of energy to keep a popsicle frozen in any conditioned interior space – in a desert or anywhere else.  

Grocery store owners know this all too well.  According to National Grid, refrigeration accounts for 44 to 62% of the energy consumed in U.S. grocery stores depending on the climate zone.  So when grocery store owners are looking to economize on energy, refrigeration is a smart place to start.  In fact, refrigeration system optimization can reduce energy use by 24% relative to standard practice.  This could account for a substantial increase in a grocery store’s profits, since energy expenditures are approximately equal to a typical grocery store’s profit margin.

Evaporative Condensers vs Cooling Towers
Evaporative condensers are an effective way to trim refrigeration energy cost in grocery stores, as well as in many other businesses.    These devices operate similarly to cooling towers in that they remove heat from the refrigeration system.  However, in cooling towers, the cooling water does not come into direct contact with the equipment being cooled; instead it passes through a refrigerant-water heat exchanger in the condenser to achieve thermal transfer.  Evaporative condensers, however, spray water directly over the coils and a fan blows air through the falling spray of water.  As the water evaporates, the remaining water becomes cooler through what is known as the latent heat of evaporation.  The cool water absorbs heat from the condenser coil, cooling the refrigerant into liquid form.  This is an energy efficient means of heat removal and can result in significant savings.  

Although evaporative condensers can be significant energy savers for businesses with high refrigeration needs -- particularly in more arid climates -- they come with one disadvantage.  They use a lot of water, and this water must be periodically “bled” off into the sewer to prevent the accumulation of excessive mineral deposits, such as magnesium, silica and calcium.  These minerals build up on the condenser coils, impairing heat transfer and thus efficiency.  In addition, the air flowing through the water spray contains many particles such as pollen, mold and dust that eventually accumulate inside the system.  Frequent bleed rates (along with chemical treatment) are used to combat these particulates.  The outside contractors that service cooling towers and evaporative condensers have been known to use tower bleeds liberally to prevent scale formation.  After all, they don’t pay the water bill.  Their top priority is to prevent scale formation—period.    

Water Waste

How much water is used as a result of evaporative condenser operation?  According to the Alliance for Water Efficiency, many systems used 50% more water than necessary.  

Filtration Can Reduce The Waste And Improve Efficiency
Cooling tower basin cleaning is one way to minimize the bleed rate/water waste on cooling towers and evaporative condensers. Effective filtration of evaporative heat rejection systems, which includes centrifugal separation, also helps prevent the accumulation of bacteria that leads to Legionnaire’s Disease. 

You can read more about this by downloading “Fighting Legionella with LAKOS”.

HVAC Professionals Filtering Through Social Media

Engineers have inquisitive minds and like to know how things work. They are often the first to try something new, sometimes out of curiosity, but also from a desire to discover better methods and smarter techniques. Things like better designs for products and buildings, such as those directed by LEED standards, sustainability, and life cycle costs. They also discover better ways to communicate with each other and with others in their field.

So as a group, how has the engineering profession -- and especially those in the building and HVAC sectors -- accepted and adopted social media communication tools like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook? So far the results seem mixed. HVACRBusiness Magazine conducted a poll of its readers late last Summer, in which 26% said they already had company Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn accounts, but 48% said they WOULD use social media if they only knew how. It's one reason why HVACR Business created a special social media site just for HVACR contractors at SocialTract.com where contractors can create and maintain their own blogs with minimal effort. Some individual contractors and engineering firms have braved the new social media world on their own, such as California-based Rosenthal Plumbing, whose music video on YouTube has been viewed more than 5700 times. Blogs, videos, and other methods can also be used to answer questions about preventing heat exchanger fouling and cooling tower basin cleaning.

Industry associations and media like ASHRAE and Contracting Business have embraced social media as well. ASHRAE has corporate Facebook and Twitter accounts and also maintains a special MySpace account just for students. Social media can be a great way to look for job, such as using a Twitter account that lists jobs just for HVAC.

LinkedIn And Professional Groups

One of the best uses of social media is for networking and strengthening existing relationships. LinkedIn maintains a number of groups relating specifically to HVAC, engineering, and filtration that are a great resource for sharing information. That list includes: 

• Consulting-Specifying Engineer (153 members). For engineers and others who have a professional interest in buildings. Topics of interest include sustainability, innovative design solutions, awesome new products, career development, industry events, and more.

• Water Technologies-Water Filtration (6000+ members) Group claims to have everything water related.

• Filtration Networking (1300 members) For those interested in networking throughout the industry to share market/product knowledge, industry contacts, job search, and general information.

• CleanTechies Around The World (10,000 members)  Joining requires approval in this group for active professionals, committed students, concerned citizens, interested politicians, and devoted educators. Consists of engineers, lawyers, financiers, technicians, consultants, architects, designers, communicators, students and teachers who are pursuing careers in CleanTech.

• American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (8700 members) Requires approval to join also has a few other requirements as well.

• Water Treatment Solutions (2454 members) This group is for water treatment professionals to exchange knowledge and ideas about water problems. Subjects to be discussed are related to treatment of wastewater, cooling water, and boiler water and other.

• MyWaterPlantJobs Group (218 members) A group for those who manage, operate and maintain water and wastewater treatment plant facilities worldwide.

• Wastewater Construction Group (502 members) Their goal is to communicate in all disciplines relating to water, wastewater and reclamation facilities, including design and construction.
  

It's Your Turn

What about YOU?

Have you jumped into the social media pool yet? You can start out slow and easy by:

• Following LAKOS on Twitter
• Joining the LAKOS Facebook fan page

• Subscribing to our Filtration Facts Blog by typing in your email address up above

• Join LinkedIn and check out some of the many forums and groups there, including the LAKOS LinkedIn account

 

Every Day Is Earth Day In Buildings With Closed Loop Filtration

It is April 22 and Earth Day in the U.S. This is the 40th anniversary of this special day created to focus our attention on the environment and the precious resources of our planet, and how we as stewards are responsible for using them wisely. This includes clean air, clean water, and sustainable living practices that leave the earth in better condition than when we found it. 

Special events are being planned to commemorate this event, including: 

• Special activities and awareness programs will be celebrated on college campuses across the country, such as battery recycling, computer and electronics recycling, and solar energy demonstrations.
• Opportunities to adopt a coral reef or donate time and money to other conservation causes.
• A Climate Rally at the National Mall in Washington D.C. on Sunday, April 25th. Organizers hope to build support for additional legislation to preserve the environment in the U.S., including changes to limits of carbon emissions.

Ongoing Commitment Is Key
While annual events like Earth Day help us focus our attention on the environment for a short time period, it is how we implement these ideas the rest of the year that really matter. Sustainability, energy savings, and wise water use should be part of our personal living practices, as well as in the buildings and businesses in which we work. Some of these practices are obvious and easy to identify, such as: reducing water usage in hvac systems, keeping all systems (computers, hvac, and others) operating at highest energy efficiency, and recycling water and minimizing other waste as much as possible. Filtration of water is an important component of each of these efforts, utilizing techniques such as cooling tower basin cleaning, submersible pump sand protection, preventing heat exhanger fouling, and many others. But some sustainable practices are not so easily recognized, such as "closed loop" filtration.

Closed Loop Filtration
"Open loop" water systems are those which are exposed to the outside air and environment, and because of this, they require continuous cleaning and filtration to operate at highest efficiency. Dirt and grime can cause reduced efficiency and water waste. "Closed loop" water systems are NOT exposed to the outside air, and theoretically SHOULD NOT need ongoing filtration. Once the system is free of dirt, grime, or other particulates, the system should remain relatively clean, but theory and reality are not always the same.

Closed loop systems often DO need a filtration system to remain clean, due to pipe rust and other suspended solids in the system. This keeps chillers, compressors, heat exchangers and other closed loop equipment operating in good working order and operating at maximum efficiency.

New White Paper

The Manager of Building Operations at a large 700-bed hospital recently authored a White Paper outlining the benefits of closed loop filtration. Stollery Children's Hospital at the University of Alberta uses a chilled water system and experienced problems until filtration was installed. Download the Hospital Closed Loop White Paper today and read how LAKOS Filtration keeps the system operating at maximum efficiency.

Schools Should Consider A Field Trip To The Nearest Cooling Tower

Remember the first time your 8th grade science teacher took the class outside to see the school's cooling tower? You learned all about exotic, mysterious sounding things like heat transfer, evaporation, and bacterial colonization?  Okay, so maybe that didn't happen in YOUR 8th grade class. But times are changing and many schools today are adopting more hands-on curriculum.  

"If you take kids outside, it typically engages them, especially ones who are struggling," says Jerry Lieberman, an educational researcher, according to an article in Newsweek magazine. We tend to agree, and a cooling tower would make a great field trip.

Hands-on Sustainability Learning
These days school buildings and campuses are becoming living, breathing classrooms-particularly with the increased push toward sustainability. Throughout the U.S. and world, school campuses are taking on a more colorful and more memorable role in education, a role that was once held almost exclusively by textbooks.  Consider these examples:

• Sidwell Friends Middle School, a private school in Washington (the same attended by President Obama's daughters), built a sewage-treatment plant in the middle of campus to recycle wastewater as a way to acquaint kids with the water cycle.
• Oil City Elementary in Louisiana raised a few thousand dollars of private funds to build three outdoor classrooms. As a result, the school, which was very nearly shut down due to low performance and inconsistent enrollment, has become one of the highest achieving in the district. Enrollment and test scores are also up.
• Ninth-graders at the Urban Assembly School for Green Careers, a high school on Manhattan's Upper West Side, got some hands-on green building experience by helping to install insulation and solar panels at the school.

These are just a few examples of the exciting, meaningful learning experiences being created in our schools today.

Physics, Biology, Chemistry-It's In There!
It makes you start to wonder: how many school lessons can be found in a common, lackluster piece of equipment like a cooling tower? Quickly you will realize that cooling towers -- frequently visible yet mostly unnoticed by students -- are working examples of some of the most commonly taught principles and concepts in physics, chemistry, biology, and even HISTORY!

The following scientific terms and concepts are all important considerations in the design and operation of a cooling tower:

Evaporation, Thermal Conductivity, Oxidation, Calcification, Bacterial Growth, Bacterial Colonization, Algae, Fungi, Photosynthesis, pH, Absorption, Anaerobe, Corrosion, Solubility, Suspended solids, Turbidity, Ambient Air, and many others.

Cooling towers even provide a lesson in American History because of their association with Legionella, a naturally occurring bacterium frequently found in cooling towers before proper water treatment practices were established. Legionnaire's Disease and Legionella both acquired their names after a July 1976 outbreak of a "mystery disease" sickened 221 persons, causing 34 deaths. The outbreak was first noticed among U.S. veterans attending a convention of the American Legion in Philadelphia. The epidemic occurred in the same city and within days of the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. The rigorous investigation of the outbreak led to the discovery of the bacteria, since known as Legionella. 

If the school is into teaching environmentalism (and what school or college isn't these days?) an educator might explain how cooling towers provide "free cooling" thus reducing a school's energy consumption.

Water Conservation and Saving Money

If water conservation is the focus, the instructor might explain how a school's cooling system accounts for about 14% of the water used in a school -- equivalent to approximately 3100 gallons of water per day in the average school. Today's environmentally savvy youngsters might be surprised to learn that depending on the climate zone and cooling system of the school, cooling tower water waste can be greater than all the water fixtures of a school combined. The teacher could challenge them to think of ways to minimize this waste. Enter yet another opportunity for a basic physics lesson: Centrifugal Separation, the premise of LAKOS' TowerClean system, which helps keep cooling tower water clean, thus saving water and keeping the planet green.

What about teaching the importance of saving money? Making an HVAC system more efficient through effective cooling tower filtration is a GREAT way to save money. We know one pharmaceutical company in Puerto Rico that expects to save $100,000 over the next 12 months by using a cooling tower basin cleaning system.

Download our newest Cooling Tower Cleaning Case Study about this system and read all the details.

And give us your comments about the science of cooling towers and cooling tower filtration. What other points would you add?

LAKOS Separators To Highlight Water Conservation At AHR Expo

Sustainability, energy savings and water conservation will be three of the main topics at next week's annual AHR Exposition in Orlando, Florida. Sponsored by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) the expo is the largest HVAC show in North America. With travel budgets cut in a tight economy, and many of the technical sessions being offered via "LIVE" webcast for the first time, many expect the attendance at the show to be lower than previous years. But interest in industry topics has never been higher.

"Water conservation and energy savings are becoming more important every day," says Allyn Troisi, an Application Engineer for LAKOS Separators and Filtration Systems. "And in HVAC systems, the cooling tower itself and how efficiently it uses energy and water has become an area of greater focus." As both an ASHRAE member serving on several technical committees relating to cooling towers and water use, and a LEED Accredited Professional (AP), Troisi sees increased efforts by both organizations to create new and improved standards that will help facilitate greater water and energy savings into the future. "There are methods and best practices that can really help increase efficiencies which in turn will lead to greater energy and water saving," adds Troisi.

In fact, of those companies planning to exhibit at the exposition, 62% say they will be announcing a new product at the show. Of those products, 45% claim to increase energy efficiency, according to the Ashrae Journal. And due out later this month is ASHRAE standard 189.1-2009, a new Standard for the Design of High-Performance Green Buildings. Developed by ASHRAE, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the standard covers site sustainability, energy efficiency, and other ways in which a building impacts the environment.

Effective filtration is one way to make more efficient use of water in an HVAC system. Using a centrifugal separator, there are no moving parts to wear out or replace, minimal water loss, and a low and steady pressure drop. LAKOS will be exhibiting at the expo (booth 3230) and will highlight healthcare filtration, preventing Legionella, and our new Cooling Tower Energy and Water Savings Calculator.

Wish to learn more about filtration solutions for HVAC applications?
Download our HVAC Engineering Catalog, containing solutions and installation information (and case studies) for a wide range of HVAC systems.

Computer Data Center Cooling and Filtration

Data centers (also known as server farms) are an integral component of the new digital economy. Whether they contain servers or telecommunications equipment or other computer systems, they usually include redundant or backup power supplies and advanced environmental controls. Since overheating this equipment often results in extensive damage, the cooling techniques and equipment selected must be effective and dependable.

Since the dawn of the computer age and the first mainframes, this cooling was primarily accomplished by air cooling methods. Plumbing for liquid-based systems was deemed too expensive, and air cooling was a familiar method for the companies needing computer room cooling. But the advantages of liquid cooling have changed the trend back in its favor.  

One recent poll by searchdatacenter.com indicated that when asked to name a cooling method of choice for data centers, approximately 80% of respondents selected some sort of liquid cooling. Benefits of liquid cooling in data centers include:

• Better efficiencies (which reduce energy usage)
• Quieter operation

Respected industry sources such as Processor.com support claims that liquid cooling is as much as 700% more effective than air when cooling data center components. Proprietary equipment such as IBM's Rear Door Heat eXchanger and Emerson Liebert's XD system illustrate the current thinking that there are better ways to both (a) keep the equipment cool and (b) maintain environment cleanliness while (c) minimizing energy usage.

Water Usage Concerns and the Role of Filtration

As the movement towards liquid cooling systems grows, so does the concern about water usage. An enormous amount of water is needed to cool high-density computing server farms. A typical 15-megawatt data center can use up to 360,000 gallons of water a day, according to James Hamilton, a data center designer, as quoted at DataCenterKnowledge.com.

There are many liquid cooling solutions for data centers, including chilled water-based computer room air conditioners (CRAC). In every case, keeping the liquid free of contaminants maintains a clean environment and also keeps all cooling system components operating at highest efficiency. Some systems use the existing building chilled water supply as the cooling source. And heat exchangers and cooling towers are typically part of that supply system. The cooling towers cool the hot waste water from the data center and remove the heat through evaporation. Most of the water that remains is returned to the data center cooling system, while some is drained ("blowdown") to remove any sediment or dirt in the system. 

Keeping the cooling water CLEAN minimizes blowdown and reduces water usage.  

How much water and energy would be saved in YOUR facility if proper filtration was installed? There are many ways to be more GREEN in the data center, and proper filtration of cooling water should be on your list. DOWNLOAD our Water and Energy Savings Spreadsheet Calculator to determine how filtration might help your data center operate more efficiently AND reduce the risk of Legionella AND save water and energy .

Recent Legionella Outbreaks Stress Need For Better Prevention

Two recent cases of Legionnaire's Disease stress the continuing need for awareness of:

• Causes of this disease
  
• Methods of prevention

First - The Most Recent Outbreaks

Hospital In Florida -- This past Tuesday, December 8, Legionella bacteria was found in a patient room at the University of Florida College of Medicine. As reported in the Gainesville Sun newspaper, the patient later died, and the facility's heating and cooling system is being examined as the likely cause. 

Hotel in Florida -- As reported in the Miami Herald and other news sources, the Epic Hotel in downtown Miami was shut down this past weekend after three guests over the previous few months had contracted Legionnaire's Disease. At this time, the source of the outbreak is believed to be the hotel's water system.

About Legionella and Legionnaires Diseases

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in the United States alone, between 8,000 and 18,000 people are hospitalized each year with Legionnaire's Disease, but because of misdiagnosis and other reasons, the ACTUAL number of case may be higher. Some cases prove fatal. It is most often contracted by breathing in the Legionella bacteria in water vapor, and is not spread by personal contact or by drinking water.

Preventing Legionnaire's Disease and ASHRAE Guideline 12

A high number of Legionella cases can be traced back to insufficient filtration and water handling techniques in a cooling tower and other types of heating and cooling systems. ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) has published guidelines on ways to reduce the risk of Legionella . The prevention of Legionnaire's Diseases is covered in Guideline 12, where evaporative heat rejection equipment such as cooling towers and evaporative condensers are noted as possible causes of the disease. Their recommended solution is given in section 7.6.1 which states that "Keeping the system clean reduces nutrients available for Legionella growth....centrifugal gravity-type separators and bag-type filters can be used to assist in removal of debris..."

LAKOS Solutions

Visit our Hospital solutions page for more information about Legionella and other hospital filtration solutions.

And DOWNLOAD our "Legionella Prevention" brochure with more details about how the risk of Legionella can be reduced through proper filtration.

 

Cooling Tower Filtration Saves Water Though Often Overlooked

The seventh annual report on the Green Building movement was released in November by the publishers of Building Design+Construction magazine. Co-sponsors include the Department of Energy, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI), and the U.S. General Services Administration, among others. This time the focus is on water, and how its growing scarcity is creating special challenges for sustainable design and construction. The challenges are many.

Among the findings:

• Virtually every state and region in the USA will experience some degree of water shortage in the next 10 years
• Landscape irrigation and cooling towers use much more water than all the household plumbing fixtures like toilets and faucets combined
• Although there have been great efficiency improvements in plumbing products the past 20 years, older plumbing systems and waste caused by other components of water systems still lead to considerable waste
• The entire report can be downloaded here 

Despite the length (48 pages) and the publisher's well written Action Plan list of 21 detailed recommendations for the building industry and government agencies, there appear to be several glaring shortcomings in the report:

1. Neither California, New Mexico, or Michigan completed surveys that provided the data for the report.
2. Several water usage benchmarks cited in the report might be questioned by industry professionals, including typical water consumption of cooling towers.
3. One of the most effective methods to make water and the equipment used in "water handling processes" more efficient (eg HVAC, irrigation, residential water supplies, process cooling, etc) is effective FILTRATION. By keeping the water in "water systems" as free of troublesome solids as possible, the components can work at their highest efficiency. However, when dirt and silt and scale or other solids are in the system, nothing works as well as it should. Yet, the word "filter" was only used twice in the 48-page report, and that was not related to cooling towers or irrigation at all -- the two biggest uses of water.

Cooling Tower Filtration Omitted

Nothing was mentioned in the report how cooling tower filtration prevents the need to shut down the system for manual basin cleaning, or how blowdown is reduced as a result, or how proper filtration can reduce the spread of Legionnaire's Disease and other diseases. And filtration using centrifugal separators is even more effective, since it eliminates the need to replace cartridge and bag filters that absorb water and lead to water waste. Not to mention the waste of the bag/cartridge itself.

Want to see examples of how different filtration solutions can be applied to cooling towers?

Download our Cooling Tower Filtrations Brochure and see the many ways in which effective filtration can maximize the efficiency of cooling towers and other key components in an HVAC or process cooling system. And yield many other benefits as well.

 

Cooling Tower Filtration Energy Savings and ROI Calculator

Energy savings resulting from using one product or another are easy claims to make. Often much harder to prove. The same is true when claiming reduced water usage in commercial heating and air conditioning systems.

But when it comes to cooling tower filtration, the benefits of installing an effective filtration system can be measured in actual dollars. And those cost savings can be HUGE. If you systematically consider the local kilowatt hour costs, labor costs, water costs, decreased labor time saved by automating the filtration process (instead of manual basin cleaning), number and size of chillers, etc, and other factors, the actual costs and savings can be determined.

And by factoring in the cost of an automated filtration solution, a Return On Investment can be accurately calculated.

And that is not even taking into account the other benefits of effective cooling tower filtration, which include:

• Reduced risk of Legionella growth
• A GREENER facility with higher sustainability
  

A spreadsheet capturing all of this information has been developed and is available for download. It includes industry standard fouling factors for chillers, typical replacement time and costs to manually clean heat exchangers, and other cost and energy use assumptions based upon U.S. Department of Energy published standards.

What about YOUR cooling towers and chillers?

How much $MONEY would YOU save by installing such a system?

Download our energy savings and ROI calculator and find out today !