Who do you call when you get weird water? Watertech of America of course!
Part of my job is to field calls from technicians whose water just turned weird. Troubleshooting these strange situations is one of my favorite tasks in water treatment. The purpose of this post is to help boiler and cooling maintenance technicians have a better understanding of what to do when they encounter unusual events and how to assess when it is necessary to sound the alarm and seek help.
When your water gets weird it is good to be acquainted with the normal readings for each component in your boiler or cooling system – testing for criteria such as the level of the dissolved solids, pH, total hardness, and alkalinity. Obtaining these readings quickly and accurately when experiencing weird conditions provides critical clues to solving the mystery. Boilers, closed loops, and cooling towers all have certain parameters for water quality.
Failure to maintain these parameters, and to keep contaminants out, will certainly cause you to have ‘weird’ water.
Common causes of weird water:
- No chemical treatment or improper treatment
- Pre-treatment equipment failure (softeners/reverse osmosis/filters)
- Major water loss causing excessive makeup water (leads to added oxygen as well)
- Process contamination
- Microbiological activity
- Reduced system operation leading to stagnant water
What can you do to resolve the problem?
You basically have 3 options when issues arise, and a quick remedy is needed:
1. Call in a water treatment expert
- If you currently don’t have one, finding the right one could take some time
- There could be added costs for them to conduct an analysis
- The problem will be identified relatively quickly, and a solution would be recommend
2. Test the water yourself
- You need to know where to sample
- You need to possess the proper testing equipment·
- You need to know what tests you are running
- You will still need someone to help interpret the results and provide a solution
3. Send a sample of the water to a lab or water treater
- You need to determine the best place to send the sample
- Some parameters are time sensitive and require special bottles
- A good water treatment company will likely test the water for free
- You will still need someone to help interpret the results and provide a solution
Some locations to pull water samples and what to use for testing.
The yellow circles below show some recommend locations to pull water samples from basic cooling and boiler systems.
COOLING SAMPLE SITES
BOILER SAMPLE SITES
Below are pictures of some basic and inexpensive test kits you could carry with you to obtain some of the high-level parameters a water treater would start with.
Iron test kits identify potential corrosion issues and the source of colored water
Test Strips are inexpensive and easy to store and use. A great way to obtain quick answers in the field when troubleshooting. Strips can be used for a variety of tests such as total hardness, free chlorine, pH, iron and many other constituents.
Conductivity or TDS meters let you know if the level of "stuff" dissolved in your water has changed.
By having a few testing tools on hand, the next time you encounter abnormal water conditions you will be prepared to provide the critical information needed to help find a resolution to the problem.
Do you need help with testing?
If you run across weird water and do not have the ability to run some basic tests – Watertech can provide you with sample collection bottles to send in for professional analysis. Detecting problems early can help avoid costly fixes. Contact us today for sample collection bottles and return mailing label. Simply fill out the form below and leave a brief note about what you are experiencing in the comment field and one of our technical engineers will be in touch.
Do you need better diagnostic tools?
If you are a mechanical contractor, project engineer, or maintenance person that runs into “weird water” on a regular basis – let us know and we can help provide the diagnostic tools to communicate with us so we can help you return things to normal.
For more information, click the link below and fill out the form. Mention “Free Test Kit” in your comments to be entered for a chance to win a free starter test kit!
Ed Dimler | Territory Manager - Iowa
Ed has worked in the water treatment industry for 31 years and has experience in boiler, cooling, and wastewater chemical treatment programs. Ed leads educational training events and seminars to promote better water management and improve safety. He is a member of ISHE and holds a BA from St Mary's College. Contact him directly at 563-419-8106, edimler@watertechusa.com or follow him on
LinkedIn.