RO Membrane Cleaning-Offsite

If you have an RO system, periodically you will need to clean your membranes. We can provide off-site membrane cleaning services that are designed to improve the performance and extend the useful life of your RO elements. Using our proprietary off-site membrane cleaning stations, strict protocol, automation, and specialty cleaning products, we can handle your toughest RO membrane fouling problems.

RO Membrane Cleaning Skid

Why Offsite RO Membrane Cleaning?
The results of off-site cleaning can be dramatically different than on-site cleaning using a clean-in-place (CIP) process. Our specially designed off-site membrane cleaning stations combine the right type of flows, temperatures, pressures, and time with a broad spectrum of cleaning solutions capable of handling your toughest foulants to ensure a thorough cleaning.

For More Information Contact Us

"Teaching People What They Need"

My normal focus in this blog is water treatment.  I am going to take a tangent today because my favorite blogger, Seth Godin, had a very interesting post last week titled "Give the people what they want" and the next line was "...isn't nearly as powerful as teaching people what they need." His posts are always thought provoking and this one explains how we like to do business which, quoting Seth again, is to "take your time and invest in a process that helps people see what they truly need". 

Many times per day, prospects will ask for a specific water technology like RO, DI, Fleck valves, AquaMatic, etc.  The easy thing to do would be to flip a budget price back for the system or product that may or may not perform for you.  What we do is to take a step back and ask a few key questions to insure the product you buy from us will match your water quality and quantity requirements.  It takes a little time, and it is the correct way to operate.

This list of questions has been posted previously, but it does not hurt to remind everyone:

1. What are the average, minimum, and peak flow rates you need from the water treatment system?
2. Is the flow continuous or how many shifts do you operate during the day?
3. Do you have or plan to have a tank after the water treatment system?
4. What is the source of your water and do you have an untreated water analysis?
5. What is the water used for and do you have a treated water specification?
6. What are the required temperature and pressure of the treated water?
7. What level of automation do you need, i.e. manual, semi-automatic or fully automatic?
8. Are there any special requirements for the system?
9. When do you need the quotation by?
10. When do you need the system to be installed?

With these questions answered, we can offer a properly sized, cost effective solution to your water treatment problem with minimal maintenance.

Remember to sign up for Seth's blog!

Additional Information:
Printable questionnaire
For technical questions

Winter Storm Service Update

With travel bans in the Northeast States, DI deliveries, equipment repair services and scheduled PM services out of our locations in New Britain, CT and Raynham, MA are suspended for today.  Given the track of the storm, we should be back in operation starting tomorrow.

Call 800-323-1983 if you have any questions or critical needs

DI deliveries, equipment repair services and scheduled PM services out of our Aston, PA and Colonial Heights, VA locations are close to normal.

DI deliveries, equipment repair services and scheduled PM services  out of our Linden, NJ location should be in full operation by tomorrow morning.

Grand Opening of New Jersey Service Center

We now have the dates for the two grand opening days at our new Linden, New Jersey Service Center.  The dates are January 27 and 28 from Noon to 3:00PM.  Here are links to the event registration web pages:
Tuesday, January 27
Wednesday, January 28

Linden, NJ Service Center

From this 10,000 sq ft facility, our driver with our truck delivers DI tanks of all sizes to our North Jersey, NYC, and Southeastern NY area customers.  Also, this facility is the base of operations for Preventative Maintenance, Microbiological Control, RO, and pretreatment Break/Fix services provided by our Service Team.

Service DI Tanks of All Sizes

Additional Information:
E-Commerce Site for Replacement Parts for your Water Treatment Equipment
For Help with a Water Treatment Problem
Visit the Res-Kem Website for Systems, Service and Parts

North Jersey Service Center Opens in Linden, NJ

To serve our customers in North Jersey, Eastern New York and Long Island better, we opened our 10,000 sqft service center in Linden, NJ.  From this location, we will delivery our DI tanks using our own delivery trucks.  Also, we provide Break/Fix equipment service, Preventative Maintenance (PM) services, and Microbiological Control Programs for your industrial and commercial water treatment equipment.

Res-Kem's New Jersey Service Center Opened in November

In late January 2015, we will have an open house for current and new customers. 

Contact me if you want to receive an invitation.

Bacteria, Mold Spores and Viruses in Your Product

Waterborne Bacteria, Mold Spores and Viruses all threaten quality of your product. We are helping an increasing numbers of facilities that have recognized the inherent risk of microbiological contamination of the water used to make their product.

This occurs because water provides an effective medium for growth and transmission of bacteria, mold spores and viruses particularly where water stagnates in your plant.

Note: It’s not just pharmaceutical plants that are contacting us these days to help implement a microbiological control program!

If your facility uses water for/in blending, consumer products, personal care products, microelectronics manufacture, beverage production, packaging, etc., you should be increasing your awareness and building capability to monitor and control microbiological species of all types.

What can we do?

We can help you develop a microbiological control program that protects your plant and products! There are many methods of minimizing your risk in this area but all include a few different components:

• Prefiltration before your DI Process tanks
• A recirculation loop to keep the water moving and fresh
• A UV system which has very high effectiveness in removing protozoa, bacteria and viruses, and many options to fit your needs and budget
• A post filter to remove many of the matter left after UV destruction
• A PM (Preventative Maintenance) protocol that includes regular monitoring of multiple forms of bacteria, molds, and water borne contaminants.
• A PM schedule for maintenance and sanitization of your system including all piping and drop legs

For Additional Information:

Contact your regional technical support person to develop a microbiological control program

On modular treatment and recirculation systems for 4-50 gpm

To purchase replacement parts for your water treatment system

  

 

 

RO Cross Reference with Four Clicks

If you want to change your non-Filmtec RO membranes with Dow Filmtec, you should use the Dow Water and Process Solutions RO Cross Reference Guide.  With four simple clicks you can obtain immediate and appropriate FILMTEC™ product recommendations for products not built by FilmTec.


RO Cross Reference from Dow Chemical Company

To begin select the:

• Competitive supplier/manufacturer including GE Water, GE Osmonics, Hydranautics, Koch Fluid Systems, Nitto Denko, SaeHan, Toray and Trisep
• Element diameter
• Membrane type of the element
• Product from the filtered list with links to Dow Filmtec product literature

I found this excellent tool while researching RO elements I am adding to our ecommerce site.

Additonal Information:
RO Cross Reference Guide
Res-Kem Ecommerce Site
Res-Kem Industrial/Commercial RO Systems Product Line

Repeat Customer for Industrial Water Softener in Pennsylvania

After over 15 years of operation, one of Res-Kem's customers needed to replace their water softener systems and contacted us for help.

Dual 30" diameter Skid-Mounted Water Softener

Water treatment application:	Softener for boiler feed water
Savings and/or ROI the customer wants to achieve:	Replacing old system
Operating conditions:	24/7 operation, boiler make up
System configuration:	Dual alternating
Materials of construction:	30" diamter Steel tanks, skid mounted, Cast Iron Aquamatic valves Schedule 40 Black Iron Interconnecting Pipe
Threaded or welded:	Threaded
Type of valves and actuators:	Aquamatic V42 Series Cast Iron
Control philosophy:	Metered, Aquamatic controller

Additional Information:
Industrial Water Softener bulletin
Need system sizing help
Complete Res-Kem commercial and industrial water softener product line overview

Industrial Water Softener Installed-Before and After Photos

A Delaware cosmetic derivatives manufacturer installed a dual tank industrial water softener to replace their 25 year old zeolite softeners. The transformation of the building and installation of our water softeners by the mechanical contractor was exceptional!

BEFORE - Existing Softeners During Tearout

AFTER - New Dual Res-Kem Softeners Installed After Building Refurbishment

Water treatment application:	Replacing 25 year old zeolite softeners
Savings and/or ROI the customer wants to achieve	Clean up the zeolite operations and the room where they reside. Automate the regeneration process and the monitoring of the water softeners
Operating conditions:	60-120 gpm boiler make-up
System configuration:	Singe or Dual Parallel operation PLC controlled
Materials of construction:	Since the source water being well water and the room ambient air temperature can be very hot > 95 F, condensation that can form on the tanks, therefore fiberglass tanks were used. Schedule 80 CPVC was used to provide more strength to the system piping Valves were Bray butterfly valves all stainless wetted parts
Threaded or welded:	Glued, Schedule 80 CPVC and flanged unit piping
Type of valves and actuators:	All Bray valve Lug style, 150 ANSI flanges.  Solenoid were mounted directly on each valve to save wiring costs back to panels
Control philosophy:	The plant standardized their automation based upon Rockwell automation, so we provided the regeneration sequence and the necessary P&ID so their in-house PLC programmer.   His panel shop could outfit a local panel and Ethernet connection back to the main powerhouse control room.

Increase Commercial Water Softener Efficiency With a Twenty Dollar Part

On a recent sales call to a local dialysis clinic, the biomedical technician complained about a distinct loss of capacity in his water softener. Asking the typical diagnostic questions, such as resin age, brine system inspection, the Bio Med told me they recently upgraded their Reverse Osmosis machine and they are using considerably more water. End of story correct; more water used, more regenerations required? Well No. We ran the numbers and still concluded he was regenerating the softener too often. Something else was wrong.

 

Tank X-RAY

I had one last trick up my sleeve. “The Tank X-Ray”. Yes, folks, you can X-Ray a softener tank with a 500 watt halogen work light as sold in many home improvement stores. The X-Ray process is easy; you darken the room, turn on the light, and press it against the upper 1/2 of the tank. Now, this only works with a natural color fiberglass mineral tank. The bright light will not penetrate a painted tank. The light will let you gaze at the insides of the tank. Everything will appear as shadows.

 

What we discovered here was the resin beads were all bunched up to one side of the tank. NOT GOOD. The resin should appear as an even, level, dark line across the whole diameter of the tank. AH HA! This tank was suffering from a little known chronic problem called “Diffusion Exclusion”. Someone forgot to include the Inlet Diffuser/Disperser. The inlet diffuser is an option offered with the new control valve that regulates the resin regeneration process. This small critical part is often discarded as unidentifiable.

Pentair Fleck 2859 Valve Without Inlet Diffuser/Disperser  Installed

 

Don't Throw Away the Plastic Inlet Diffuser/Disperser on Left!

 

Penatir Fleck 19608-15 Inlet Diffuser/Disperser Installed on Pentair Fleck 2850 Valve

The inlet diffuser is attached to the underside of the control valve during tank assembly. Its main purpose it to diffuse the path of the water flowing into the resin bed during the DOWN FLOW service cycle. The diffuser forces the water evenly outside, then down. Without the diffuser, the water path is straight down. The result is a drilling effect. The drilling gets worse as the flow increases.

 

Two bad things happen:

1. The resin is usually blasted and gets bunched up.
2. You lose efficiency at high flow because the water isn't flowing evenly through the resin bed, it's drilling past it. 

In Conclusion:

Avoid Tank Turmoil. X-Ray your tank. It’s actually fun to do. Even more fun is to start your softener into a regeneration cycle and watch your resin expand upward during backwash and float around like lava, then see it settle down during the rinse cycles.

 
For More Information:
To Buy Fleck Valve Parts Use Our Interactive Drawings

• DISPERSER, COMMERCIAL 1 1/2"for 2850/2900/9500 Valves
• DISPERSER, COMMERCIAL, 2", for 3150 Valves

Links to Industrial and Commercial Water Softener information and bulletins
Pentair Fleck 2750 Valve Service Manual
Pentair Fleck 2850 Valve Service Manual
Pentair Fleck 2900S Valve Service Manual