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

How Biofilms Form on Surfaces By Swimming Cells

In a very interesting article by Medical Design Technology titled "Findings Suggest How Swimming Cells Form Biofilms on Surfaces", scientists at Purdue University’s School of Mechanical Engineering modeled how biofilms actually draw swimming bacteria to the film and how bacterial colonies to thrive on surfaces.  It is interesting how the same mechanism which causes fouling of implantable medical devices, fouls our UPW distribution systems, industrial pipes and boat propellers. 

This model confirms what we see in the field that once a biofilm takes hold, the problem seems to accelerate in severity. This is why Res-Kem recommends routine sanitizations of water treatment distribution systems to remove biofilms.

For More Information:
To schedule a system sanitization
To purchase the research paper titled "Effect of solid boundaries on swimming dynamics of microorganisms in a viscoelastic fluid" by G. -J. Li, A. Karimi, A. M. Ardekani  in the Rheologica Acta, published on Aug. 31, 2014

Water Treatment Ecommerce Site Open For Business

Our new E-commerce Web Site for water treatment, http://reskem.ecolab.com is ready to accept orders for many of the replacement parts you need for your industrial water treatment system!  As a Guest user, you will have access to all of the parts at list price.  You can become a Registered User by contacting Res-Kem. In future posts, I will explain the Salesforce App we use called CloudCraze to make the storefront work!

Front Page of Ecommerce Site

One of the advanced features on our site are our "Interactive Drawings" for  the Pentair Fleck 2750, 2850, 2850S, 2900, 3150, 3900, 5600, 9000, 9100, and 9500 valves. You select the correct part clicking on the drawing and then putting it into your cart.  Pentair Fleck valves are very complex and the drawings make it easier to select the correct parts.

Interactive Drawing for Pentair Fleck 2750 Valve

 Current Products on Ecommerce Site:

• All Pentair Fleck Valves & Parts
• All Aquamatic Controllers, Valve Nests, Valves & Parts
• Over 200 Cartridge Filters from multiple manufacturers
• Sample Coolers
• Resin Traps  

Coming soon, we will be adding:

• UV Bulbs, Sleeves and other replacement parts
• Filter Housings
• More Filter Manufacturers
• Filter Media
• Ion Exchange Resins
• Softeners, Carbon Filters, Multi-media Filters and Sand Filters up to 48" in diameter
• ...and more

Advantages of Becoming a Registered User:

• Access your negotiated pricing anywhere using any web connected phone, tablet, or computer
• Order using a purchase order, P-card, or credit card
• View your order history and generate purchase records
• Reorder a previous purchase
• Save carts with frequently ordered part bundles, e.g. weekly, monthly, or annual purchases
• Order for and ship to multiple locations
• Have a single spare parts list and source for all of your water treatment equipment  

Take Our Survey:
After you have visited our Ecommerce site and possibly purchased parts, please take this survey. 

 

For More Information:

Call 800-323-1983 if you have any questions about the website. 

Become a Registered User
Other Ecommerce Site FAQ's
 

Condensate Polisher Shipped to Canada

Recently, we shipped a sodium cycle condensate polisher to Ontario, Canada for a combined cycle power plant.  The system was constructed entirely of 304 stainless steel.

Sodium Cycle Condensate Polisher for Ontario Power Plant

The features of this system include:

Company	Combined Cycle Power plant
Water Treatment Application	Condensate Polisher to scavenge trace hardness and iron from returning condensate
Savings and/or ROI	Loss Prevention keeping heat transfer surfaces clean and reliable for years of trouble free operation
Operating Conditions	Return Condensate flow rate is between 30-90 gpm
System Configuration	24” diameter Simplex
Materials Of Construction	304 Stainless Steel, CRN code stamped pressure vessel
Piping Construction	All Welded and Flanged Face 304 Stainless Steel piping
Type Of Valves And Actuators	All Bray valve Lug style-  150 ANSI flanges
Control Philosophy	Customer supplied their own PLC panel. Res-Kem supplied the enclosure with DIN rail mounted solenoids. Enclosure also had room for customer supplied HMI
Options	CRN code stamped pressure vessel Sub-surface wash

 

304 Stainless Steel Sub-Surface Wash and Hub and Laterals Distributors

 

Iron, Manganese, Sulfur-The Troublesome Trio

Commonly referred to as the Troublesome Trio, Iron, Manganese and Sulfur, although not a real health concern, these dastardly elements will reap havoc on a plumbing system.  As little as 0.05ppm of Manganese will cause staining of plumbing fixtures.  Only 0.5 ppm of iron will cause staining.  And Sulfur?  P.U.!  Need I say more?

To battle the Trio, professionals have traditionally used Ion Exchange water softeners and Oxidation/Reduction media.  Ion Exchange only works on dissolved iron and manganese and is prone to fouling and won't treat sulfur.  So my experience is to apply oxidation media that has been treated with a coating of Manganese Dioxide.  These media are popular in the industry and are sold under the trade names of Birm, MTM,  Pyrolox, Filox, and Greensand Plus.  All these media have different percentages of manganese dioxide coatings.  The amount of coating determines their capacity.  The key to success lies with this capacity.

Manganese Dioxide acts as a catalyst that utilize oxidizers fed into the water stream ahead of the media bed to perpetuate the oxidation and reduction process.  Pre-feeding oxidizers is commonly called "regeneration". Please note, in all my years of experience, your success with these media depends heavily on choosing the correct oxidizer.  It is a VERY rare application where you don't need to pre-feed an oxidizer.   The most popular oxidizers are potassium permanganate (very messy because it stains everything purple) , Sodium hypochlorite (bleach), Air, or 7% Hydrogen Peroxide.  The most popular is bleach.  Be careful to follow the manufacturers guidelines for feeding oxidants.  To much will strip off the manganese dioxide coating.

Now The Exciting News:
Prince Minerals has developed a new Media called Pyrolox Advantage (PA).  PA is manufactured with a proprietary process that gives it a high capacity, yet maintains a lighter-than-most density so backwash rates are greatly reduced over traditional Manganese Dioxide products.  Thus the "Advantage" part.  Additionally, its lighter density will make it a direct replacement for another popular media called Greensand Plus.  An even bigger advantage, is that Pyrolox Advantage has nearly 3X the oxidation capacity.  Its increased capacity will lengthen run time between back washing saving significant amounts of water.  To conclude, if you are currently filtering with greensand plus or are battling any of the Troublesome Trio, please try Pyrolox Advantage.  It's priced right to win the fight!