For those of us who have been around boilers and cooling towers for years now, it can be easy to forget how we may have struggled when we first learned about controlling the chemistry of boilers and cooling towers. After running all the chemical tests, where do you start when the phosphate is too high, Conductivity too low, sulfite nonexistent and molybdate off the charts? Even better, how would you explain this decision process to a new operator? CYCLES OF CONCENTRATION The first place you always start is cycles of concentration. You may measure cycles by measuring conductivity or chlorides. If everything else is running normally, when the cycles are too high, everything else should be proportionally too high. When the cycles are too low, everything else should be proportionally too low. When the cycles are brought back under control, the other parameters should come back within range too. More to follow…..
