Hot Tip #5 – Water Hardness

Has your plant ever run on hard water, even for only a day?  How damaging could 1 day be?  If a laundry is using 200 gallons of water per minute with a water hardness of 20 grains: The total mass of hardness that should be removed if the facility were to run for 16 hours is?

A) 0.25 pounds   B) 2.5 pounds  C) 25 pounds    D) 250 pounds  E) More than A, B, C & D combined.

Calculation:

(200 GPM * 60 Minutes/hour * 16 hours * 20 Grains) / 7,000 Grains per pound = 548.6 pounds

This 548 pounds hardness (Calcium & Magnesium) would have a volume of approximately 50 gallons! If your boiler is using 5% of your total water, then approximately 2.5gallons of contamination could occur in 1 day of running hard.  This is enough contaminate to cover the tubes in a 400-horsepower boiler with 0.002 inches of insulator! Imagine using 2.5 gallons of paint per day to coat your boiler tubes!

Calculation: 

(2.5 Gallons * 231 Cu. In. /Gallon) / (400 BHP * 5 Sq. Ft. /BHP * 144 Sq. In. / Sq. Ft.) = 0.002 Inches