Save on Equipment Lifetime Cost: How Elgressy Extends the Life of Chillers, Cooling Towers and Pipes
Chillers, condensers, cooling towers, pumps and piping are among the most expensive assets in any building or plant. How long they last depends heavily on one thing many owners overlook: the water that runs through them. Good water treatment is one of the surest ways to extend chiller life.
Scale, corrosion and biofilm quietly shorten equipment life, year after year. This article explains how water quality decides your equipment’s lifetime cost, and how the chemical-free Elgressy EST (Electrolysis Scale Treatment) and EEC (Electro-Coagulation) systems help your equipment last longer.
How long should your equipment last?
ASHRAE’s equipment life data give chillers, cooling towers, base-mounted pumps and shell-and-tube heat exchangers a typical service life of around 20 to 25 years. That is the life you paid for when you bought the equipment.
In practice many systems never reach it. Condenser tubes are retubed early, cooling tower fill is replaced, pipes leak and pumps wear out years ahead of schedule. In water-cooled systems, the most common reasons are the same three problems:
- Corrosion eats away tube walls, pipes, valves and pump parts.
- Scale insulates heat transfer surfaces, so chillers run harder and hotter, and acid cleaning to remove scale also attacks the metal.
- Biofilm and algae cause under-deposit corrosion and clog fill, strainers and nozzles.
Why corrosion rate matters so much
Water treatment specialists measure corrosion in mils per year (mpy), the thickness of metal lost each year. The industry classification for open recirculating cooling water rates carbon steel as follows:
| Carbon steel corrosion rate | Classification |
|---|---|
| 0 – 1 mpy | Excellent |
| 1 – 3 mpy | Mild or very good |
| 3 – 5 mpy | Good |
| 5 – 8 mpy | Moderate to fair |
| 8 – 10 mpy | Poor |
| More than 10 mpy | Very poor to severe |
The difference is large. At 2 mpy, steel loses about 0.05 mm a year. At 10 mpy, it loses about 0.25 mm a year, five times faster. Over the life of a system, that is the difference between pipes that last and pipes that leak.
Under chemical treatment, the corrosion rate depends on correct dosing every single day. A missed delivery, a failed pump or a wrong setting, and the metal pays the price.
How Elgressy EST helps extend chiller life
Elgressy EST treats cooling tower and chiller water by electrolysis, with no chemicals. It tackles corrosion, scale and biofilm at the same time, so the whole cooling system works better and longer.
- Guaranteed corrosion rate of maximum 2 mpy. That is in the “mild or very good” class for carbon steel, without relying on corrosion inhibitor chemicals.
- Scale collects in the reactor, not in your chillers. More than 30% of the calcium is precipitated inside the EST reaction tanks before it can form scale. At one client site, more than 50 kg of scale was collected in six months, and none of it deposited in the pipes, towers, pumps, valves or chillers.
- No more acid cleaning damage. When heat exchangers stay clean, there is no need for the aggressive acid cleanings that remove scale and metal together.
- Biofilm and algae under control. EST continuously generates a low level of oxidant from the water itself, so bacteria and algae cannot build up on surfaces.
- Less wear on chillers. Clean condenser tubes keep approach temperatures low, so compressors do not have to work harder and hotter. At Tec de Monterrey, approach temperatures stayed low without cleaning.
- A long-life system itself. EST runs for a minimum of 15 years with proper maintenance, at low recurring cost.
The result: EST helps extend chiller life and the life of the whole water-treated system, from condenser and chiller tubes to cooling tower fill, pipes, valves and pumps.
How Elgressy EEC protects wastewater and reuse equipment
In wastewater and water reuse systems, Elgressy EEC protects equipment downstream by removing what damages it.
- Removes scale-forming silica and heavy metals. At Eagle Cement in the Philippines, EEC reduced silica from 180 ppm to 8 ppm. Silica is one of the hardest scales to remove from membranes and heat exchangers.
- Pre-treatment for reverse osmosis. Removing contaminants before R/O helps protect the membranes from fouling and scaling.
- Fewer corrosive salts. Because EEC uses no reagents, it reduces sodium, sulfates and chlorides in the effluent compared with chemical treatment.
- No chemical handling equipment to wear out. There are no dosing pumps or chemical tanks to maintain and replace.
A simple example: what shorter equipment life costs
The figures below are an illustration only, using round assumptions. Replace them with your own.
| Item | Equipment lasts 20 years | Equipment lasts 15 years |
|---|---|---|
| Replacement value of chillers, condensers, tower, pumps and piping | THB 40,000,000 | THB 40,000,000 |
| Cost per year of equipment life | THB 2,000,000 | THB 2,670,000 |
| Extra cost per year from shorter life | – | THB 670,000 |
Losing five years of equipment life costs this plant about THB 670,000 every year, or around THB 13 million over 20 years. That is before early repairs such as condenser retubing or fill replacement, and before the downtime those repairs cause.
Chemical treatment vs Elgressy EST and EEC at a glance
| Chemical treatment | Elgressy EST / EEC | |
|---|---|---|
| Corrosion control | Depends on correct daily dosing | Guaranteed maximum 2 mpy (EST) |
| Scale | Slowed down, still builds up over time | Collected in the reactor, existing scale gradually removed |
| Acid cleaning | Needed regularly, attacks metal | Largely avoided |
| Chiller workload | Rises as tubes foul | Approach temperature stays low |
| Wastewater salts | Chemicals add sodium, sulfates, chlorides | Reduced, as no reagents are used (EEC) |
| Treatment system life | Dosing pumps and tanks need replacing | EST runs a minimum of 15 years with proper maintenance |
Five questions to ask about your equipment
- What corrosion rate do your coupons or probes show, and is it measured regularly?
- How old are your chillers, condensers and cooling towers, and when do you expect to replace them?
- Have you retubed a condenser or replaced cooling tower fill earlier than planned?
- How often do your heat exchangers need acid cleaning?
- What did you spend on pipe, valve and pump repairs in the last five years?
Frequently asked questions
Can water treatment really extend chiller life? Yes. Corrosion, scale and biofilm are the main causes of early failure in water-cooled equipment. Controlling all three protects tubes, pipes, fill, valves and pumps.
What corrosion rate does EST guarantee? A maximum of 2 mpy, which falls in the “mild or very good” class for carbon steel in cooling water.
Does EST help older systems? Yes. EST gradually removes existing scale and stops new scale and corrosion, which can add useful years to equipment that is already in service.
How long does an EST system last? EST runs for a minimum of 15 years with proper maintenance, with low recurring cost.
How do I know the lifetime savings for my site? We calculate them from your equipment list, maintenance and repair history, and operating data, using conservative assumptions.
Get your free lifetime cost and ROI assessment
Click here to open our water questionnaire, complete all required data and send us your water parameters, equipment age, repair and replacement history, and chemical, energy, water and maintenance costs. We will calculate what it is worth to extend chiller life at your site, plus the payback, ROI and IRR of switching to Elgressy EST or EEC. Contact Water Treatment Asia for a free demonstration.
Read more: Cooling tower downtime cost, Non-chemical vs chemical cooling tower treatment, EST overview and EEC electro-coagulation.
Sources
- ASHRAE equipment service life data, as published in ASHRAE Equipment Life Expectancy chart
- Bond Water Technologies, Standards for Corrosion Rates
- Elgressy EST and EEC client results as reported by Water Treatment Asia
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