Water - we keep it pure and simple

The ability of pure water to evaporate off glass without a mark or stain was the catalyst in bringing the water treatment industry and water fed pole systems together in the late nineties. The science of pure water can be complicated and perplexing. This has led to some over engineered and poorly designed water quality systems in our industry. It is a problem that has led many companies to seek our advice. In recent times we have revamped many systems originally produced by competitors.

As our background in water treatment goes back over many years we like to think we understand water better than most. As previous stated we believe in keeping things simple. This is why we base many of our systems, mobile and otherwise, on deionised (DI) resins. DI resins are very robust in all kinds of operating circumstances, eg hot and cold weather conditions, and have the ability of removing nearly all impurities in water. This is done with just a single piece of equipment at a very reasonable price. It also enables water fed poles to operate from any direct water source such as an outside tap.

Pure water can be made in very large quantities and at an even lower cost using reverse osmosis (RO) technology. RO uses a membrane to divide water into two steams. The impurities are constantly washed away to drain. The product water is 95% to 98% pure. RO systems are ideal for making water 24 hours a day as part of a static water making facility. This can be located in a garage, factory unit or even in a garden shed. The stored water can then be pumped across, as needed, to a mobile tank set-up in a van or trailer. Water softeners are also incorporated in areas where the incoming water supply is very hard.

It is difficult to store water at a constant high level of purity. The tendency of pure water is to leach at anything it touches. DI resins are therefore used to ‘polish’ stored

Pure water -
making it the right way

Pole users often criticise their equipment because it cannot make pure water quickly enough, in the volume they need and at a realistic cost. The fault can lie with poor equipment but is often inappropriate equipment or equipment being asked to perform in unrealistic surroundings.
Reverse osmosis (RO) is a good case in point. It is a remarkable technology capable of producing pure water in large volumes. However, it works best in a controlled environment. RO was not designed to be jogged around in the back of a van. RO systems, particularly unpumped systems, produce water very slowly often to the point of frustration. A cold environment, in the back of a truck, can exacerbate low flow further.
We prefer to use pumped RO systems, which use pressures against the membrane of around 14 bar (200psi). Pure water is therefore produced much faster, in bigger volumes with excellent rejection characteristics. If the set up is right, particularly as part of a static water making facility, maintenance costs can be lower.
DI resins give considerable flexibility in use as already stated. They can take raw tap water and immediately boost it to a 99.9% purity rating. We use DI cylinders with poles directly connected to an outside tap and for filling mobile tanks. A 700 litre mobile tank can fill in 20 to 35 minutes depending on water pressure. DI cylinders can be transported easily enabling a mobile tank to be filled from any mains water source even when the poles are in operation. DI resins are not affected by heat or the cold. You can even freeze resin and then unfreeze it and it will still work perfectly - ideal for all year round weather conditions. DI resin is oftener criticised for being costly. This is relative to the circumstances in which it is being used. It has been proved by many operatives that it is simple, quick, easy, low maintenance and straightforward to understand.

Water treatment equipment

H2O for water fed pole glass cleaning needs to be 99.9% pure. When water is this good it will evaporate off glass without and mark or stain leaving windows sparkling clean. There are a number of water treatment systems available to provide the correct level of purity and the water quality in a locality will determine the water treatment that is required. Here is a brief resume of the water treatment available from Aquafactors.

Water softeners
Over 65% of the country suffers with hard water. The combination of calcium and magnesium hardness minerals creates more problems with glass cleaning than any other impurities. Although they cannot be used on their own, they do remove 100% of hardness and give protection to other water treatment systems such as reverse osmosis (RO) membranes.

Water softeners use an ion exchange process to remove the hardness minerals from water with a regeneratable resin. The resin collects the hardness minerals while giving up sodium to make the water soft. Salt is used to recharge and refresh the resin occasionally with sodium ions while the hardness minerals are flushed away to drain. The softened water is sodium biased. It is the softest mineral on our earth.

Aquafactors works alongside a sister company and shares considerable experience in both domestic and commercial water softening. This background in water softeners enables us to offer electrical and non electrical softeners from the one of the world’s leading suppliers.

Reverse osmosis
This remarkable system uses a membrane technology to separate out the majority of organic and inorganic impurities in water. The purity of the resulting water is around 94 to 98% depending on the incoming water quality. In some areas of the country the incoming water is so soft (Wales and Scotland) that the water is good enough to be used directly on glass. In other areas (the South East) RO requires the water to be pre-treated (softened) to protect the membrane. Even then the resulting water quality still requires to be further improved using a deionised (DI) resin.

Deionisers
Deionisers are the water treatment backbone of the water fed pole industry. They use a resin which is able to take raw tap water and remove virtually all contaminants giving a 99.9% purity rating. This is good enough to use straight on the glass. The equipment (a cylinder containing DI resin) is straightforward to understand and easy to use. As Di resin can be exhausted fairly quickly in this mode it is often criticised for its expense but the simplicity of the system is a huge benefit. Most customers use deionisers as a ‘polishing’ medium after RO. This lifts the purity rating from 98% to 99.9%. As this improvement in purity is so small the resin can last a considerable period of time.

Ultra Violet (UV) systems
Aquafactors market a low voltage UV steriliser for mobile tank systems which use hot water. It was introduced by us following concerns shown by many competitors worried about the dangers of Legionella. A fact sheet on these products is available on request.

Private water supply equipment
When a static water making facility is required to be fitted in a location which has water supplied from a bore hole, well or another form of private supply, the water quality may not be to the standard of mains water. Specific water treatment may be required. Iron problems, for instance, can cause resin binding and therefore it is necessary to further treat the water in addition to the systems already mentioned. In most cases a water analysis will highlight any short comings.