Chiller Water Bacteria Treatment

[Lorenzo]

Hi Everyone,

Seems that my chiller water is having trouble staying clean, although we properly flushed and used an inhibitor upon start up  months later we have algae growing in the poly storage tank, this is a non Glycol system,( we are located in Florida), I have researched chemicals used in cooling towers for bacteria control and they seem too dangerous to use, some can't be shipped to Florida, others have suggested a simple Bromine inoculation, which is not as corrosive as Chlorine, others have said to just fill the system with Glycol anyway!

 Any comments on how to control the algae and bacteria in our small system ? Do any of you who are not using Glycol having similar problems ?

Thanks  Lorenzo

[Foreshot]

Potassium Metabisulfite and Potassium Sorbate. K-meta kills, K-sorb stops growth. We're going to be using it in our recycling system. Food safe. I don't know anyone using to fight algae but hey why not try? Both are fairly cheap to use in extra high doses.

https://ingredi.com/blog/potassium-sorbate-vs-campden-tablets-in-wine-making/

[FijiSpirits]

I’m vaguely remembering an old trick used to kill algae in ponds.  Something like copper or some such...

[Ish200]

The chiller water is not coming in contact with spirit right?

I know cooling tower systems out there that will use periodic dosing of bleach with a dosing pump (https://www.omega.com/en-us/valves-pumps-and-mixers/pumps/metering-pumps/php300-400-500/p/PHP-401-S?&ds_e_product_group_id=746149964108&ds_e_product_store_id=&ds_e_ad_type=pla&gclid=Cj0KCQjwqrb7BRDlARIsACwGad5x7WC9aeKeYUUiYWBtBEYg1TU8xcJQSMgFh7TUOZd7E63SfTr_J5saAh6aEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)

There are also bromine based biocides that are used in the cooling tower industry

Other crazy idea - put a UV light in your poly storage tank? I know there are expensive systems out there that pass the cooling water past a UV light but a simple solution might be to just stick one in the poly tank if there is some head space

some other ideas https://www.dober.com/water-treatment/cooling-tower-biocides#oxidizing_biocides

[Patio29Dadio]

Passing the water through a UV light is not that expensive.  You can find one on Amazon.com.  

[Lorenzo]

Thanks everyone, someone suggested to use a 30% glycol solution with an inhibitor, others the bromine systems, I do like the UV light system , looking into its effectiveness , so far its widely use for HVAC  supply/return systems.

Lorenzo