VDI2035: We need to talk about Chemicals…

Chemical treatment for closed loop networks, it can be argued, is just throwing good money after bad, or figuratively and sometimes literally, putting it straight down the drain. In twenty years of design and operational engineering consultancy I have not met a water treatment company that does not recommend throwing more chemicals at the problem. Who can blame them when their reason for being is to deliver chemical solutions? Herein lies the problem, as often chemicals are just papering the cracks rather than offering a true solution to the problem.  

Because of this we’ve been looking at alternative options and so have been looking at VDI2035, The German Association of Engineers, water quality standards. VDI uses no chemicals or biocides just demineralised water and claims that once at VDI levels corrosion and bacteria cannot take place. Our initial thoughts on the benefits are:

• Reduction of management time on monitoring, analysing and acting on the test reports.
• Reduced service charge spend with no chemicals and reduced engineer call-outs.
• Once at VDI quality the network is protected against building shut-down – very applicable when systems are not operating out of season and now with reduced operation during COVID.
• Sustainable and environmental benefits to pass up to the client. 
• Improved system efficiency meaning happier tenants and building management teams.
• No water licenses required and no chemical handling issues.  

Our first install is a commercial office block consisting of two buildings of 6 and 11 floors where we had been experiencing significant water quality issues over the last four years.  At the last water quality test, most counts were raised beyond acceptable control limits.  Despite chemical treatments and our own efforts of increased strainer regimes, side filtration and a host of other actions, the problems persisted.

We selected Elysator as it ticked the box on product quality, previous projects and technical knowledge.  It’s important that the system expansion and pressurisation is correct so we engaged a specialist to assess the existing installations and undertake remedial works and recommissioning. This ensures the circuits are correct and we are ensuring the Elysator’s are working at peak performance.  

We expect to see a return on the investment in the next 4-5 Years. Once working we forecast the opex to be just 10% of the current annual costs of our current standard water treatment. We also expect to see benefits of no additional flush costs and secondary repairs and replacements due to the effects of poor water quality. We were considering a full system flush and chemical clean and the anticipated high costs of this across the two buildings consolidated our decision for both the technical and financial benefits of installing Elysator.  

Our install is happening now, and we have an independent witness to test the results. We will keep updating you on our chemical free journey and detail our findings.