Get Filtration on Your Side (Stream)

For building occupants,  this can lead to water being too hot or too cold. For maintenance engineers, this can cause difficulties such as fouled heat exchangers and sticking valves, too-frequent maintenance and too much system downtime. 

As you would expect in a Water Circuit, the issues all arise directly or indirectly from the water itself. What you might not expect is that they can all be avoided. 

Where there’s water…

…there’s corrosion. Which means that eventually the water will contain corrosion products as suspended solids and biofilm.

At best, these will abrade, corrode and wear the system pipework and components as they travel around it. At worst, they will come to rest in heat exchangers or valves and inhibit their proper function – which is when the building occupants start looking for a fan or an extra jumper - and start to complain!

Sometimes the extent of fouling will be such that dismantling and cleaning the components is the only option. 

Water can also be an ideal medium for micro-organism contamination. Bacteria will circulate within the system and some will coat the interior of the pipework with a biofilm.

Biocide treatment will neutralise the contamination but then the treated organisms – although no longer growing – will become suspended solids that cause problems already outlined. 

However, there is a solution that will help you to avoid contaminants of all kinds mentioned above in the Closed Loop Water Circuit. Just move to the Side (Stream)!

Side Stream filtration. Mainstream solution

The Building Services Research and Information Association (BSRIA Publication BG29/20/12; pre-commission Cleaning of Pipework Systems), recommends a permanent Side Stream filtration system - for initial clean-up and ongoing maintenance of pipework systems.

Amazon Filters is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of this type of filter system and understand the specific requirements of Closed Loop Water Circuits in the Building Services sector. In addition, Amazon’s SupaSpun II cartridge filters are one of the very few products to be accredited by the Water Industry for use in this specific market. 

An Amazon Filters Side Stream filtration system is typically installed in a building in the Plant Room. Depending on the water pressure, this will either be on the positive side of the system pumps or in a separate loop system - with an independent booster pump. 

Once installed, the Amazon filter system removes the contaminants – and the problems that go with them!

Absolute filtration

An Amazon Filters Side Stream filtration system is designed to treat 5-15% of the main water circuit flow in a Closed Loop Water Circuit. The treatment will remove not only suspended solids but also the chemically treated biomass.

A typical system consists of an Amazon Stainless Steel 61 Series filter housing and Amazon SupaSpun II filter cartridges. These filters are available in a range of micron ratings, so as the re-circulating water becomes cleaner, a finer filter can then be installed to remove ever-smaller contaminants. 

For  most effective filtration, Amazon Filters recommend using absolute rated filters, which maintain their efficiency throughout their whole service lifetime, even if the water conditions vary. So, you can be sure for the long-term that your Closed Loop Water Circuit will not cause you any problems. And neither will your building’s occupants!