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While a mechanical float is the most popular choice for keeping your cooling tower filled with water it may not always be the best. The best choice is one that fits your needs for the life of the product it is designed to support. The other factors are serviceability, reliability and customer service.
PRODUCT COST
If you look at the cost of a mechanical float system for a cooling tower verses a Waterline Controls electronic water level control system you will notice a product cost disparity on the surface. But if you dig deeper and understand the overall impact of choosing a mechanical float you would quickly understand that it really costs a lot more to use than a Waterline Controls electronic water level control system. To understand why and how Waterline Controls Electronic Level Controls system are a better solution than any other electric water level controls please read my previous article “Straight Talk” – Waterline Controls is significantly different than other electric level controls.
There are two reasons why a mechanical float costs more than Waterline Controls: Lifespan and water usage. We assume a cooling tower has a lifespan of about twenty-five years. The operator(s) will replace that float system between five and eight times depending upon water quality and annual usage of the water cooling system. On average, the cost to replace the float system is about $700 each time along with an installation cost of about $250. Therefore, at a minimum, over the life of the cooling tower, it will cost between $4500 and $7200 for the mechanical float level controls. Secondly, with a mechanical float fill system, a chemical regimen for the tower consists of what is termed by the industry as “The Bleed and Feed method”. What that means is that the chemical feeder (mechanical or electronic) is set to feed chemical on some sort of regular basis to keep algae, bacteria and corrosion to a minimum while the water level bleed is set to send water to the drain so as to try to maintain a correct cycles of concentration of TDS. This drain rate is constant or programmed to a set rate. This creates the situation where the make-up fill water is now constantly feeding water in to the cooling tower basin too. The operator is bleeding water and chemical to the drain while adding fresh water and chemical back to the Cooling Tower basin – potentially using in excess both water and chemical.
With Waterline Controls the initial cost are only a little higher than a mechanical float. The Waterline controls and a Solenoid actuated valve combined cost about $1300.00 installed. The difference is that it is a one time only cost. – NEVER replace an electronic controller or Float switch again. The only moving part in the Waterline Controls unit costs $28.00 to replace and it should last for at least two million closures – This is the relay that operates the solenoid valve. The other cost is replacing the internal pieces of the solenoid valve at a cost of $75 every six years. The cost for the Waterline Controls is between $1900 to $2100 over twenty-five years, less than half the cost associated with mechanical float systems. Water consumption can be lower since the system is no longer set for a bleed and feed, but can be more accurately controlled by controlling the bleed more carefully. This can still be accomplished manually but more likely it will be accomplished with a TDS meter to measure and bleed when the cycles of concentration are met for draining off some water. This will save chemicals and water. When a float is used there is water turbulence in the basin and the float tends to overfill because of the water turbulence – potentially using more water and chemical than necessary to manage the cooling system.
COMMUNICATION
The only way to know if a mechanical float has failed is by physical inspection. This means you should go out to the tower and inspect this item at least once per day to make sure it has not failed. I have talked with many facility managers who have had a float failure causing water to flood areas without their knowledge. Some did not discover the problem until water was running off the top of the building.
WaterLine Controls electronically talks with the Building Automation System (BAS) using dry contacts. There is a set of dry contact for each of the level set-points including the fill switch. Waterline Controls will tell the operator how much water you use at any point in time, it will tell you about a high water condition or a lower water condition, it will even turn the basin heater off if the water falls too low. WaterLine Controls also looks for fault conditions, if the fill runs longer than expected it will tell the operator and reset itself, if the probes are fouled by floating debris or if the electronic controls have failed – it tells you by sending a fault signal to the BAS. It takes less time and effort to use WaterLine Controls than a mechanical float. An operator looks at the BAS everyday but cannot always afford the time to inspect the cooling tower float system everyday.
The other thing WaterLine Controls can do that a mechanical float cannot – provide the ability to develop trending and an efficiency benchmark for your Cooling tower water system. A flow meter and two temperature sensors are needed to round out the devices necessary to accomplish this task. You see the operator can calculate a theoretical water usage and compare it to the WaterLine Controls actual water usage, developing trending information and benchmarking for water consumption from evaporation and blow-down. Over the life of the system these benchmarks and trends can be predicted and used as tools to manage the cooling tower system.
Waterline Controls allows the operator to use two different water sources, one directly through the unit and another using the BAS.
Where and how mechanical float systems break and need replaced
The mechanical float is exactly that, a mechanical device. It has a host of different places it can break. The floating-ball portion of the float could get a hole in it and fill with water and under fill the tower and you would not know it until the chiller shut down. A float’s arm could break and over-fill the tower basin, sending water to the drain or all over the roof-top and you would not know it until the next inspection or water is running off the building. A float can stick open or closed when the gasket/seal fails. The gasket seal is the portion of the valve that stops water from flowing and is attached to the float. A float line could freeze and break since it is pressurized all the way out into the Tower basin. The water bill is another way of learning the hard way that the float has failed.
Where and how a Waterline Controls System can break and need replaced
There are only two moving parts, the relay that operates the valve and the valve itself. Stock the repair kits for both of these items and your system will never be down longer than an hour. The water source is pressurized to the valve and in cold climates the valve can be put indoors. If the electronics fail the Bas gets a fault signal instantly. The operator knows within minutes of all failures for Waterline Controls through the BAS.
Waterline Controls is the best choice and after twenty years of product sales it is the most accurate and reliable product developed for this application.
The author of this article is Bill Seneff, President of Waterline Controls, a manufacturer of electronic water level control systems for over 20 years. Contact Bill Seneff at (888) 905-1892 or via email at info@waterlinecontrols.com.
Three things to look for in a dependable, long-lasting and cost effective Electronic Water Level Control System
Shouldn’t an Electronic Water Level Controller last as long as the Cooling Tower itself? And, shouldn’t the entire controller unit never need to be replaced? Both of these requirements are certainly possible with the right design.
Major Failure Points
All electronic water level controllers have two major failure points – the relay in the controller that drives the solenoid valve and the solenoid-actuated valve itself. These are typically the only moving parts in an electronic water level control system. The field technician or facility maintenance person needs to be able to easily and quickly diagnose which part has failed.
The relay and valve fail for different reasons. The contacts on the relay fail after many years of operating the valve. However, when properly matched to the valve, they can last up to two million strikes before they fail – typically seven to twenty years depending upon the environment.
The solenoid valve has two failure points – the coil and the plunger inside the valve. This part takes the brunt of the work and should be rebuilt every five years as part of a proper maintenance schedule.
Here are the three things to look for in an electronic water level controller so you can trust it to perform at the highest standards and be cost effective over the lifespan of the cooling tower.
1. Integrated Diagnostics for Easy Troubleshooting
A field technician or facility maintenance person should be able to easily diagnose the problem without taking the entire unit apart. To make troubleshooting easy and fast, look for a controller with the diagnostics built into the controls. Look for a controller that uses LED lights that go ON when the relay and solenoid valve are operating and OFF when they are not operating.
The controls should also include an onboard test switch to allow the controller to automatically sequence through the functions as the operator watches the lights come on, hears the relays activate and sees the valves turn on. This type of system makes it fast and easy to successfully diagnose the problem in the field and does not require any other technical knowledge.
2. Modular Parts for Easy Repair in the Field
Once you’ve identified what’s wrong with the controller, now you need to fix it in the field. The entire water level control system should be designed so a field technician can easily remove and replace only the necessary parts—not the entire unit.
The relay that operates the solenoid valve is the main component that fails inside the controller. Look for a controller that provides easy access to the relays and allows those parts to be easily removed and replaced.
The solenoid valve should be easily rebuilt without removing it from the piping system. The manufacturers of these valves have rebuild kits, so be sure you know the manufacturer of the valve and the part number for the valve and rebuild kit. Keep one of each on hand, because you never really know when it’s going to fail.
The other parts of this system can also fail, but not as often. They should also be easily replaceable in the field. These parts include transformers, printed circuit boards and the sensor. Look for a product that is modular in design so you can replace only individual parts that have failed or worn out, not the entire product. It is cost prohibitive to own any water level controller that does not have interchangeable parts that you, as the operator, cannot replace.
3. Safety Certification by a Third Party
Another important aspect of controls like these are the third party validation required by any Building Department Inspector or authority having jurisdiction. A properly “Listed” product means that an independent third party has tested and evaluated the product as a “System” to be safe to use for the application intended. When a product or System is not Listed, there can potentially be dangerous safety issues. These products fall under the UL508 Standard for Industrial Control Systems.
Third party validation is labeled as a “Listed” Product for a “System” by UL, CSA or ETL in the United States and Canada. Some OEM’s of Cooling Towers try to get by with saying the “Cooling Tower System” is Certified or Listed and therefore the electric water level controller is. But recently, CSA rejected this idea and required cooling tower manufacturers to remove the electrical water level controller until they had third party certification with a listing as a “system” or a controller that is “Certified and Listed” by a third party.
Electronic Water Level Controls for Cooling Towers are certified under the UL508 Standard and/or the equivalent Standard for CSA. Listed Products carry a Logo Mark of the Agency which Listed the product directly on the product. This is a subject in and of itself that I will be writing about soon.
Enjoy the Savings
If you choose the right electronic water level control system, it will be very safe and cost less to operate than a mechanical float system over the entire lifespan of the cooling tower. As an illustration, if you replace the mechanical float in a cooling tower every three years, at a cost of approximately $300 each, plus installation, then over 25 years you will have paid a total of $2,400 for eight floats. Compare this to a total of less than $500 for a simple $20 replaceable component part every ten years plus the cost of rebuilding the solenoid valve every five years at a cost of $75 each. As this example illustrates, the right electronic water level control system can save you thousands of dollars versus mechanical floats over the expected life span of the cooling tower.
This article is written by Bill Seneff, President of Waterline Controls – a manufacturer of Electronic Water Level Controllers for twenty years. For more information, you can contact Bill Seneff at info@waterlinecontrols.com or (888) 905-1892.
Electronic Water Level Controllers in the Cooling Tower industry have experienced a continuous sales decline almost since they were originally introduced nearly twenty years ago. Everyone seems to have been disappointed by this product category for one reason or another, including the Original Equipment Manufacturers, specifying engineers, cooling tower factory dealers, field service technicians and facility maintenance staff.
So what happened? Well, I can tell you that it’s not just one thing, but a host of things which all stem from a low barrier to entry. What’s a low barrier to entry? It means that anyone with a little bit of know-how can put together a product that will keep a cooling tower basin full. However, once the trust between the makers of these poorly designed devices and their customers has been lost or destroyed due to poor product performance, it’s hard to gain back that trust. And, the bad reputation created by these inadequate products unfortunately paints a negative perception for all products in the category regardless of design or manufacturer.
Here are the five reasons why I believe the sales of electronic water level controllers have been declining:
Reason #1 – Product Design: The most important aspect for a product like this is how easily it can be disassembled in the field for repair or service. The relay that operates the solenoid valve is the component that fails most often in these kinds of products. So ask yourself the next time you install or replace an electronic water level controller, “does this controller allow access to the relays that will fail over time and, if so, can those parts be easily replaced?”
The second most important design feature that you will not know, unless you ask, is how the sensing circuit works. Ideally the sensing circuit does not exceed one volt or one ampere. Also, some sound sensing systems become distorted and inaccurate by the reflections created by water. I wrote a paper about the differences between sensing methods on my website at www.waterlinecontrols.com under the White Papers section.
Reason #2 – Product Lifecycle: WOW! Don’t you think a product as important as this is to the Cooling Tower should last as long as the Cooling Tower? I absolutely do! You see, it costs a lot less to replace individual component parts than it does to replace an entire system. So why specify or use a product that, when it fails, you have to replace the entire controller instead of just the little part that failed? Would you replace your car if it only needed new spark plugs? Neither would I.
Reason #3 – Cost: A lot goes into the pricing of any product- market potential, competitive offerings, cost of production, distribution, customer support, overhead and a whole host of other things. Pricing is both a science and an art. In this case, we’re also dealing with a product that has a damaged reputation, so there are a few other factors that go into the equation. I think the right answer in this case is a fair price based on a product that has ALL the attributes necessary for the product to last as long as the cooling tower without the need to replace the entire level control product – EVER!
So, if you choose the right product it will cost less to operate than a mechanical float system over the entire life of the cooling tower. If you replace the mechanical float in a cooling tower every three years, then over 25 years you will have paid a total of $2,400 for eight floats, at a cost of approximately $300 each. Compare this to a total of less than $500 for a simple $20 replaceable component part every ten years plus the cost of rebuilding the valve every five years at a cost of $75 each. The right level control product can cost less than half as much as mechanical floats over the expected life span of the cooling tower.
If you choose the wrong electronic level controller it costs significantly more to use. The wrong products, when it fails, requires the service technician to replace the entire unit at the original price of approximately $800. If you need to do this every seven years (sometimes more often than that) then it is cost prohibitive. This Product should have parts that are replaceable so it can last the life of the tower.
Reason #4 – Serviceability: A field technician or a facility maintenance person should be able to evaluate a system without taking it apart. It should be fast and easy to diagnose and fix a problem in the field without having to replace the entire control box. Testing and diagnostics of a properly designed water level controller should include clearly marked lights that indicate when a function is operating and when it is not, or an onboard test switch to allow the controls to sequence through their functions, or both.
Reason #5 – Market Perception: Whenever I hear someone say, “Oh, that product (whatever it is) doesn’t work”, the first question I ask is, “What do you mean it doesn’t work?” Because the “doesn’t work” could mean any number of different things. In this case, what I have found is that while poorly designed controls perform the basic functions, they do nothing to foster the sustainability of this product segment and, as a result, create a bad reputation in the industry for all water level controls.
The point is that anyone can build a product that performs the basic functions for any application, but not everyone can design a product that is sustainable for the market segment to grow. In the field we see sensors hanging from wires (is that permanent?), solid state controls epoxied so the parts inside cannot be replaced, high voltage wiring inside wet environments, indicator lights that are counter-intuitive and controls without trouble-shooting processes or indicator lights – all technical nightmares that are not sustainable.
What It All Means
Lots of people know how to put parts together to get a water level controller that is functionally correct. Some work better than others. Maybe what I should really say is that the field technician makes the decision on what to use and not use and their experiences with past products influences their future decisions. These technicians “vote with their company pocketbooks” and the sales of these products have continued to decline over the last nineteen years because of poor product performance. What that really means is not that the product does not function as described, but rather that when it fails to meet the needs of the technician, it fails to meet the needs of the marketplace and the segment does not grow.
Mechanical floats work, electronic level controls work, but they are not geared for market acceptance. They are merely tolerated. Even when something better comes along it may be hard to accept it because of perceptions based on experiences with other similar products in the past.
We have spent 20 years in the Electronic Water Level Controls business in other markets and 15 years ago we looked at the Cooling Tower Industry as a market we would eventually enter.
In 2007 we contacted an OEM of cooling towers to determine if they were happy with the Water Level Controls they were currently using. At that time, they were not. So we spent the next two years developing an advanced, next-generation product specifically designed for the cooling tower market. We started our sales efforts in January 2009 and offered the product through the traditional distribution channels.
Unfortunately, we missed something – not in the design, not in the product life span, not in the cost and not in the serviceability, but in the market perception for these kinds of products caused by years of disappointment.
Our Goal
So, our goal now is to not only continue to manufacture, support and improve the most reliable, technically-advanced, user-friendly electronic water level controller ever created for this market, but also to dedicate ourselves to correcting the misperceptions about this product category. This industry is too important to let the disappointments of the past negatively influence the positive future we envision for it.
Did you know that the conductivity of water changes geographically? In different parts of the U.S. there is more sedimentary rock (rock formed by erosion) that gets into the public water system and this makes the water more conductive in those areas.
Conductivity and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) are the same thing measured on different scales. The latter (TDS) measures physical particles in the water and the former (Conductivity) measures those dissolved particles’ ability to conduct electrical energy. In the R & D process, Waterline Controls realized (twenty years ago) that our products needed to work in a wide range of conductivity, so we designed our electronic water level controllers for these conditions accordingly.
There is no conductivity in pure water. Steam is the purest elemental water that can be found. Distilled water is a close second. Then there is Reverse Osmosis and some argue that certain nano-filtration methods rank up near the top.
When pure water is evaporated off and make-up water is added, it increases the conductivity over time. Examples of this include Cooling Tower Water, Swimming Pool Water, Fountain water – virtually any environment that lends itself to even moderate evaporation rates. Obviously, the evaporation rates are different in all of these different situations, but the principle is the same, resulting in ever-changing Cycles of Concentration.
Water conductivity is important to us at Waterline Controls because we are using it to complete an electronic circuit. All Waterline Controls units work in very low conductivity environments. All of our water level controllers are Electronic, not electric, and that makes a huge difference in the performance of our products at different conductivity levels.
So when you are out there on a project and wondering if Waterline Controls will work in a low TDS situation, the answer is – YES IT WILL. If you have any concerns about an application, call me directly at (888) 905-1892 and I can let you know before you purchase. We want you to be 100% Satisfied.
I talk directly to our customers every day. Here are a few of their comments about our products, support and service:
“I don’t know why anyone would use anything else…”
“It functions perfectly…”
“I sure am glad that I have this product line to offer my customers…”
“You have been good to us…”
“Thanks for taking the time to help us understand the product application…”
“You really worked hard to get that order out on time, thanks. Our customer was really happy.”
“You guys have a really nice product for cooling towers. We will be putting them on all our towers…”
Waterline Controls has worked hard to create a product that is designed well and operates correctly. But, that is only half of the work required to sell good products. The other half is good quality customer service. When you call Waterline Controls with your questions, you don’t get the usual runaround, bad guesses or stupid answers. You talk directly to me – the guy who’s been designing and installing these units for more than 20 years.
Who should make the choice on product selection or design for an Original Equipment Manufacturer that needs a water level control for proper operation of their products – Customers or Engineers?
I remember going to the new car show just after high school when a foreign manufacturer was first introducing a line of cars. In the area of these new cars were a bunch of people with pens and paper strategically placed around the entire line up of cars. I asked one of them what he was doing and he said is job was to make observations about what prospective customers looked at and went to first, second, third and so on with both their hands and their eyes. Also, he was asked to listen and document the comments and ask follow-up questions as necessary. So all he had to do was document this data as it related to a potential consumer. Who were these people?
After talking with this person for several minutes I realized he was very capable at design and development of ideas and concepts and was more of an engineer than a marketer. But I also concluded that this was his only exposure to the customer. With that being said, I concluded this was a market survey of sorts that did not require asking the person what he or she was looking for but rather an observation process about what was important to that customer, and later, some inductive reasoning as to why it was important to that consumer with the help of other staff members in the marketing department. What did the majority look at first or touch first and what were the comments, etc…
I believe the surveyors already knew the target demographics they were just trying to understand the consumer in ways no one in that business had ever done before.
I believe this is a universal product development concept that is not always practiced. For the consumer the design and access to the design is as important as the products functions and features. Waterline Controls follows this product design concept of what the customer needs even though that consumer really did not know it or understand it at the time. We continue to make improvements as we learn how our products are applied.
Oh and needless to say, the foreign car manufacturer is still either number one or number two in market share because of the quality of design in the products they make.
What makes a Waterline Controls electronic water leveler system different?
I’ll try to explain this in a non-technical manner. Simply put: IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MECHANICAL/INDUSTRIAL DESIGN OF THE CONTROL BOX. All Waterline Controls electronic water level controllers are designed so that the internal parts, if they fail, can be easily, quickly and inexpensively replaced in the field by anyone capable of operating a screwdriver. You do not need to take the whole unit apart. You do not need to throw away most of the unit and replace it with something new and expensive. Our electronic water levelers are designed more like an airplane – all the important individual parts can be easily removed and inexpensively replaced as necessary – for virtually an unlimited lifetime of use.
For example, the relays in a Waterline Controls unit are in the high voltage compartment separated from the low voltage parts. The relays in all filling devices are the only parts that have a defined useful life period. I don’t know what the useful service life is of other brands, but the useful life for a Waterline Controls relay is somewhere between two million and four million operations. As I mentioned in another blog, we run extensive lab tests on our products before we ship them to you because we want to ensure the durability, reliability and trouble-free maintenance that our customers have come to expect from our electronic water levelers. We set up a test bed of 100 relays from the different companies who make relays and ran these tests to find the product that was going to last in this application. We chose the relay that preformed the best.
For more detailed information on the differences in technology between our electronic water level controllers and other brands, you can read the white paper entitled: “Smart Talk” on our website.
 Waterline Controls water leveler The Lifetime Limited Warranty we offer is a great program that significantly cuts the lifetime operating cost of our electronic water level controllers versus replacing mechanical floats or even the older designs of electrical water level controls when they fail.
How it works: If, for any reason, the Printed Circuit Board or the Transformer (these are the only two major components) fail in the first year of operation, we will replace those parts for free. And, if they fail anytime thereafter for the life of the product in its setting, we will replace those items at a cost of only $50. That’s a huge savings over having to purchase an entire new unit from one of the other brands. Obviously, over time as inflation occurs and costs of materials increase, we will need to increase this amount proportionally. I decided long ago that we are in the business of selling complete products that last and not the parts business.
So, if you think about the total lifetime cost of operation, Waterline Controls’ units are actually cheaper to operate than a mechanical float system. Typically, a mechanical float system will last about three years on average and then the entire unit must be replaced.
Over the past twenty years, our electronic water level controllers get an average of 15 years of service with less than 1% failure rate in the field. The reason is that we cycle test all of our units for twenty-four hours before we ship them to you. So, if they are going to fail, they will fail on our factory floor and not in the field. You have our guarantee on that – backed by our Lifetime Limited Warranty.
Bill Seneff, President
Waterline Controls
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