Dija ever wonder...

Caryc · Feb 14, 2020

What's inside of one of those scale eliminator filters for swamp coolers? I had two of them inline about 6" apart on the supply line and one of the ends came loose from the body of one so they were both hanging down on the copper line. We have had some below freezing temps here at night for a few days so I guess residual water inside one froze and expanded it to burst open.

Anyway what I found inside is pictured below. On each end inside is a piece of foam and the body is filled with what looks like glass pieces. It looks and feels like glass and has the weight of glass.

Anyone know if this is glass or what it might be?

Steve@Advance · Feb 14, 2020

Don't know what it would be or how it would work, but several years ago a place I worked finally splurged and bought 2 big new evaporative coolers for the plant.

I wanted to get the most life from them, so I did some research.

Turns out they are very efficient at collecting solids (salt) in the water, which is highly corrosive to metals.

Like the Dead Sea, water comes in, but doesn't go out other than evaporation. That leaves all the minerals behind!

What I did was coat the inside of the pan and up the sides, the tops of the drip trays with coal tar epoxy. Did that when new before everything got crusted with deposits.

Then set up a small valve and drain connected to the pump so anytime the pump was running a small amount of water went to drain. That kept the salt build up down.

Then connected a 6"x6" square of sacrificial aluminum to a heavy copper wire, grounded it to the frame, supported it on a piece of rubber below the water level in the pan. Once a year the aluminum would have to be replaced as it was eaten away. That meant it was doing it's job of protecting the rest of the metal.

It must have worked, they still looked like new inside after about 10 years! Who knows what happened after I left, I doubt they were maintained after that...

Caryc · Feb 14, 2020

(quoted from post at 12:50:26 02/14/20) Don't know what it would be or how it would work, but several years ago a place I worked finally splurged and bought 2 big new evaporative coolers for the plant.

I wanted to get the most life from them, so I did some research.

Turns out they are very efficient at collecting solids (salt) in the water, which is highly corrosive to metals.

Like the Dead Sea, water comes in, but doesn't go out other than evaporation. That leaves all the minerals behind!

What I did was coat the inside of the pan and up the sides, the tops of the drip trays with coal tar epoxy. Did that when new before everything got crusted with deposits.

Then set up a small valve and drain connected to the pump so anytime the pump was running a small amount of water went to drain. That kept the salt build up down.

Then connected a 6"x6" square of sacrificial aluminum to a heavy copper wire, grounded it to the frame, supported it on a piece of rubber below the water level in the pan. Once a year the aluminum would have to be replaced as it was eaten away. That meant it was doing it's job of protecting the rest of the metal.

It must have worked, they still looked like new inside after about 10 years! Who knows what happened after I left, I doubt they were maintained after that...

Dial makes sacrificial zinc rods that do the purpose of your aluminum plate. I also installed a purge pump in the cooler. It comes on every 8 hours for like ten minutes and empties the cooler. Still builds up a lot of scale but, I'm on well water.

showcrop · Feb 15, 2020

It is polyphosphate. It is used in a lot of detergents.

Caryc · Feb 15, 2020

(quoted from post at 06:10:56 02/15/20)

It is polyphosphate. It is used in a lot of detergents.

OK, what exactly does it do? There was no scale inside the filter. Do small amounts of that polyphosphate bleed off into the water?

showcrop · Feb 15, 2020

(quoted from post at 09:14:04 02/15/20)

(quoted from post at 06:10:56 02/15/20)

It is polyphosphate. It is used in a lot of detergents.

Click to expand...

OK, what exactly does it do? There was no scale inside the filter. Do small amounts of that polyphosphate bleed off into the water?

Yes, it dissolves slowly and combines with the CA and MG ions so that those ions are not free to land on and stick to pipes and plumbing parts.

In detergents it is blended in as powder or liquid.

Caryc · Feb 15, 2020

(quoted from post at 09:39:45 02/15/20)

(quoted from post at 09:14:04 02/15/20)

(quoted from post at 06:10:56 02/15/20)

It is polyphosphate. It is used in a lot of detergents.

Click to expand...

OK, what exactly does it do? There was no scale inside the filter. Do small amounts of that polyphosphate bleed off into the water?

Click to expand...

Yes, it dissolves slowly and combines with the CA and MG ions so that those ions are not free to land on and stick to pipes and plumbing parts.

In detergents it is blended in as powder or liquid.

Thank you, there is an amazing amount of knowledge on these forums. :wink:

Dija ever wonder...

Caryc

Well-known Member

Steve@Advance

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Caryc

Well-known Member

showcrop

Well-known Member

Caryc

Well-known Member

showcrop

Well-known Member

Caryc

Well-known Member

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