Centrifugal pump and hard water

[Aqua_man]

Hello everyone, I'm new here so please pardon any errors I make for now.

The problem that we're having is scale buildup inside our water booster pumps as well as ending up in our end product;
Water gets pumped from a well into a 6000 gallon storage tank. From there it goes through a primary 2" centrifugal pump plus a secondary booster pump farther down the line. After that the water gets injected with Anhydrous Ammonia, goes through a cooler, than out to storage. The primary pump gets scale buildup and needs tore down and dipped in acid every few weeks, the secondary pump also needs this treatment about every month. Our end product also has evidence of scale/calcium and causes problems in our site tubes. Looking for any possible solutions!

Also, its important to note that we don't have problems with scale buildup in any other water processes we have that are pumped from the well. It seems that we only get scale buildup after the water runs through a centrifugal pump. Any ideas there?

Thanks in advance!

 

[ashtree]

Unless the water is softened the injection of the anhydrous ammonia may cause scaling but to answer keith's question in this case it does not cause the scaling in the pump.

Regards
Ashtree
"Any water can be made potable if you filter it through enough money"

 

[georgeverghese]

If you are lookig for a short term interim solution, ask a water treatment company for low dose anti scale injection chemical - think this is essentially the chelating agent EDTA - we often use this in the oil / gas business for Ca / Mg scaling problems. Not sure what this antiscale chemical will do to the purity of the aqua NH3 though.

 

[Aqua_man]

I see one supplier of EDTA is DOW and being in the agriculture business we deal with them often. I'll have to check with them and see what they offer. Thanks

 

[EdStainless]

Or reach out to one of the big water treatment guys (Suez Technology, ChemTreat, or such).
They sell scale inhibitors. The scale still forms, but it doesn't stick to the surface.
These are normally used as part of a treatment system, including biological control, pH adjustment, corrosion inhibitors and scale inhibitors.

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P.E. Metallurgy, Plymouth Tube