Self Cleaning Water-Filter System Helps Airport Reduce Maintenance - Tekleen - #1

^MO OCCIN IN H EATING/PI PING/AIR CONDITIONING

DESIGN SOLUTIONS

Automatic backwash cycle results in less water use

John Wayne Airport, located in Santa Ana, Calif., had its begin­nings in 1923 as a private landing strip built by aviation pioneer Eddie Martin on land owned by Irvine Co. Since then, it has evolved into a pub-licly owned, 337,900-sq-ft facility that serves about 8 mil­lion passengers a year. With average high summer temper­atures running in the upper 70s in Southern California, travelers cannot exactly com­plain of high heat. Still, the

nance won't be necessary this year."

Manufactured by Automatic Filters Inc., Tekleen filters offer a self-cleaning system requiring no maintenance or attendance. As dirt particles collect on the screen, the line pressure at the filter outlet drops. When the pressure reaches a preset differential, the backwash cycle begins. Within seconds and without interrupting the main flow, vacuum nozzles aggressively suction the din from the inside of the screen and flush it to the drain using about 20 to 30 gal of water—much less than the 60 to 80 gal used by other screen filtration systems and the several hundred gallons used by sand-media filters. To prevent rust and corrosion, Automatic Filters employs stainless-steel housings.

"We originally had no filtration system whatsoever," Marty Merck, air­port technical asso­ciate, said. "As all the dirt and dust from the planes got into the cooling towers, it lowered the efficiency of the system. This meant the system had to pump harder dur­ing peak times, and the buildup of con­

airport keeps them cool with a recently upgraded air-condi­

taminants forced us to do a thorough

tioning system that includes five cooling towers and six condensers.

After hearing about how effective full-flow, in-line Tekleen filters were in clean­ing the cooling water and reducing main­tenance costs at Los Angeles International Airport, John Wayne Airport bought five 10-in. (1,800 gpm) filters and one 6-in. (800 gpm) filter for its air-conditioning system.

cleaning of all of the parts in the system about once a year.

"We shopped around and considered buying sand filters," Merck continued, "but they take up more space, require more maintenance, and use considerably more water to rinse than Tekleen's filters, which have an automatic backwash mechanism that results in less water usage. This was important for us from both an economic and environmental standpoint. We installed a site glass so we could observe the water flowing through the system and can see that it is much cleaner than before. In the fall, we 11 open up the chillers and expect to find a major difference. In the past, the chillers had to be off line for a good month for cleaning and mainte­nance. We already can see from the clean water flow-ing through the system that that kind of mainte-

The payback period for Tekleen filters is extremely short because of significantly lower electricity and water bills and reduced maintenance costs. Reduced pumping costs alone typically offset the cost of the filters within the first year.

Automatic Filters, inc. 2672 S. La Cienega Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90034

T(800) 336 1942 (310) 839 2828 F (310) 839 6878