Maintenance Requirements for a Chemical Feed System
Purpose
To ensure continued trouble free operation of your chemical feed system
Stenner Peristaltic Pump Ongoing Maintenance
- Ensure that the chemical tank is kept at an adequate level. As a general rule, do not let the level get much below the 5-gallon mark
- Once per year, change out the "squeeze tube" and wipe out the roller assembly and housing
- Once per year at the same time, change out the duck bill valve in the injection port
- It is usually a good idea, if possible, to clean out the main line tubing near the injection port every couple of years. Depending on your raw water problems, you can get a build up of detritus around this area that can eventually plug completely
- If you are injecting a bleach solution, use only unscented standard household bleach.
- Dilution should only be done with good filtered water - not raw water
- If you are injecting chlorine, you can test for the chlorine residual after whatever retention tanks you have and before the carbon filter. Generally, you should have between 0.5ppm and 1.0ppm. If less, you need to either increase the bleach concentration or increase the setting on the indexing clutch assembly
- If you are chlorinating to correct a contaminated well, the quality and safety of your water is absolutely dependent on having a chlorine residual so you should keep a serious eye on the system and test for the chlorine residual frequently
- If the chlorine residual is higher than 1.0ppm, you are wasting bleach and can decrease the concentration of bleach the next time you make up solution.
- If you are injecting soda ash or potassium carbonate, you will need to monitor your finished water with a pH meter or other test device and dilute or increase concentration accordingly
- Potassium carbonate can be mixed directly in the chemical tank whereas soda ash is best dissolved in a bucket of hot water, then funnelled into the chemical tank, then diluted out. Do not try to maximize the concentration, you can run into a problem of scaling out the soda ash at the injection port when the solution hits the cold raw water. We use a rule of thumb of a maximum 1 cup of soda ash per gallon of water.
- If you need to get more pH correction and you are maxed out on soda ash, you should switch to using potassium carbonate instead. We are currently recommending that our customers only use this potassium carbonate. It is quite a bit more expensive but much more soluble so you can avoid scaling out of the material at the injection port and in downstream piping and still get the pH correction you are looking for.
Other Chemical Feed Pumps - LMI, Pulsafeeder, Blue and White, etc
- Ensure that the chemical tank is kept at an adequate level. As a general rule, do not let the level get much below the 5-gallon mark
- Unlike the perisatltic feeder above, if you run out of solution, you will likely loose the prime on the pump and so, will need to reprime once you get the tank full again.
- If you run out of solution, you also run the risk of fouling the pump check valve system and thus requiring service on the entire system
- About every 2-3 years, depending on the solution you are injecting and the quality of your raw water, you will need to have your pump rebuilt. Typical rebuild kits include diaphragm and seals, and valve replacements. It is important to service the pump itself as well as the injection port as well as the foot valve (in the chemical tank)
- It is usually a good idea, if possible, to clean out the main line tubing near the injection port every couple of years. Depending on your raw water problems, you can get a build up of detritus around this area that can eventually plug completely
- If you are injecting a bleach solution, use only unscented standard household bleach.
- Dilution should only be done with good filtered water - not raw water
- If you are injecting chlorine, you can test for the chlorine residual after whatever retention tanks you have and before the carbon filter. Generally, you should have between 0.5ppm and 1.0ppm. If less, you need to either increase the bleach concentration or increase the setting on the pump
- If you are chlorinating to correct a contaminated well, the quality and safety of your water is absolutely dependent on having a chlorine residual so you should keep a serious eye on the system and test for the chlorine residual frequently
- Note: For most pumps, never adjust the pump "dial" unless the pump is running
- If chlorine residual is higher than 1.0ppm, you are wasting bleach and can decrease the concentration of bleach the next time you make up solution.
- If you are injecting soda ash, you will need to monitor your finished water with a pH meter or other test device and dilute or increase concentration accordingly
- Soda ash is best dissolved in a bucket of hot water, then funnel the solution into the chemical tank, then dilute it out. Do not try to maximize the concentration, you can run into a problem of scaling out the soda ash at the injection port when the solution hits the cold raw water. We use a rule of thumb of maximum 1.5 cups of soda ash per gallon of water.
- If you need to get more pH correction and you are maxed out on soda ash, you can switch to using potassium carbonate instead. It is more expensive but much more soluble so you can avoid scaling out of the material at the injection port and get the pH correction you are looking for.
