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Frequently
Asked Questions
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Q.
How does Bon Aqua
water treatment benefit the environment?
A.
By saving approximately 75% of the billions of gallons of water currently
being discharged down the drain under a standard chemical treatment
program. An additional benefit is that all Bon Aqua water discharged
is free of chemicals that require even more water to be made
usable again.
Q.
How do I know if I'm purchasing the original, genuine Bon Aqua
product?
A.
Only when you purchase
product from an authorized Bon
Aqua dealer or distributor can you be sure you are getting the
genuine product along with the warranties, money-back performance guarantee
and insurance. Bon Aqua's 22+ year track record and success has prompted
others to claim they have products that do the same thing. If you have
even the slightest doubt, call us at 888.294.2424 to check it out before
you buy.
Q. Is it expensive to protect my equipment with Bon Aqua
water treatment?
A.
Pricing is site specific and depends on the number of lines to be treated
and their respective sizes. Bon Aqua units are placed in strategic
locations on the equipment, which is determined by a survey of the facility.
Bon Aqua treatment is only recommended when it is economically
feasible. Payback is generally 1 year for a boiler and almost always
under 2 years for a cooling system. (An RFQ
form can give you the exact numbers.) Bon Aqua treatment
is a one-time investment, as opposed to the recurring cost of chemicals,
which continue to rise year after year.
Q.
Can I try Bon Aqua
treatment on only one part of a system, like the inlet line to the boiler,
or the return line to the cooling tower while maintaining my current chemical
treatment program for the rest of the system?
A.
Partial treatment is not recommended for several reasons. With chemicals
still running through the system, there would be no accurate way to
determine which treatment was working. But more specifically, in a boiler
system, the condensate tank must also be protected from the the low
pH condensate return, which can cause corrosion; and the negatively
charged city water, which can cause scale.
In a more complex
cooling system Bon Aquas must be placed at the inlet line to each
piece of heat exchange equipment after every pump, because a pump (an
electrical piece of equipment) scrambles the charge. This means that
any equipment left unprotected after a pump is subject to scaling, which
can cause surging and diminished heat transfer. Corrosion is also a
concern, which can eat through the tubes requiring eventual re-tubing.
This is a gamble not worth taking when so much expensive equipment
is at stake.
Q.
Can I disconnect my softener after I install Bon Aquas
on my boiler system?
A.
No. A softener has an entirely separate function from the water treatment
(chemical or non-chemical) for scale in a boiler vessel. The softener's
purpose is to remove as much calcium (hardness) as possible before the
water enters the boiler vessel. The treatment of water in the boiler
vessel is meant to prevent the remaining calcium from attaching itself
to the boiler tubes.
Q.
Do I have to shutdown my equipment in order
to install the Bon Aquas?
A.
In most cases no. Only if the pipe is PVC (plastic) would shut
down be required. In this case a metal flange or nipple must be inserted
in order for the Bon Aquas to create the necessary Faraday's generator.
Q.
How will I know that the Bon Aquas
are working?
A.
The manufacturer has established monitoring procedures that will track
the efficiency of your equipment on a daily basis. The monitoring procedures
are measured against a zero base, which is established at the time of
installation or as close as possible to that date. The zero base requires
photographs and/or micrometer measurements of the tubes of a boiler
vessel. In a cooling system, photographs are taken of the tube
sheet and end caps, but to be certain the condenser is clean to begin
with, it is recommended that a nondestructive citric acid wash of the
condenser tubes be done. Some clients prefer to have an eddy
current test performed to know the exact internal state of their
equipment, which is compared to follow up tests performed at a later
date. A zero base assures the customer that the Bon Aquas are
performing as advertised when the equipment is opened for future inspections.
Q.
Is
the monitoring difficult and time
consuming?
A.
No, it is extremely simple. Maintain the recommended total dissolved
solids (TDS) levels or conductivity (CND), either through blowdown in
boilers, or through bleed off in cooling towers, just as you should
be doing under any water treatment program. This is covered in detail
in the monitoring section of the technical manual supplied at the time
of installation. Manually monitoring the system should take no more
than 15 minutes daily; however, there are automated monitoring systems
available (priced according to probes needed) that can routinely generate
detailed reports, as well as real-time monitoring.
Q.
What about bacteria in my cooling system?
A.
Bon Aquas are neither bactericidal, nor bacteriostatic;
therefore you would have to continue a biocidal program. Bon Aquas
do, however, create an environment where expensive, toxic biocides are
no longer necessary. A minimal residual of safe, inexpensive bromine
or chlorine is all that is necessary to control bacteria. (Further explanation
is found in the cooling tower technical manual supplied at the time
of installation.) The addition of an electrolytic ionizer
for bacterial control would make this a completely chemical-free water
treatment program.
Q.
Do you have any case histories?
A.
We have many case histories which we would be
happy to supply you with. Please contact our office by phone: 888.294.2424
or email: bai2@bonaqua.com
In the meantime, click
here for a few that are on the site.
Q.
Can the Bon Aquas
be turned off and how
long will they last?
A.
Since there is no outside power source, there is nothing to turn off.
The power is generated by the flow of the water which becomes the armature
for the Faraday's generator, while the pipe becomes the field coil.
As long as the water is flowing the Bon Aquas are in operation.
Bon Aquas use permanent ceramic magnets in their proprietary amplification
system and should last forever. Because magnets lose only one tenth
of one percent of their gauss flux density every ten years, the math
speaks for itself.
Q.
In what types of facilities and on what
kinds of equipment are Bon Aquas
in use?
A.
Bon Aquas are used in hospitals, dairies, textile mills, Navy
vessels, skating rinks, manufacturing plants, box/board companies, lumber
companies, tobacco processors, food processors, pulp and paper manufacturers,
office buildings, schools and universities, prisons, commercial nurseries,
commercial laundries, restaurants, mining and more.
Bon Aquas
are used on equipment such as: low and high pressure steam boilers,
cooling towers, chiller-condensers, air washers, heat exchangers (plate
frame, tube and shell, etc.), water cooled air compressors, injection
molding machines, ice machines, fountains, medical vacuum pumps, ammonia
compressors, freon refrigeration plants, and humidifiers. Bon Aqua
water treatment will effectively protect any equipment that needs treatment
for scale and non-biological corrosion.
CONCLUSION:
while all questions cannot be anticipated, we have tried to cover the
most frequently asked. Please feel free to contact us by phone at +888.294.2424,
by fax at +800.297.5644, or e-mail at bai2@bonaqua.com
for any questions not addressed here.

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