Overview
Water is the working fluid in most building services systems, and it is also the most common cause of their failure. Left untreated, the water inside a heating or chilled circuit corrodes the pipework containing it, grows biofilm that insulates heat transfer surfaces, and deposits scale that narrows bores and blocks strainers.
A chemistry programme is what stops that happening. Not a single dose at handover, which is depleted within a season or two of make up water, but a managed cycle of sampling, analysis, dosing and trending that keeps the water in a condition where it protects the system rather than attacking it.
ProMech delivers closed system treatment and water hygiene programmes across Northern Ireland, Dublin and London, covering both the engineering side, protecting the asset, and the compliance side, protecting the people in the building.
Our Process
- 1
System survey and asset register
We record what is actually on site: circuit types, volumes, materials, dosing points, filtration, expansion arrangements and sampling access. A treatment programme written without this is a guess about someone else's building.
- 2
Baseline sampling and analysis
Samples taken to BS 8552 practice and analysed for dissolved and suspended iron, copper, inhibitor level, pH, conductivity, chloride, sulphate and microbiological activity. This is the reference point everything afterwards is measured against.
- 3
Risk assessment and programme design
The results and the survey together determine the chemistry: which inhibitor suits the metallurgy present, what biocide regime is appropriate, what dosing frequency the system volume and losses demand.
- 4
Corrective clean where required
Where the baseline shows existing fouling or corrosion product, treating on top of it achieves nothing. The system is cleaned and flushed first so the new chemistry starts against clean metal.
- 5
Dosing and passivation
Corrosion inhibitor is dosed to concentration and circulated to establish a protective passivating film across internal surfaces, with biocide where microbiological risk is present.
- 6
Scheduled monitoring
Recurring sampling at an interval matched to system risk, with results trended rather than reported in isolation. A single reading tells you a number; a trend tells you the system is drifting before it fails.
- 7
Reporting and corrective action
Each visit produces a report with results against control limits, the trend since last visit, and a clear statement of any action required, written so an estates manager can act on it without a chemistry background.
What We Monitor
Inhibitor concentration
The protective chemistry itself. Depletion is the earliest warning that a system is taking on make up water, and the cheapest problem to correct.
Dissolved and suspended iron
The direct measure of whether corrosion is active. Rising iron means metal is going into the water, and that metal comes from the pipework.
pH and conductivity
pH outside the target band accelerates attack on steel or aluminium depending on direction. Conductivity trends reveal dilution and contamination.
Microbiological activity
Dip slide and laboratory counts for aerobic bacteria, sulphate reducing bacteria and pseudomonas, which drive biofilm and under deposit corrosion.
Temperature regimes
On hot and cold water services, the stored and distribution temperatures that legionella control depends on, recorded at sentinel outlets.
System losses
Make up volume tracked over time. A system quietly drinking make up water is a system quietly taking on oxygen.
Standards & Compliance
- BSRIA BG 50/2021, water treatment for closed heating and cooling systems
- BS 8552, sampling and monitoring of water from building services systems
- HSE ACOP L8, control of legionella bacteria in water systems
- HSG274 Parts 1 to 3, evaporative cooling, hot and cold water, and other risk systems
- CIBSE Commissioning Code W, water distribution systems
Industries We Serve
- Healthcare estates, where hygiene compliance is non negotiable
- Pharmaceutical, process and purified water loops
- Food and drink, processing plant with hygiene requirements
- Commercial and public sector, offices, schools and civic estates