Prevent Mechanical Ltd.

One of the most common methods of heating and cooling multi-unit buildings of every type, from 50-story office towers to 3-story hotels to townhouse condominiums, is by way of "hydronic" heating and cooling.

A boiler heats (or a chiller cools) water and a pump circulates it, often through iron pipe, to all of the various areas that need to be heated. The amount of water flowing through each area can be controlled by a zone valve so that individual apartment tenants or condo unit owners can control the temperature inside their area.

For the most part, this works pretty good.

But...

This system has water and iron in contact with each other so, we all know what's going to happen, right? Rust!

The problem is worse than that, however, as these systems are not just subject to metal oxidation (rust) they also experience "galvanic corrosion" (two metals of different composition, in the presence of a conductor - water, will begin to "plate" one metal to the other) and even "MIC" (micro-organism induced corrosion).

In short, left unattended, these systems will begin to destroy themselves, from their first day of operation, invisibly - from the inside out.

Don't worry! We're going to tell you what can be done about it in a later post. But if you can't wait, give us a call at 403.271.8821

An iron pipe who's walls have become clogged with layer upon layer of iron oxide corrosion. This corrosion will, ultimately, completely block the flow of water through the pipe and/or cause pipe failure and leaking inside walls or floors!