PEAK+ Overcomes Common Concerns with Evaporative Cooling
Evaporative cooling systems are great solutions for cooling your air-cooled HVAC equipment on hot, dry days. By cooling the outside air entering an HVAC unit, they can greatly reduce energy usage, while extending the life of air-cooled chillers and RTUs by several years. Unfortunately, evaporative cooling products have also introduced new challenges to HVAC equipment. Below are four of the most common problems seen throughout the years with evaporative coolers, and what the Peak+ adiabatic solution does to overcome these issues.
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Traditional Evaporative Coolers |
Peak+ Solution |
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Hard water reduces lifespan of precooler material |
Sprays clean, softened water |
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Evaporative media restricts airflow |
Designed to cause less than 1/10” pressure drop |
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Evaporative coolers are maintenance nightmares |
Simple, easy, and fast maintenance |
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Evaporative coolers require high water usage |
Control algorithm sprays minimal water |
Concern: Hard water reduces lifespace of precooler material
Problem: In regions of the US where evaporative cooling is the most effective, the water happens to be the hardest. States like Arizona, Nevada, California, and Texas have some of the hardest water in the Country. When cooling the outside air temperature entering the condenser section of your HVAC, new problems are brought on by spraying hard water directly over or near the condenser fins. Harsh mineral deposits scale and build up on the condensers and dramatically shorten the life of an HVAC system.
Peak+ Solution: The Peak+ System includes a state-of-the-art water treatment system that softens the water before it is sprayed on evaporative media. The Kinetico® water treatment system uses high-quality softening resin to reduce these deposits from the water. The resin beads, which hold sodium ions, attract and hold the calcium and magnesium ions in exchange for the sodium ions. It then uses a salt brine to replace the hard minerals in the resin and then washes the excess sodium off the resin. This system produces soft, clean water that is used to spray on the evaporative media.
Concern: Evaporative media restricts airflow
Problem: In order for an air conditioner to function properly, it requires a steady flow of outside air to enter the condenser. The problem is most condenser pre-cooling systems require placing equipment in front of the condenser section which ends up restricting the airflow and compromising the entire system. The reduced airflow decreases the amount of heat rejected by the condenser which increases head pressure and puts extra strain on the condenser fans.
Peak+ Solution: The Peak+ system has been designed and tested to verify that it does not block any passage of air entering the condenser. Peak+ frames consist of a) fine screen meshes that result in essentially zero blockage, and b) a non-woven polyester media with a pressure drop less than 1/10th of an inch water column. The media stays clean and breathable with the soft water sprayed on it.
Concern: evaporative coolers are maintenance nightmares
Problem: Any piece of mechanical equipment requires maintenance. Evaporative coolers have been hard to maintain due to poor design and installation. Also, most custom systems require parts ordered from out of state that can take months to be replaced and installed.
Peak+ Solution: Peak+ maintenance is set up to be as simple and easy as possible. Typical maintenance requires spraying down the evaporative media, replacing the media annually, checking the water system, and inspecting spray nozzles. Maintenance usually lasts less than 60 mins and is required every 1-3 months during the spring-fall months. The cost of this maintenance is typically the same cost of doing an annual coil cleaning. Also, the Peak+ system uses magnets to attach on to the HVAC unit, making it easy to move out of the way to inspect the condenser, if needed. Peak+ has an in-house maintenance team available in most Western US states, and can easily educate and train contractors to perform the maintenance.
concern: evaporative coolers require high water usage
Problem: In regions where evaporative cooling is the most effective, water is also the scarcest. Environmentally-conscious building owners are sensitive to any increase in water costs. Evaporative cooling systems tend to be simply programmed to turn on and continuously run water during certain times of day. This causes excessive water usage.
Peak+ Solution: Peak+ has a proprietary control system that determines the optimal amount of water to spray at any given time. The controllers use the measured weather conditions and other inputs such as unit specific data to vary the spray rate. Based on national averages, on a 75-ton HVAC unit, the Peak+ system will use $78 of water in a year to save over $7,000 annually in electricity. The National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) reports that the “U.S. electricity production consumes over 20 gallons of water per KWH created.” The Peak+ system uses approximately 1.9 - 3.0 gallons of water for each kWh saved. This saves approximately 90% of water usage while saving electricity.
How Do I Learn More?
Simply email info@peakplus.energy or visit our contact page to learn how much the Peak+ system can save your business each year. To get started on your quote, send us your site location and the make / model of your HVAC units and one of our account managers will contact you.