Case History

Water Utility Problems Solved in Florida

by Mike Johnson, Harrington Industrial Plastics, Jacksonville

The Jacksonville Electric Authority provides electric, water, and sewer utility services. The city uses sodium hypochlorite in lieu of traditional gas chlorination to disinfect the water supply.

In several applications, they use a brine solution to generate their own sodium hypochlorite. This generator process involves mixing sea salt with soft water to create a brine solution, which is then electrolyzed and produces a dilute chlorine solution.

The original construction used common metal solenoid valves for the soft water make-up lines to the fiberglass brine tanks. After just six months of operation, one badly corroded metal valve stuck in the energized open position which caused a tank overflow.

When the plant maintenance crew called Harrington Industrial Plastics for help, we recommended Plast-O-Matic non-metallic EASMT direct acting solenoid valves to solve the problem. They have since replaced the water make up valves on all four tanks with Plast-O-Matic.

While working in the plant we were approached with another challenge. They had PVC ball check valves in a horizontal line of diluted brine solution which would not check when the line depressurized. Due to the close tolerances of the piping system, it would prove difficult to re-install another type check valve in the same position without doing substantial re-piping. Enter the Plast-O-Matic Series CKM. Because of the CKM’s unique design, it could be installed downstream in a vertical, north to south flow orientation and still provide reliable checking. The original check valve was left in position (minus the ball) and the newly installed Plast-O-Matic check valve is working great! The CKM was soon retrofitted on each of the generator skids.

Jacksonville also installed numerous GGMT Gauge Guards on filtration units added during the plant upgrade. Plant maintenance then replaced several corroded gauges with Plast-O-Matic GGMT’s and added RVDT backpressure regulators at the feed pump.