The Fountain of Youth for Commercial Buildings: Water Treatment Services

Water treatment services are the undercover hero for your building’s HVAC system. 

Sometimes, wear and tear on your building makes itself known—like peeling paint, overheating, or clanking sounds coming from your HVAC system. In other cases, the deterioration of your building systems can be hidden from the naked eye.

That’s the case when commercial building water systems remain unchecked. Water treatment plays a vital role in the maintenance and longevity of your building.

Treating the hydronic loops of your building is like making sure to eat a healthy, balanced diet: not only will your building perform better, but it will stay healthy for the long term.

What is water treatment?

When it comes to water treatment services like those supplied by Kimco, it’s important to note we’re not talking about drinking water—we’re talking about the water that moves through some of the different pieces of your building’s inner workings, like HVAC heating and cooling systems.

As these systems are exposed to water constantly, minerals, microorganisms, and scale build-up on machinery over time, speeding up the rate at which it deteriorates.

Regularly treating these systems removes contaminants, protecting the integrity of your equipment and preventing premature damage and equipment failures.

Glycol loops
It’s called water treatment but encompasses more than H2O. Glycol is often added to loop systems when freezing is a concern. The pH of the glycol system also needs to be properly maintained in order to avoid corrosion.

What’s your damage?
Corrosion, deterioration, scale…how is water causing all this damage? Well, it’s not the water; it’s what’s in it.

You never know what lies beneath the surface. Regular water treatment services prevent damage like corrosion and deterioration caused by scale build-up. 

Scale: Water chemistry differs from location to location and also has the ability to create scale build-up, which can corrode the inner workings of your equipment, shortening its lifespan and leading to costly repairs or breakdowns.

If you’ve heard of hard water, for example, that means that that particular water is very high in minerals magnesium and calcium, which create scale build-up on machinery.

Scaling can quickly decrease the efficiency of your machinery, make it work harder, and malfunction faster.

Microbial growth: Microbial growth is when bacteria build up in your water systems which can create biofilm. Microbial growth is a contaminant, and when it goes unchecked, will also contribute to corrosion and scaling.

When that happens, we see the same pitfalls as we covered in scale: efficiency drops while equipment breaks down faster.

Why water treatment matters: features and benefits

It’s easy to assume that water treatment is just another expense and move it further and further down your list of priorities, but it’s really an investment in the future and longevity of your building's future.

Regular water treatment service keeps your building “tuned up” in the same way that regular maintenance on your car results in fewer unplanned expenses or catastrophic breakdowns, which can also lead to lost revenue through downtime.

The benefits of regular water treatment services for your building include:

• Lower maintenance costs
• Lower operational costs
• Improved energy savings
• Extended equipment sustainability
• Increased HVAC efficiency

The benefits of working with a local company

In addition to the larger scope of benefits water treatment services provide for your building, working with a local company like Kimco also helps raise the bar for water treatment in Thompson-Okanagan.

Having “boots on the ground,” as sales manager Brad Zawalik puts it, makes a huge difference for this kind of service and means you only purchase what you need at the time.

“It’s benefited a lot of local clients,” he explains.

“Since our technicians are already here in the Okanagan, they’re able to perform regular testing and solution delivery so clients receive the amount of solution they need and your storage room isn’t overflowing with a year’s worth of water treatment solution.”

Other companies might send a year’s worth of solutions at a time in pallets.

Beyond a tailored amount of solutions for your needs, Kimco’s local water testing lab gives the team the ability to provide detailed, regular water reports and customize the solution to our specific building.

The ongoing services are rolled into your budget and overall see clients saving on costs both upfront and in the long run.

And for clients who are also with Kimco for HVAC, building automation and electrical, including water treatment services streamlines admin so you’re only dealing with one company. That means only one phone call and less headaches.

Learn more about Kimco water treatment services.

Risks to your building: the hidden costs

Untreated hydronic systems are key to sustainable building operations. When your building’s water system goes untreated, corrosion, scale build-up, and microbial growth wreak havoc on your equipment. The results trickle into every aspect of your operations, including:

• Increased maintenance costs
• Increased energy consumption
• Increased water consumption
• Premature equipment failure and downtime
• Loss in revenue
• Costly emergency repairs

How it works

Caring for your building through water treatment is simple.

1. Test
   A Kimco technician will come to your building to collect water samples. These samples are taken to our in-house lab in Kelowna to be analyzed.
2. Report
   Kimco’s water technicians use the information from the lab analysis to create a detailed water report, which is provided to you. Reports will continue to be provided twice a year when you’re on a maintenance program.
3. Quote
   Nothing ever comes as a surprise. Through our testing and analysis, we’ll suggest a program for your individual building’s needs and build a quote. Programs typically include service twice a year for closed-loop systems and five times per year for cooling towers.

Services

Water treatment services with Kimco can be part of a larger HVAC, building automation, and electrical relationship or can also be done alone. Kimco offers

• Water treatment preventative maintenance programs
• Scheduled testing of building hydronic loops
• Scheduled testing of cooling tower/evaporative cooler
• Customized solution delivery

Systems treated:

• Building heating and cooling loops
• Chiller Loops
• Evaporative cooling systems, including cooling towers, fluid coolers, and evaporative condensers
• Glycol systems
• Boiler loops
• Geo loops

Applications

Kimco’s water treatment services are an excellent choice for buildings of all sizes and for a wide range of industries, including (but not limited to):

• Airports
• Residential apartment buildings
• Commercial buildings like offices
• Educational institutions
• Governmental buildings

If you’re ready to invest in the long-term health of your building, Kimco can help. Contact us to get started.

Work with a people-first company that has been on the cutting edge of building automation, HVAC, and electrical technology in the Thompson-Okanagan for 40 years. See how Kimco can help.