Friday, 01 June 2018 07:55

Clean water made easy

Written by  Mark Daniel
Eric Bonenkemp. Eric Bonenkemp.

Farm water quality less than ideal prompted dairy farmers Rhonda and Eric Bonenkamp at Orini, Waikato, to ask Singh’s Engineering Services, Hamilton, for help in late 2016.

The company quickly offered a solution.

A favoured method is often to add 12.5% chlorine dioxide, e.g. Softchlor or similar, particularly to remove E-coli, but until recently equipment for that was either difficult to set up or temperamental in operation.

Singhs’ proposal was for a system based on its proven series 2-32 Se-Tech dispenser, suitable for injecting 2 - 50 parts per million (ppm) of chlorine dioxide while, importantly, guarding the user against contact with the corrosive and volatile concentrate. 

The Singh system can inject at pressures from 10 - 210psi, treat up to 6000L of water per hour and is fully proportional over a wide flow range.

Importantly, most standard concentrate dispensers at best can only dispense at 0.2 - 2% addition rates, which equates to 2000 - 20,000 ppm. But chlorine needs to be added at 2 - 3ppm for maintenance or 50ppm for shock dosing, i.e. at a ratio 40 -- 10,000 times lower than standard dosing capabilities.

Dosing chlorine raises three concerns: the minute amounts required, repeatability and an accurate mix throughout the water sample. 

The Se-Tech unit uses three stages to address these concerns. 

First is a peristaltic pump to prime a tall, small-diameter tube to a level dictated by an external sensor. That tall tube is attached by a valve to a large calibrated bulk water container, ensuring the small amount of concentrate is mixed with the same volume of water during each milking cycle. From the bulk water container, the pre-mixed high concentrate is dosed into the water system by a modified Se-dispenser, via a fixed standard addition valve.

Bonenkamps have found the apparatus easy to use, importantly delivering a clean, reliable supply to the house, dairy shed and the water troughs on the 70ha property that carries 265 dairy cows.

Operating cost is about $200 per month.

Eric Bonenkamp describes the Singh system as “faultless”. 

“In just under two years, we have had three fault warnings, signalled by a red light on the exterior of the pump shed. Sadly, in all three cases the cause was human error: I had forgotten to replace the bulk concentrate container when it was empty.”

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