The conductivity measurement represents the total dissolved solids and is useful in both boilers and cooling towers.  With softenors, an increase of conductivity over the supply shows that there are problems with salt ingress.  Conductivity can be used to assess the proportion of condense being returned.  Conductivity can be used on the condensate to determine if there is water ingress or boiler carryover.  The conductivity can be used to check for TDS, and is the normal way for controlling automatic blowdown for steam boilers.   Conductivity is the main method to determine the concentration of the water when compared with the make up in cooling systems.  Conductivity is the standard method for automating cooling water bleed. I have used it to monitor evaporator plant, and it is the main method for automatically dumping contaminated condensate.  Conductivity is also used for monitoring the water flowing from different sections of RO permeates.  These can be linked to alarms.  Conductivity is used to estimate the strength of acid or caustic used for cleaning in the food industry. It is the immediate go to test to start most monitoring and testing regimes.

Published November 8, 2018 21:35 by Don Sharpe