As many of us prepare to fly off on holiday this year, spare a thought for busy airport staff – specifically the facilities management teams. It’s a high-pressure environment where HVAC systems play a significant role in ensuring everyone makes it through to their flights comfortably and safely.
The UK’s largest airports are some of the busiest in the world. For example, in 2024, Heathrow saw a record 8 million passengers in August alone, with 269,000 travelling through the airport on a single day. Even smaller airports like Manchester can deal with large numbers, with 3.4 million people travelling through it during August 2024; and Stanstead dealt with 3.1 million passengers in the same month.
Any disruption in getting passengers from A to B is not only an inconvenience, it’s a reputation issue in a highly competitive market and particularly during the peak season of July and August. So ensuring that systems such as cooling, heating and hot water are optimised is critical for building engineering teams.
High level risk
For example, loss of cooling in the UK’s increasingly hot summers can quickly turn crowded terminals into sweltering environments. Cooling is vital to keep passengers and staff comfortable and safe – not to mention being critical for the operation of IT, server rooms and air traffic control.
Unplanned maintenance in the event of HVAC system breakdown can be significantly disrupting in the airport environment where it can be challenging to close off areas used regularly by passengers. Furthermore, airlines which must compensate passengers for delays can hold the airport accountable if its facilities are at fault.
With this high level of risk, airports put the emphasis on preventative maintenance, and it’s here that taking a modern approach to water treatment can make a significant difference.
Airports circulate vast amounts of water in cooling and heating systems. If this water is not properly treated poor water chemistry can lead to reduced transfer efficiencies, forcing equipment such as chillers and circulating pumps to have to work harder (using more energy for less effective cooling).
Effective water treatment ensures that HVAC systems can function as designed and reduce the likelihood of breakdowns and unplanned maintenance.
Improved resource management
Enwa’s EnwaMatic side stream filtration system supports busy FM teams by removing the ‘human factor’ through automation and self-regulating chemistry, so that manual chemical dosing and filter maintenance are managed without the use of their own engineers. This robust approach takes corrective action in ‘real time’ ensuring effective treatment is actively being maintained.
EnwaMatic side stream water treatment removes debris to less than 10 microns. Independent testing shows that the turbidity of treated water is improved to levels comparable with potable water. Keeping the energy carrier in this ‘clean and polished state’ optimises energy transfer.
What’s more, the water treatment process is dynamic and self-regulating, responding to water conditions in real time, ensuring effective treatment is in place continuously. Enwa’s EnwaMatic side stream is a practical alternative to chemical dosing, which can be a time-consuming activity.
Scalable
Enwa’s team of water treatment engineers has worked across numerous sectors from universities, data centres, healthcare and commercial offices. One of the many benefits of the EnwaMatic side stream system is that it is available for buildings of all sizes and systems of all volumes – from less than 5m3 to 1 million m3 plus. Good water quality can support efficient operation in every system, no matter how large or small.
It doesn’t take much debris in the water and pipework to add significant costs to cooling your building this summer. By investing in modern water treatment technology, you can reduce your energy and protect your HVAC systems – extending their lifetime and reducing the likelihood of breakdowns (the last thing you want when the outdoor temperatures are rising).
If you’d like to find out more about our approach to water treatment, we can offer CPD-approved presentations on the principles behind it and talk to you about how Enwa’s approach can benefit you or your clients’ buildings.
