
ALPHA SERIES OPERATOR’S MANUAL 13
ALPHA 1500 • #8.913-964.0-F
CHEMICAL MAINTENANCE
PROGRAM
Owner Chemical Maintenance Program to
Maintain Water Quality:
Daily monitoring and adjustment of WATER MAZE water
chemistry is essential. If not monitored and controlled, the
recycled water becomes chemically unbalanced, resulting
in a host of problems such as algae and bacteria growth,
obnoxious odors, iron discoloration and ultimately is unt
for reuse or sewer discharge.
The daily monitoring and adjustment maintenance pro-
gram, if followed, will provide suitable water. The proper
maintenance of the water is not complicated and depends
upon a few basic principles:
1. PHYSICAL - eective ltration and recirculation of
the water
Eective recirculation of the water through the collection
pit, and the Alpha system is achieved only if the system is
utilized often (daily 6-8 hours or more) or if the system is set
to recirculate the water throughout the total system. WATER
MAZE has provided controls and procedures to achieve
continuous eective water recirculation throughout the
process. The Alpha, when operated properly, achieves ef-
fective ltration and recirculation.
2. CHEMICAL - proper adjustment of alkalinity and pH
The most important factor to control and maintain is the
pH of the water (i.e. the acidity or alkalinity). If the water is
acidic (low pH) it will dissolve iron into solution. The pres-
ence of iron of more than 0.2 ppm will result in rusty stain-
ing of virtually anything the water comes in contact with.
Alkaline water can cause cloudiness and greatly reduces the
eectiveness of chlorination. Many cleaning detergents are
alkaline and will make the water too alkaline. The proper pH
range to maintain is 6.8 - 7.2.
Alkalinity refers to the soluble salts in the water. These
include bicarbonates, carbonates, hydroxides and other
alkali compounds. The water's total alkalinity controls its re-
sistance (buering ability) to large uctuations in pH levels.
Another factor which should be monitored for proper water
chemistry balancing is calcium hardness. The presence of
too much calcium can lead to the formulation of scale.
3. BIOLOGICAL - adequate disinfection, bacteria, and
odor control
Chlorination and ozonization are used to control bacteria,
and odor formation. For chlorine to be eective, it must be
available as free chlorine. If the proper pH and alkalinity is
not maintained, or if the water contains dirt particles, the
chlorine will be combined chlorine and not be eective in
the control of algae and bacteria growth. Combined chlorine
has only 1/15th the strength of free chlorine.
Inadequate or improper addition of chlorine could result in
bacteria growth. Once bacterial growth starts, the system
must be shock treated. It is best to minimize the chances
of bacteria problems.
The killing of bacteria by chlorine exists in two phases:
1. The penetration of the active germicidal principal (hy-
pochlorous acid) into the bacterial cell and
2. The chemical combination of this ingredient with the
protoplasm (the complex composition which forms the
essential part of plant and animal cells). This combina-
tion is directly responsible for the death of the organism.
The activity of this germicidal eect is reduced in alkaline
solutions (those with a pH greater than 7.5) and expressed
as follows:
pH % of Eectiveness
4.0 100.0
5.0 99.6
6.0 95.8
7.0 69.7
8.0 18.7
9.0 2.2
10.0 0.2
Hypochlorite when added to solutions with a pH lower
than 6.0 can produce oxide which is toxic. In vehicle wash-
ing, almost all cleaning compounds are alkaline in nature.
Hypochlorite will still control bacterial growth and thus
smell at higher alkaline ranges, but as the table indicates,
its eectiveness is reduced.
To compensate for this inhibited activity, a larger quantity
of hypochlorite is used. This controls bacterial growth, but
also increases operational costs.
Typical hypochlorite has a pH of approximately 11.6. This
high pH increases the pH of holding tank water, making
pH adjustment more dicult.
Trichloro-S-Triazine Trione is a chlorine compound which has
a pH of 3.0 and when added to holding tanks aids in the
reduction of tank pH levels.
Unlike hypochlorite, which is usually 15 percent chlorine and
will produce sodium or calcium salts in holding tanks, these
new products are 99 percent chlorine which means that if
a solid “puck” of chlorine is used, the total eectiveness of
the puck is superior to that of hypochlorite and no negative
by-products are produced.