Why air scrubber maintenance is critical

Airscrubber of Inno+

‘The air scrubber is an alarm lamp for hygiene on your farm! It is the last step in the process and helps you to signal if there are points of attention needed in the house’.

Many in the agricultural sector are not happy with air scrubbers and see them as an unnecessary cost imposed by the government. However, when it does apply to you they should also be seen as little cost as possible. In order to achieve this, regular inspection and maintenance is essential, as important as any other business operation on the farm such as cleaning down the stalls between rounds or making sure the animals have a comfortable place to live, good feed, and clean water.

Image is everything

The air scrubber can also contribute to a positive image for the sector. Public opinion increasingly determines how we present ourselves in the name of good farming and this leads to what is and is not allowed. Inspections by environmental services is only set to rise and will take place more and more often. During these checks, it is important that the technology used to reach the required targets is ´seen´ to be functioning well. When an inspector visits, you can assume that a first impression is of great importance. That is why we want to point out how important it is that your air scrubber, including the technical room, always looks spick and span. This works to your advantage. It radiates that you are proud of your installation and it gets the attention it deserves.

A clean working area in the scrubber also has a positive effect on the mood of farm employees and the technicians who come in for service and maintenance. After all, you yourself would rather be in a nice clean room rather than between the cobwebs in a messy attic.

Detect early to reduce cost

What’s more, faults and defects in a clean and tidy installation can be discovered and remedied much earlier, which reduces breakdowns and unnecessary costs. In recent years, we have come to realise it is essential that someone is made responsible for the air scrubbers. The task of this designated person is to ensure that the various periodic checks and activities are actually carried out and managed. What we see is that companies who have arranged these are getting their affairs in order and rely on our support calls less. The washers perform better and the customer can take more adequate action in the event of breakdowns. They are able to repair themselves, run smoothly through their checks and save on service costs.

Monitoring scrubber performance

Now that it is getting warmer, it is very important your air scrubbers stays clean. When they get dirty, this means that there is more and more resistance in the scrubber with the possibility correct volume of air cannot be reached. You can read the polluting of the washer on the screen of the computer or in the data logging via “Pressure drop Pa current”. It is very important to check this regularly.

  • Pollution means your ventilation has to work harder to get the air through the package. This can cause additional load and require extra power, higher power consumption can mean more cost.
  • Pollution means that there are less openings to push the ventilation air through, so when the same m3 per hour has to be reached, this will mean that the air velocity will increase, with a chance of acid mist escaping. With damage by way of corrosion to buildings and surroundings as a result.
  • Contamination of the washer means that the packages and package supports are unnecessarily overloaded, resulting in possible damage or collapse.

It is therefore important that you check the nozzles and water distribution and contamination of your washer regularly. These checks may need to be adjusted based on what you observe:

  • Is there foam formation?
  • Is there mucus formation?
  • Do you see anomalies in the pressure difference across the washer (Pa measurement)?

Next:

  1. Make sure the washer is technically in order;
  2. Clean the washer as described in the manual;
  3. If the problem persists, check for the following points.

Sampling:

In some cases, it is advisable to have air scrubber water sampled for the presence of contamination by yeasts and moulds. In order to get a reliable sample it is best to contact:

Trouw Voeding
Nijverheidsweg 2
3881 LA Putten
The Netherlands

www.trouwnutrition.nl
Phone number: +31 (0)341 371 611 (or other laboratory).

Parameternorm

Enterobacteria < 100 kve/ml Moulds < 10.000 kve/ml Yeasts < 10,000 cfu/ml * Chlorine (Cl2) < 1 mg/ litre * TOC (total organic carbon) < 250 mg/ litre * Only applicable for biological air scrubbers. Caution when administering disinfectants (such as Selco BE+) in biological scrubbers. This may disrupt the bacteria on the washing package. If the problem has not yet been solved and you have any questions, please contact our service department (077-4657360 choice 2) or send an e-mail to service@inno-plus.nl.

Jos Vervoort – Service coordinator