Government Building Saves on Replacement Element Costs

Government Building Saves on Replacement Element Costs

Reducing the frequency of cartridge filter servicing, four Lakos Separators are saving a large government building in Washington, D.C. more than $700.00 a month in replacement element costs. The separators were retrofit as pre-filters on four cartridge systems and are now removing the majority of sand and grit from the recirculating water of four large water fountains.

Trying to filter the fountains with just cartridges turned out to be expensive when the $72.00 filter elements had to be changed every three days. After one season of such frequent filter element changes, the building’s management installed Lakos Separators and increased element life to two months. Filter elements lasted almost the entire next season and had to be changed only once.

Originally striving for filtration that would cost less, the cartridge systems replaced aged, rusting, sand media filters and were anticipated to require much less maintenance. Advised by Advanced Filtration (a Lakos representative in Maryland) before the cartridges were installed that separators should be fitted with them, the building’s management declined, opting to “save” money. However, they realized that no money was actually being saved when cartridge element costs became burdensome. Now the building’s management recognizes the value of Lakos Separators in making their filtering systems more cost efficient.

Because they are equipped with automatic purge valves, the Lakos Separators require no routine maintenance. Each separator is handling 100-120 U.S. gpm (22-27 m³/ hr), removing virtually all of the sand and grit which the cartridges were once asked to filter exclusively. The water fountains vary in size, the largest being 25’ x 75’ (7.6 x 22.9 meters) with a depth of three feet (1 meter). Looking to achieve “swimming pool” clean water, the building’s management attributes a good part of the results to Lakos Separators.