I prefer not to touch PT valves. Just open a hot faucet in the house some where, does the same thing. With less risk of an old, rusty PT valve dripping.
THE NOTE ON THE BREAKER BOX IS A GOOD IDEA.
Attack of the blue haired ladies....
Thanks for the laugh.
There is also the issue of pressure. That tends to hold down the nasties too. I am not really sure draining the water heater will accomplish much since there will still be some water left in it, exposed to air and that will be a lot more like the water in those cooling towers that caused the legionnaires disease. It will also promote rust and kill your elements a lot faster. Take a water heater element out and let it sit in the air for a few months and it will be covered in rust.
I have not looked at it in a long time, but the way I remember it was up on the roof there was some water in something (either rain water or the condensed water from an aircondition unit) that the nasties were living in and the hotel's aircondition air intake just sucked them in. There was no municipal water involved.
Legionnaires disease is endemic (ie everywhere) It very quickly appears in condensate for air coolers. Coolers are NOT airconditioning as they do not control humidity (a difficult and expensive process) In days of yore some proper airconditioning plants recirculated water from a tank (mains water fed) using spinning disk humidifiers. Guaranteed to promote Legionnaires disease. Humdifiers these days often use steam or ultrasonic misters.
The thing you saw on the roof was a heat rejection device. Warm water from the aircon condenser was cascaded down a series of slats to cool it. Air was blown by a fan upwards. Ideal to distribute legionnaires disease if present. You never see them now for that reason. Except in
3rd world countries where they serve to keep the population down.
Sounds like the cooling towers for the aircondioner system where I work. It is a very large plant. There are several cooling towers that must be over
50 feet tall. I know is a long way to walk up there. I am an electrician and have to wire the motors and other things for them, but it has been about a year from my last trip to the top. Surprises me that everyone at the plant is not sick all the time from those things. I hope they have enough chemicals in then to kill the bugs.Years ago, I took some HVAC courses. I was told that they are supposed to have chemical injectors, to pump in chemicals that hold down the bacteria. They are also supposed to drain the system and replace the water on some schedule. I was also told that if you aren't sure if the injectors are working, you need a good respirator and face mask so you don't get sick.
I wasn't told what to do, then. My off the cuff guess is to pour in a galon of Clorox bleach, let it run a while. And then drain the system and put in new city water. But, that's a guess.
Exactly, most are built by Delta or Marley. The operators are supposed to monitor the water and add chemicals as needed. Biocides are used and test done on a regular basis.
The things are completely outlawed here in the UK. There's not that many places here need the vast AC plants these things serve due to our climate. I remember they were associated with "Trane", (an American company). compressors/evaporators/condensers, all water/gas heat exchangers. They had an unsual method of load reduction by unloading pistons on the compressors. They were pretty reliable, never went wrong. But out they all went & conventional plant put in. It was a hospital though. The cooling towers on the roof had all timber slats.
Yes. Most bacteria will die above 120 degrees. Flush all the stagnant water from the lines for a few minutes when you return.
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