Case Study: Aberdeen Proving Ground

Overview

Aberdeen Proving Ground is the U.S. Army’s oldest active proving ground established in 1917. They cover more than 72,500 acres and nearly 300 miles of road. There are over 2,000 buildings with more than 17 million square feet of building space, and 21,000 employees.

Challenges

The massive-sized, two story boilers that were used to heat the buildings were clogging up with limescale despots. At the end of the heating season, the boilers had to be broken down and cleaned out with acids, hard manual labor and chiseling. The cooling towers and chillers were experiencing the same scaling issues.

Solution

The initial install as a “test” of ScaleBlaster was on a boiler that handled 17 buildings. One SB-1200 and other commercial models were installed on the boiler lines. Additional installations have proceeded with multiple industrial models of the SB-3600 installed.

Installed

November 4, 2010. Cooling towers and chillers June 17, 2014, with more scheduled.

Outcome

When the first boiler was opened up after the initial heating season, they were virtually scale-free with only “dust” of scale settling in the boiler. The maintenance crew and management could not believe it. One of the largest boilers in the world would no longer need the massive cleaning and chiseling. Additional units have been installed on huge cooling towers and chillers with similar results. More installations are coming as budgeting allows.