Crystal River Energy Complex: Power Plant On The Gulf Coast

The Crystal River Energy Complex is a literal city unto itself. With both nuclear and coal-fired electrical production, the complex includes 5 facilities on the Gulf coast of Florida, north of Tampa-St. Petersburg. And they are right on the coast, so salt water, along with coal dust and other corrosives are a constant problem for their HVAC/R equipment.

Up until a few years ago, Crystal River did not specify any special coating for their units. They were constantly repairing or replacing units due to problems caused by the corrosiveness of the environment. As Jim Cole, HVAC Tech tells it, they began to hear about Bronz-Glow from HVAC techs, contractors, and wholesale companies they dealt with. "Bronz-Glow was highly-recommended by them all, especially Tampa Bay Trane, who we ordered our units through."

In 2002 they replaced an 89-ton chiller unit in their Number 5 Precipitation Room, the industry name for a room with breakers and high-voltage electrostatic filters. These are the filters that remove impurities from the air, and they must be kept cool or they will overheat rapidly, causing a chain reaction of problem.

"We also replaced a 50-ton chiller at our CR-4 Administration building, and 2 30-ton DX systems at their 480 Switch Gear Room. We coated all of these with Bronz-Glow.

"For some reason we weren't able to coat a 120-ton chiller in our Control Room or another 105-ton chiller at our Electric Shop. Both of these are less than three years old and already are falling apart from the corrosion."

They plan to replace a 100-ton chiller system at their CR-3 Admin Building next year. Will they specify Bronz-Glow? "I'm very happy with Bronz-Glow. This chiller unit has needed replacing for several years… I don't want the new one to wear out from all the corrosion like the old one did. I recommended they get Bronz-Glow on it as well."

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