Largest Brood of 17-Year Cicadas Will Emerge This Spring

033121-cicada — Image by JamesDeMers from Pixabay

033121-map — Credit: Mapchart.net, Wikipedia.org

The Great Eastern Brood of periodic cicadas will emerge from its 17-year slumber this spring to clog cooling towers and air-handling systems. What can that mean for your system? A large infiltration of cicadas can:

Clog cooling tower fill, reducing airflow.
Overwhelm sump water, increasing organic content and increasing bacteria count.
Increase water treatment chemical consumption and associated cost.
Clog strainers, reduce flow rate and affect chiller efficiency.
Clog solenoid blowdown valves in the open position, resulting in increased makeup water and water treatment chemical consumption.
Clog heat exchangers, reducing flow rate and heat transfer efficiency.
Cause production downtime, lost productivity and missed shipments.
Increase maintenance cost.

Among the ways to handle cicadas are air-intake filtration systems. “How to Prevent Trouble with Your Process Equipment Due to Periodic Cicadas” on our website offers advice on how to prepare your process cooling equipment for airborne debris such as cicadas.

Brood X is expected to affect Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

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Avoiding scale, corrosion and microbiological growth — all of which diminish effective heat transfer — is the focus of any water treatment approach for water-contacted process heating and cooling equipment.