Cooling towers dissipates heat from recirculating water and is used to cool chillers, air conditioners, or more process equipment to the ambient air. The environment rejects heat from cooling towers through the process of evaporation. Therefore, by design, cooling towers use a significant amount of water.
Keeping the cooling tower running correctly is vital to overall operations. For example, correct maintenance can prevent airborne diseases. Preventing Legionella in cooling towers is vital to safeguarding the health and safety of employees and visitors in the building or buildings where the cooling tower operates.
Cooling towers are used in various industries and come in several configurations. Therefore, their required maintenance depends on the application type for which they have been built. You can contact Towertech for cooling tower India maintenance and repair.
The life expectancy of industrial cooling towers is typically 15-25 years. However, taking these simple steps can extend the life of your cooling towers or cooling system asset by further 10-15 years.
1. Ensuring Disciplined Maintenance
Unexpected cooling tower breakdowns can be avoided through a systematic maintenance routine. Weekly visual inspections often catch a problem when it is still small and easy to correct. Particular attention should be given to the cooling towers fan and gearbox/gear drive.
- The weakest link in cooling tower gear drives is the high-speed shaft seal. These seals usually last three years before they become worn and start leaking. Change the oil seal every few years or specify mechanical face seals that have hardened wear surfaces.
- Good maintenance practices will prevent catastrophic and costly cooling towers’ fan blade failures. All blade-attaching hardware should be tightened to the manufacturer’s specifications. The tightness of blade-attachment hardware should also be verified regularly during annual maintenance checks.
2. Implementing an effective chemical program
Chemicals used to clean & maintain cooling towers include Corrosion Inhibitors, Scale Inhibitors, and Algaecides & Biocides. These chemicals are primarily meant to expand the longevity of the cooling tower and prevent matter like fouling, corrosion, and Legionella over time.
- For example, one of the primary issues that cooling towers face is corrosion, which, over time, will weaken the mechanical parts of a water tower, causing malfunctions and contamination of the water used in the tower. Corrosion inhibitors directly tackle common corrosive compounds such as chlorides and sulfates and prevent a cooling tower’s structure and components from deteriorating with time.
3. Improving Cooling Tower Water Cleaning/Treatment
Proper treatment and monitoring of recirculating water inside a cooling system are critical to maintaining the system’s performance and reliability. If your cooling towers function as they should, you may feel there is no need for Cooling Tower Water Treatment.
However, each cooling system is unique. Thus the water treatment required to tackle common problems (from alkalinity and pH imbalances to biofilms and pollutants) will vary from one system to another.
You must work with a skilled water treatment expert who can examine your cooling tower’s water treatment strategy and advise you on the following steps to take regarding your cooling tower’s water quality. This will repay the investment of time and money in the long-term, thanks to increased longevity, efficiency, and effectiveness in your cooling towers.
4. Retrofitting or Refurbishment of the System
Old cooling towers can be renovated or upgraded at a fraction of the value of buying a brand-new system. Refurbishment or upgrades can bring a cooling tower’s components up to original factory specifications. Some common steps that can be taken in a refurbishment process include:
- Clean the inside of the cooling towers and all metal parts, using sandblasting to remove corrosion.
- Application of an epoxy coating to the metal, with a flexible epoxy stripping, is applied to the joints to allow flexibility and prevent leaking.
- Replacement of the fill media inside the cooling towers.
- The replacement of the transfer media or fill and the longevity of fill, or heat transfer media, is predominantly a function of water and air quality and proper operation.
Bottomline
A cooling tower has a tough job. Furthermore, many activities depend on the cooling towers being able to operate continuously for years, with minimum maintenance and repair. Stay proactive with these steps so that your cooling tower continues to generate value for your business until the end of the system’s life.
When looking for active systems, it is advised to consult a cooling tower manufacturer that has years of experience in the field. You can also check the cooling tower for sale on our website. We at Towertech are one of the best cooling tower manufacturers in India. You can buy cooling tower from us at the best prices.
