The Importance of Maintaining Cooling Towers

Cooling towers are the primary mechanism that rejects heat from industrial processes. These systems are crucial for many businesses to continue efficient operations. However, well-managed cooling towers can increase operation efficiency and reduce costs.

Before getting to cleaning cooling towers, it is important to understand the different types of cooling towers, how to clean them and how to maintain them to reduce operating costs.

Generally speaking, there are two types of cooling towers that is natural draft and mechanical draft. Natural draft towers utilize the natural convection of the air to facilitate flow. On the other hand, mechanical draft towers generate air flow with the use of fans. The former are larger and cheaper to operate while mechanical draft towers are smaller but costly to run. The towers possess more moving parts, which means more areas to breakdown.

Regardless of the tower your industry utilizes, it is important for you to keep it clean.

In a cooling tower, fill media is placed inside the tower to increase surface area contact between the water and air which facilitates the cooling process. The two types of fill media are film and splash. Film media spreads the water out on a thin film, while splash media breaks the water into small droplets to mix with the air. Both of these processes are dependent on clean water and having little to no debris.

Unfortunately, calcium build-up is unavoidable. This problem requires you to check the fill media constantly to ensure there are no obstructions. This type of maintenance is important for you to keep your cooling towers in peak condition.

Maintaining your cooling towers will save you money and energy usage. For example, if your cooling tower is dirty, the longer and harder it needs to work to achieve the same cooling goals. This issue in turn increases stress on your system of chillers and exchangers. The increased stress reduces the life of your cooling tower and increases maintenance requirements.

Cooling towers , while strong machines, require detailed inspections to ensure that they are operating at peak efficiency. Maintain your cooling tower on a regular basis will:

• Save energy
• Reduce the amount of water being consumed
• Decrease the amount of chemicals required for water treatment
• Extend the equipment service life
• Reduce operating costs, overall

Mr.Raviselvan, Managing Director of Gem Equipments (p) Ltd, Coimbatore. Leading Manufacturers, Suppliers & Exporters of Cooling Towers, Industrial Chillers & Air Dryers in India.