Cooling Tower Maintenance Solutions
A cooling tower is a specialised heat exchanger in which air and water are brought into direct contact with each other in order to reduce the water’s temperature. As this occurs, a small volume of water is evaporated, reducing the temperature of the water being circulated through the tower.
This is a very effective way of reducing condenser water temperature in most HVAC installations, however cooling towers vastly go under maintained apart from regular chemical dosing and legionella testing.
Common Cooling Tower Problems
Biological Contamination – Cooling towers by nature are places that are hot and humid. Along with the common and plentiful nutrients that most water sources contain it is an ideal place for the growth of unwanted biological growth, such as bacteria. These contaminants aren’t good for people, and are worse for the efficiency of your cooling tower. This comes in the form of biofilm, which is a build up on the internal components of your cooling tower. Even very thin layers can reduce the thermal efficiency dramatically.
Corrosion – Cooling towers and chillers that leak can many times be attributed to cooling systems that are ignored. This can be especially prevalent in cooling towers that use closed loop systems. When the air, sodium, and other chemicals that are found in our water supplies are left unchecked to run through a cooling tower system they eat away at the metal and will lead to leaks.
Fouling – Fouling can occur at different areas of your cooling tower system. The fill is one of the prime locations for fouling to occur. Fouling is the clogging of cooling surfaces or pipes with debris, dirt, and dust. When water cannot make it into and pass through the fill as designed, the air is not cooled properly. This means that the system has to work longer to achieve the same results. Which means it is using more electricity.
Mechanical Wear – Mechanical wear is generally overlooked with cooling towers until it is too late. A quaterly and annual planned maintenance service is vital to keeping cooling towers operational, Including greasing of bearings, replacement and inspection of drive belts and motor integrity. During cooling tower operation, corrosive elements are in contact with all these components creating the perfect scenerio for accelerated wear.
Cooling Tower Repair – Sydney
An urgent cooling tower job our maintenance team completed in Sydney – 31 stories up on a rooftop.
The 3m cooling tower fan had a collapsed bearing, causing it to run off center, ultimately causing the lower bearing housing to crack in 3 places.
The shaft was reverse engineered and locally manufactured due to severe wear and while we had access all rotating components were replaced including an aged 11 kW motor.
Contact our service team for all HVAC repairs including cooling tower repair and maintenance – service@bluenergy.com.au