Let’s Tackle Cooling Tower Maintenance

Cooling towers play a critical role in regulating temperatures for manufacturing facilities and other large spaces, but some building owners and facility managers overlook them when it's time to perform routine maintenance. Neglecting the upkeep of a cooling tower can have expensive and potentially dangerous consequences.?

To keep building occupants healthy and maximize energy efficiency, it's crucial that you know the purpose of cooling towers and what steps you should take to properly maintain them. In this edition of Sensing Success, we’ll explore the advantages of proactive maintenance, the components of the towers themselves, and what you can do on a daily, weekly, monthly, and annual basis to keep them in top condition.

What Is a Cooling Tower?

A cooling tower is a type of heat exchanger that brings water into direct contact with air. It extracts waste heat from the water, reducing the temperature so it can recirculate and cool down other elements of the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system. The extracted heat is then released into the atmosphere.

Why Is Regular Cooling Tower Maintenance Important?

Understanding how to maintain your cooling tower isn't just crucial to ensuring building occupants are comfortable. It's also a matter of reducing expenses, avoiding downtime, and protecting people's health.

Advantages of Routine Maintenance

These are some of the biggest reasons why maintaining your cooling tower should be a priority:

• Performance: Built-up scale, corrosion, sediment, and other debris can affect system performance, and removing it through routine maintenance helps optimize the tower's heat transfer, airflow, and water distribution.
• Energy Efficiency: A tower that transfers heat more efficiently lowers water and energy use, improving your utility bills and environmental impact
• System Longevity: By taking a proactive stance toward maintaining your cooling tower, you'll prevent excessive wear and tear and component failures that could contribute to a shorter lifespan.
• Cost Savings: Performing regular maintenance allows you to identify problems before they escalate, reducing the risk of expensive last-minute emergency repairs and replacements.

Keep in mind that performing occasional maintenance won't offer the same benefits as sticking to a regular schedule.

Preventing Illness With Cooling Tower Maintenance

Cleaning, disinfecting, and maintaining a cooling tower is also essential to protecting the health and safety of building occupants. Cooling towers have pools of warm water that are exposed to the air—the perfect environment to grow a type of bacteria called Legionella. If someone inhales water mist containing this bacteria, they may develop a severe and sometimes deadly form of pneumonia known as Legionnaire's disease.

According to the CDC, cooling towers, hot tubs, showers, faucets, and water features are the most common locations for Legionella to grow and spread. When you perform regular maintenance on your cooling tower, you can spot stagnant water that could encourage Legionella growth and treat it with bacteria-killing chemicals.

Key Components of a Cooling Tower to Maintain

Cooling towers consist of several parts, all of which require regular inspection, cleaning, and maintenance:

• Fans and motors that create the airflow required to dissipate the heat in the tower
• Fill media, such as wood, PVC, or polypropylene, that increases the contact between the air and water, resulting in better cooling
• A water distribution system that spreads water evenly across the fill material and makes cooling more efficient
• Drift eliminators that ensure water droplets don't exit with the exhaust air
• A cooling tower basin that collects and stores water for recirculation

To optimize the performance of your cooling tower, your maintenance plan should address these components individually and as a cohesive system.

Cooling Tower Maintenance Checklist

Give a brief cooling tower maintenance checklist that readers can refer to for different time periods. For example:

Daily maintenance:

• Check water levels, temperature, and chemical treatment
• Monitor for strange noises or vibrations

Weekly maintenance:

• Inspect and clean the cooling tower basin
• Inspect fill media

Monthly maintenance:

• Inspect the mechanical components
• Check for leaks
• Test water quality
• Check oil levels

Annual maintenance:

• Perform a comprehensive inspection
• Change oil
• Deep clean all components
• Lubricate moving components
• Check bolts and tighten or replace them as necessary
• Replace any other worn or damaged parts
• Confirm motor fan is aligned

Keep Your Cooling Tower in Top Condition

Maintaining a cooling tower is no small task, but modern technology makes it easier. For example, sensors can automatically detect changes in temperature levels and alert you to potential problems. Veris offers a variety of products that support cooling tower maintenance, including:

Flow & BTU Meters

Indoor & Outdoor Temperature Sensors

Switches, Transducers & Relays

Our team can help you find the solutions that are the best fit for your cooling tower maintenance plan.

Stay Connected With Veris For More HVAC Insights

Maintenance of cooling towers matters, but so does the rest of your facility. The Veris team shares regular updates about HVAC sensors, equipment, and industry needs. Subscribe to our email newsletter to stay in the loop and find out about new products from Veris.