Cooling towers are crucial to battle the heat waves that grace our structures. They enter as uninvited guests, and a cooling tower is the only respite our systems can get from the sweltering heat. However, the maintenance of devices such as cooling towers is much more important than using it because an unkempt cooling tower can cause diseases. This is because it is filled with dust and bacteria, and these minute dust particles and bacteria can enter our lungs and cause unwarranted damages. Most people usually employ cooling tower cleaning services every year in order to run operations smoothly.
About Cooling Towers
Cooling towers are used to release process wasted heat into the atmosphere because they act as heat removal devices.
- Their basic principle entails the evaporation of a small portion of the water which is re-circulated throughout the entire system. This is the principle of operation of water-based cooling towers.
- The actual cooling is caused by the mixture of cool air and warm water, which relinquishes the latent heat of vaporization, which, in turn, cools the water.
- This makes it a key component in the refrigeration industry, and industries such as power plants, chemical processing, steel mills, and manufacturing industries that require cooling services. They can also be used in large commercial structures such as schools, hospitals, offices, airports, and hotels for cooling purposes.
Maintaining the chiller tube
- There is a need for prevention of the build-up of scale and sediment in the cooling tower, and this can be done by maintaining the chiller tubes according to the manufacturer’s instructions. By keeping a periodic maintenance schedule of the cooling tower, the growth of Legionnaires disease bacteria can be prevented.
- Chiller tubes consumer the highest amount of energy in any organization, which makes their maintenance crucial. The performance of any chiller tube can be judged by its efficiency in heat transfer. The cleanliness of the long and wide chiller tubes affects its efficiency.
- The types of pollutants that can be present inside these tubes include mud, slime, sludge, algae, bacteria, and scale. The water quality of the area and the purpose of use of the cooling tower determine the frequency of salt formation in the chiller tubes. Chiller manufacturers conduct periodic inspections of these tubes, and it has been observed that closed systems don’t require much maintenance as opposed to open systems.
- The water may get polluted with sludge, scale, slime, and silt, which is the perfect breeding ground for LDB. This infected water is a health hazard and also increases energy costs by reducing the chiller tube efficiency. The sediments present in the clogged tubes can be cleaned with water flush and a tube cleaner. The right tools can be used to soften the heavy deposits, and they can easily scrape algae and bacteria. These tools must be very efficient in cleaning straight and spiral enhanced chiller tubes.
Cooling tower water
The recommended temperature for the water that circulates within the cooling systems is 20-50 degrees Celsius. The water vapor is circulated by a fan.
