Your cooling tower is home to hidden savings opportunities that significantly reduce energy and water consumption in your facility. Over time, patchwork repairs, general neglect, or changes in facility needs mean your cooling tower may not be operating in top form. Performing these 4 steps can keep your cooling tower working in tip-top shape, improving its reliability and extending its operating lifespan:
1. Catch problems early by tracking key parameters
A log is an early warning system for any developing problems with your equipment. By regularly checking and tracking the key components of your cooling tower, filters and treatment system, you’ll be able to quickly spot and address trends and outliers that may signal a looming problem. Catching those deviations early can help avoid costly maintenance and repairs down the road.
Cooling tower water treatment measures to track may include: water hardness, alkalinity, suspended solids, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH balance, chlorides, sulfates, silica, iron, manganese and ammonia.
2. Perform regular maintenance, like inspections and cleanings
In the case of your cooling tower, half an ounce of prevention may be worth a lot more than a pound of cure. Dirt, dust, pollen, algae, scale, fluctuating temperatures, process variations – any of these can add up to a quickly escalating problem if a cooling tower is left unchecked for too long. Keep things humming along and avoid costly problems by regularly inspecting and tuning your equipment in accordance with its service plan.
Regular maintenance can help your facility reduce bleed-off, extend equipment lifespan, and keep operational and maintenance costs in check. It’s much cheaper to perform routine maintenance than to let a problem with your equipment or cooling water spiral out of control.
3. Use a filter to keep the system clean
The cleaner your system, the more efficiently it will operate. Although running higher cycles of concentration may save money on blowdown in the short term, that choice could be an expensive one in the long run if your water isn’t being filtered properly. Those higher cycles allow more suspended solids to accumulate in the water, leading to scaling, bio-fouling, corrosion, decreased heat efficiency transfer and higher energy costs.
Side-stream filtration devices, such as the Aqua-Stream, can remove even small (< 30 microns) suspended solids to permit high cycles of concentration without the build up of waterborne deposits. These systems continuously cycle a portion of your cooling water, reducing the need for system downtime, water treatment chemicals and maintenance hours. The Aqua-Stream requires 50% less backwash than other filters, further compounding savings.
By simply making the most use of the water in the system with adequate filtration and treatment, your facility can save money on makeup water, blowdown and associated sewer expenses.
4. Control biological growth
Cooling towers present the perfect conditions for biological activity thanks to their warm, moist environments. Biofilms are particularly problematic, as they have strong insulating properties, contribute to fouling and corrosion, and produce byproducts that further micro-biological growth.
Keeping biological activity in check has the added benefit of also minimizing the likelihood of scaling and corrosion. One method for controlling this growth is adding Pathex antibacterial filter media to your cooling tower water treatment plan. The silica media kills bacteria on contact without chemicals or harmful byproducts and provides protection for years. It’s a drop-in replacement for sand and multi-media filters that can deliver significant savings over the life of your cooling tower by reducing water, energy, maintenance and chemicals.
To save money on your HVAC system, look no further than your cooling tower. With these 4 steps, you can uncover significant savings on energy, water, maintenance and chemicals.
1. Catch problems early by tracking key parameters
A log is an early warning system for any developing problems with your equipment. By regularly checking and tracking the key components of your cooling tower, filters and treatment system, you’ll be able to quickly spot and address trends and outliers that may signal a looming problem. Catching those deviations early can help avoid costly maintenance and repairs down the road.
Cooling tower water treatment measures to track may include: water hardness, alkalinity, suspended solids, total dissolved solids (TDS), pH balance, chlorides, sulfates, silica, iron, manganese and ammonia.
2. Perform regular maintenance, like inspections and cleanings
In the case of your cooling tower, half an ounce of prevention may be worth a lot more than a pound of cure. Dirt, dust, pollen, algae, scale, fluctuating temperatures, process variations – any of these can add up to a quickly escalating problem if a cooling tower is left unchecked for too long. Keep things humming along and avoid costly problems by regularly inspecting and tuning your equipment in accordance with its service plan.
Regular maintenance can help your facility reduce bleed-off, extend equipment lifespan, and keep operational and maintenance costs in check. It’s much cheaper to perform routine maintenance than to let a problem with your equipment or cooling water spiral out of control.
3. Use a filter to keep the system clean
The cleaner your system, the more efficiently it will operate. Although running higher cycles of concentration may save money on blowdown in the short term, that choice could be an expensive one in the long run if your water isn’t being filtered properly. Those higher cycles allow more suspended solids to accumulate in the water, leading to scaling, bio-fouling, corrosion, decreased heat efficiency transfer and higher energy costs.
Side-stream filtration devices, such as the Aqua-Stream, can remove even small (< 30 microns) suspended solids to permit high cycles of concentration without the build up of waterborne deposits. These systems continuously cycle a portion of your cooling water, reducing the need for system downtime, water treatment chemicals and maintenance hours. The Aqua-Stream requires 50% less backwash than other filters, further compounding savings.
By simply making the most use of the water in the system with adequate filtration and treatment, your facility can save money on makeup water, blowdown and associated sewer expenses.
4. Control biological growth
Cooling towers present the perfect conditions for biological activity thanks to their warm, moist environments. Biofilms are particularly problematic, as they have strong insulating properties, contribute to fouling and corrosion, and produce byproducts that further micro-biological growth.
Keeping biological activity in check has the added benefit of also minimizing the likelihood of scaling and corrosion. One method for controlling this growth is adding Pathex antibacterial filter media to your cooling tower water treatment plan. The silica media kills bacteria on contact without chemicals or harmful byproducts and provides protection for years. It’s a drop-in replacement for sand and multi-media filters that can deliver significant savings over the life of your cooling tower by reducing water, energy, maintenance and chemicals.
To save money on your HVAC system, look no further than your cooling tower. With these 4 steps, you can uncover significant savings on energy, water, maintenance and chemicals.
Learn more
To find out more about AS Filtration’s solutions for finding savings in your cooling tower with filtration and treatment, visit our cooling water solutions page. There, you’ll find a case study demonstrating 375% improvement in heat transfer efficiency in a project using Aqua-Stream and Pathex cooling tower water filtration solutions.
If you would like to discuss how our filtration and treatment solutions can be applied to your specific situation, please call 423.602.9520 to speak to one of our engineers, or complete the Contact Us form.
To find out more about AS Filtration’s solutions for finding savings in your cooling tower with filtration and treatment, visit our cooling water solutions page. There, you’ll find a case study demonstrating 375% improvement in heat transfer efficiency in a project using Aqua-Stream and Pathex cooling tower water filtration solutions.
If you would like to discuss how our filtration and treatment solutions can be applied to your specific situation, please call 423.602.9520 to speak to one of our engineers, or complete the Contact Us form.
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