TREE Team > Services > Cooling Towers

Cooling Towers

WATER USE

Conservation suggestions

• Increase cycles of concentration.
• Use air cooling.
• Improve system maintenance.
• Use variable speed motors.
• Reuse blowdown.

Questions to ask during an evaluation

• What types of cooling systems are used; closed loop, open loop, evaporative, ammonia chillers?
• Who maintains cooling towers?
• Amount of water into cooling towers?
• Amount of water for blowdown?
• How are blowdown rate and frequency established?
• What is the conductivity set point if one is used to trigger blowdown?
• How often is the cooling tower reservoir dumped? How is frequency determined?
• Is a sand filter used to remove sediment? If so, what determines start and stop of backwashing? How much water is used in backwashing?
• Variability of heating load?
• Size of cooling towers in tons?
• Are different cooling towers used to adjust to varying load?
• Could the heating load be handled by air cooling?
• Can blowdown be reused within the facility?
• Is it appropriate to decrease cycles of concentration during the winter months or low heat load periods?

Data to collect

• Measure incoming and outgoing conductivity to check cycles of concentration.
• Measure incoming and outgoing flows if facility doesn’t have that data. Check for stuck valves.
• Visually inspect for leaks or excessive losses from the air inlet and outlet.
• Get cost estimate for variable speed drives on cooling tower fans.

CHEMICAL USE

Conservation suggestions

• Use more accurate chemical dosing.
• Use alternative water treatment technologies.
• Use less toxic chemicals.
• Use single pass cooling during winter months.

Questions to ask during an evaluation

• Final discharge location, WWTP or other?
• Chemicals used?
• How do you decide dose frequency and dosage?
• Set point for chemical addition?
• Does set point change over time?
• Have alternative water treatment technologies been considered?
• Is it feasible to use single pass cooling during periods of low heat load?