Cleaning out a cooling tower can be a big task, but it doesn’t have to be. Just a few simple methods can make cooling tower cleaning and maintenance much quicker and easier.
Regular Cooling Tower Cleaning And Maintenance
Different kinds of cooling tower contamination feed back into each other. Scale provides a great environment for bacterial biofilm to grow on. Biofilm corrodes your cooling tower, reducing its working life. That corrosion also provides new places for bacteria to hide. Biofilm also gets more durable the longer it is allowed to build up, making it harder to remove even with aggressive cooling tower cleaning and maintenance methods.
Putting off cooling tower cleaning and maintenance makes it exponentially harder to clean when you finally get around to it. OSHA recommends at least two thorough cleanings each year to prevent Legionella bacteria from growing in your ventilation system, but even more regular maintenance can help to keep your cooling system clean and clear.
If you want to know how to increase cooling tower efficiency, the answer to that is also regular cleaning. Scale, biofilm, algae and corrosion all reduce cooling tower efficiency, leading to higher power bills and potentially expensive damage to your ventilation system.
Cooling Tower Cleaning: Preventative Measures
Preventative measures aren’t a substitute for cleaning, but they can make cooling tower cleaning and maintenance much quicker and easier.
Applying an anti-corrosive coating to cooling tower components helps to prevent corrosion by creating a protective layer between the metal and the water. It won’t prevent corrosion indefinitely, but it can slow it down exponentially.
Adding antiscalant chemicals to your cooling water helps to prevent scale building up inside your cooling tower and the rest of your cooling system. Sulfuric acid can also be used to reduce water alkalinity, which also helps to prevent scaling.
Adding the right chemicals to your cooling water can also help to kill off biofilm. The most common of these is chlorine, which is usually introduced to the water in the form of 10 percent commercial bleach.
Testing your water regularly is also a key part of using these cooling tower cleaning methods. While they are very useful for cooling tower cleaning and maintenance, adding too little won’t give you the effects you want. Adding too much of some of these cooling tower cleaning tools can also be a problem. For example, commercial bleach can corrode cooling tower surfaces.
The Best Times For Cooling Tower Cleaning and Maintenance
Cooling tower cleaning and maintenance is absolutely necessary, but it means shutting off parts of your cooling system while the cleaners are at work. The best times to clean are in the spring just before cooling season starts, and then again in the fall right after turning it off for the year. Exactly when this occurs will depend on your local climate.
Cooling towers should also be cleaned before switching them on if they have been sitting idle for a while. If the tower has been unused for 5 days or more, it is a good idea to give it a quick preventative cleaning before using it again.
The fourth way to maximize your cooling tower cleaning is to leave it to the experts.
Contact Pinnacle Cooling Tower Service now for your free inspection and estimate.
Contact us
To learn more about cooling tower maintenance or to find out how we can help when it comes to routine cooling tower service and maintenance, contact Pinnacle Cooling Tower Service today at 732-570-9392. Our primary goals are safety, service, and customer satisfaction.
