As energy and water costs continue to rise, you would want your cooling tower to work at its peak as long as possible. Typically, cooling tower efficiency will be between 70 and 75%. But there are a few ways to boost its efficiency, ensuring cost-effective cooling for your processing plant or building.
The best part is you don’t have to replace the entire tower – add only required field upgrades. With these field upgrades, you can manage your cooling tower more efficiently, reduce maintenance and repair costs, and potentially eliminate the risk of unplanned downtime.
At Pinnacle Cooling Tower Service, we recommend including these upgrades in your preventive cooling tower maintenance. And in this post, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about them, including best practices.
Let’s get down to it.
What Are Cooling Tower Field Upgrades?
Cooling tower field upgrades are targeted improvements that increase efficiency and reduce operational costs. These upgrades also strengthen your cooling tower structure, potentially increasing its lifespan. As mentioned, these upgrades should be a part of your preventive cooling tower maintenance.
Here’s what these upgrades include:
1. Mechanical Upgrades
These upgrades often involve replacing mechanical components, such as fans, motors, or pumps, with high-efficiency systems, variable frequency drives, and corrosion-resistant materials.
2. Sound Attenuation
This cooling tower field upgrade is critical, especially if installed in a residential area. It typically involves thickening the tower cladding or using ductwork to reduce noise levels.
3. Structural Upgrades
Structural upgrades are all about reinforcing or replacing specific parts. Usually, this means replacing galvanized steel framework and supports with stainless steel parts to improve the safety and durability of your cooling tower.
4. Fill Media Upgrades
Fill media upgrades focus on increasing the heat exchange efficiency of your cooling tower. With a new fill media, your cooling tower can cool the building while saving money.
5. Control Upgrades
Upgrading the control systems improves cooling tower performance. These upgrades help you adjust operating conditions precisely and enhance overall system efficiency.
6. Add a Basement Heater
During the winter, temperatures often run below the freezing point in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. Adding a basement heater can prevent your cooling tower performance from getting affected during the winter.
Why Choose Cooling Tower Field Upgrades?
Before we get to the best practices, let’s quickly review the benefits of cooling tower field upgrades. They are:
1. Cost-Effective
Unlike major overhauls, cooling tower field upgrades are relatively cost-effective. You can upgrade different parts depending on your budget and requirements.
2. Minimal Downtime & Disruption
Cooling tower field upgrades require shutting down your tower, but the downtime is often minimal compared to major overhauls. Most upgrades can be finished in a day or two, allowing your tower to resume its routine as quickly as possible.
3. Increased Lifespan
Think of these upgrades as preventive cooling tower maintenance. When you replace old or damaged parts with new, energy-efficient components, your cooling tower can keep working longer. With regular upgrades like these, most cooling towers can last 5-10 years beyond their average lifespan.
4. Enhanced Safety & Compliance
Above all, cooling tower field upgrades can address safety issues and help you comply with the regulations, especially regarding protection against legionella. Like New York, other states require cooling tower operators to stick to a maintenance plan, test their towers for legionella, and clean and disinfect them. All of this can be taken care of during cooling tower field upgrades.
6 Best Practices for Cooling Tower Field Upgrades
While cooling tower field upgrades are necessary, you’ve to be careful. Even if it seems like a minor upgrade, you will need to plan it from start to finish to minimize downtime, reduce upgrade costs, and ensure safety.
Here’s how you can approach these upgrades:
1. Start with a Thorough Assessment
First things first, thoroughly inspect your cooling tower to see what type of field upgrades you need. This may require calling in a professional like Pinnacle CTS for a detailed inspection, which will help you identify:
- Broken or outdated parts
- Areas for improvement
- The extent of biofilm built-up
- The parts that need immediate replacement/upgrade
Once this picture is clear, you will get an idea of how much the cooling tower field upgrades can cost. Discuss your goals and budget with your cooling tower expert so that the field upgrade process proceeds smoothly from start to finish.
2. Focus on Upgrading Mechanical Components
Mechanical components such as fans, pumps, and motors are the most energy-consuming parts in a typical cooling tower. Naturally, field upgrades should focus on replacing these dated models with variable frequency drives, energy-efficient components, and corrosion-resistant materials. These upgrades can reduce your daily operating costs significantly.
3. Improve Your Water Distribution Systems
The water distribution system in your cooling tower disperses or sprays water over the fill media, pumping it from the basin. When this system works flawlessly, the fill media gets wet equally and promotes better heat transfer. That, in turn, helps improve overall cooling tower performance.
These field upgrades include:
- Replacing your old fill media
- Adding new nozzles and pump
- Install an effective water recycling system
4. Reinforce Structural Parts
If you have been doing building maintenance for a while, you probably know how quickly corrosion can attack different parts of your cooling tower. It can slowly but surely eat away at different metal parts. This not only affects safety but also cooling tower performance.
While making field upgrades, pay close attention to reinforcing structural parts. This may include replacing corroded or damaged parts with new ones and treating the water and the fill media with suitable chemicals to prevent corrosion.
5. Upgrade Control Systems
Advanced control systems like pH tracking, temperature control, and smart HVAC systems can keep your cooling tower running smoothly. If the existing control systems have run their course, you might want to replace them with new ones.
Also, think of automating as many cooling tower operations as possible. It’s more than just convenient; automation helps you optimize your water and power usage, resulting in more savings in the long run.
6. Maintain and Monitor
Regular cooling tower maintenance is at the heart of an energy-efficient system.
It should include:
- A weekly check for leaks and general wear and tear
- Continuous monitoring of pH, mineral, and other contaminant levels in water
- Frequent temperature checks
- Checking water and energy consumption
If you notice anything out of the ordinary, you should call your cooling tower service company to have a look. They can recommend what to do after a thorough inspection.
Wrapping Up
Cooling tower field upgrades offer excellent benefits such as minimal downtime, longer lifespan, and enhanced safety, which often translates into lower operational and maintenance costs in the long run. However, you have to make these upgrades after careful assessment and with the help of a professional. That’s where we come in.
Pinnacle Cooling Tower Service serves the Greater Tri-State area, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. We are available to serve 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.
Reach out today to learn more about our services.
