Cooling towers seem pretty simple to understand. Their name describes what they do – cool water. They do this by evaporation – also an easy concept to grasp. But there's a lot more to think about than simple cooling and evaporating when it comes to cooling towers, especially when considering the way they're made always seems to be evolving, as does the range of uses, from HVAC to industrial.
For example, some of the smallest cooling towers may only handle a few hundred gallons of water, such as for air conditioning in a school or small office building. Then, on the other end of the spectrum are the monster cooling towers that cool thousands of gallons of water a minute and are about 100-feet in diameter, commonly seen in big power plants.
No matter which type of cooling tower you're dealing with, you must protect it against corrosion. The most common type of corrosion seen in cooling towers is what's known as "white rust."
White rust (which is a build-up of zinc oxide), most commonly occurs in galvanized steel cooling towers and is directly related to the water quality and treatment and can build up quickly if pH levels are off and water treatment is not done properly.
Another concern with cooling towers is scale formation. Scale occurs when deposits get clogged in pipes, usually caused by cold water high in minerals combining with heat. Scale deposits can clog and slow down the cooling system – making it much less effective, and much more expensive. In fact, the removal of scale deposits each year is one of the biggest expenses when it comes to cooling tower maintenance.
The safest and best way to preserve the life of a cooling tower is to prevent scale, corrosion and even bacteria formation. A comprehensive cooling tower treatment regimen will deliver these benefits.
Find out more about EnduroSolv® Cooling Tower Treatment solutions.