Cooling towers are arguably the most essential parts of industrial buildings or manufacturing plants. They keep some of the massive machinery cool, which is very important because otherwise, they would implode or become extremely hot and dangerous.
There are two types of cooling towers: Wet and dry. Dry towers don’t use water like the wet ones, but the wet ones are undoubtedly more effective than the dry. Many might argue that using less water is very important for environmental reasons, and this is true, but a malfunctioning or dangerous plant is even worse. That’s why we have a couple of suggestions for you for ways to reduce water consumption in the use of your cooling towers:
Keep the Water Clean
This is extremely important and goes hand in hand with excellent record keeping. You’ll want to count exactly how many times you reuse the water in your towers before you replace is. It is also vital to remember that wet cooling towers will always emit water vapors into the air which will inevitably rain down onto the local ecosystems and community. You want it to be clean so that you meet environmental standards.
Keep Track of Concentration Cycles
Most cooling towers have cycles that range from three to six for their concentration cycles, and you can manually reduce the amount of water make-up by up to a full 20%. That makes a lot of difference when it comes to saving water — with an 1,000 ton system, you can save around $10,000 per year just by increasing efficiency by 5%.
Keep Up on Maintenance
Even a tiny leak due to corrosion or mineral deposits can be detrimental in terms of water usage. This goes for the entire plant — it is very important that you make sure that everything is up to code and production is not skirting around some of the more important facts of maintenance.
Running an industrial operation is a big responsibility — if you run a plant or facility, feel free to share how you reduce water consumption or the reduction of water use in the use of your wet water towers too!
