Cooling water systems account for the majority of industrial and commercial water systems in service today. Cooling water systems such as cooling towers and heat exchangers, need to be protected and monitored to ensure costly repairs, water damage, or total replacement does not occur.
For centuries, business owners and facility maintenance personnel have put in efforts with partnering water treatment companies to halt these events. Servicing the cooling water system with a water treatment program and mechanical preventative maintenance program. Thus Allowing the cooling system to operate under conditions that will stress the system but halt stress when signs of wear or damage become more prevalent. This will balance the use of water treatment chemicals with the use of natural resources such as energy and water.
When proper chemical and mechanical preventative maintenance is neglected, the results are devastating. Asset degradation will occur. Company profits will be reduced and costly repairs for the cooling water system will occur more often at higher costs. Total replacement will occur after time. Severely limiting the lifespan of your cooling water system.
When a cooling water system is neglected asset protection will fail. It is important to understand the common causes for asset degradation and how to prevent these failures from occurring. Cooling Tower replacement can be a costly proposition and commercial cooling towers are expected to last an average of 15 - 20 years. This average assumes proper water treatment and mechanical maintenace are performed on the cooling water system. This estimate was sourced from cooling tower manufacturers.
Depending on the plant, cooling tower size, chiller size, water pump set-up, daily make-up water tonnage, etc. A plant manager or site worker can begin to understand the costs associated with cooling water system failures. Keeping track of all water equipment onsite will ensure assets are protected, tracked and monitored for effectiveness and problem prevention. Asset protection will be different for every cooling water system and every plant manager. Costs will differ for repairs and total replacement costs.
COOLING WATER SYSTEM ASSETS
Cooling water systems can vary from closed systems, to open-recirculation to once-through systems. Each system will have different parts, tower manufacturers, etc. Common cooling water system set-ups normally consist of a cooling tower, centrifigual chiller, water-pumps, and Air Handling Unit. This equipment will make up a cooling water system. If problems start to occur with a cooling tower and its water quality, it will then pass this contaminated water through water pumps, the chiller and air handling unit. If one piece in the system is affected negatively, often times other pieces of equipment in the system will see problems as well. Recognizing the total cooling water operation and protecting those company assets will reduce repairs, system down-time and replacement costs.