Cooling Towers
Cooling Towers are used to reject heat from air conditioning systems. In a cooling tower, a circulating stream of warm water contact an air flow, causing evaporation of a portion of the water. When this water evaporates, the water which remains behind is cooled. The cooled water then circulates through a cooling system, warms, and then returns to the tower.

• Understand Your System: Prepare an inventory of each cooling tower you have, its cooling capacity, and the equipment or processes that it serves.
• If you purchase chemicals for the treatment of the recirculating cooling tower water, have the chemical vendor explain the purpose and action of each chemical.
• Have your chemical vendor provide a written report of each service call, and be sure that the vendor explains the meaning of each analysis performed, as well as the test results.
• Tell your chemical vendor that water conservation is a priority, and ask about alternatives that may reduce the amount of water bled-off from the towers.
• Have vendors bid for your facility's water cooling tower water treatment. Require a predetermined minimum level of water efficiency. Have them provide figures showing projected annual water and chemical consumption and costs.
• Consider incorporating sulfuric acid to reduce carbonate scale and achieve significantly higher cycles of concentration. If you use sulfuric acid, be sure to observe appropriate safety precautions.
• Ozone is another alternative that can help remove dissolved minerals and act as a biocide. Again, observe the appropriate safety precautions.
• If available, use reclaimed water as a source of cooling tower make-up water.
• Blow-down water is the release of some of the circulating water to remove suspended and dissolved solids left behind as pure water evaporates from the system. Re-use blow down where possible for non-potable uses.