After a spring that seemed to last forever (as it usually does in the Midwest), it appears that summer will occur again this year. Hopefully you have been busy getting your cooling water systems ready for the demand of the coming months. We wanted to take this opportunity to share a few thoughts about a few tasks that are critical to efficient tower operation.From a water treatment perspective, here a few items that are the most critical to monitor:
Conductivity Control
Your water treatment provider should have recommended a conductivity set point that maximizes your cycles of concentration. You should be comparing the controller conductivity reading to a manual reading on a weekly basis. If the controller and manual reading are different, then you should ensure that there is adequate flow across the controller probe. If there is and the conductivity reading is still not correct, then calibrate your conductivity probe.
Bacteria Control
Cooling towers are breeding grounds for bacteria growth which can create biofilm that reduces the efficiency of your tower and creates public health and safety concerns as well. Ideally, you should be feeding an oxidizing and non-oxidizing biocide to control bacteria growth in your cooling tower. You need to be sure that these products are being fed into your tower. The simplest way to monitor this is to check the level in your product containers. Alternatively, your water treatment provider should have provided you with a manual test that tells you if the proper amount of biocide is being used. Other options like online analyzers can reduce the need for manual testing.