Why do cooling towers need regular cleaning? Cleaning helps to tackle several important and often interrelated maintenance issues including corrosion, scale buildup and disease from cooling towers.
Regular Cleaning Prevents Disease From Cooling Towers
Cooling towers provide a warm, damp environment that is open to outside air. This makes them an ideal breeding ground for bacteria. Disease from cooling towers is a major occupational health hazard, with cooling tower Legionella outbreaks being a particularly serious problem. Legionella bacteria growing inside the cooling tower can dispersed through the entire cooling system, causing potentially fatal Legionnaires’ disease in people who breathe them in. This is why OSHA recommends cleaning and disinfecting twice a year for cooling tower Legionella prevention.
Property managers who want to reduce their cooling tower Legionella risk even further may want to consider using preventive biocides into their cooling water. Bacteria can recolonize a cooling tower very quickly after disinfection, either from outside air or the water supply or by surviving a less than thorough cleaning. Adding chlorine or one of the many non-oxidizing anti-bacterial agents available can suppress your cooling tower Legionella bacteria.
Cooling Tower Cleaning Removes Scale and Biofilm
Disease from cooling towers is probably the most serious issue that insufficient cleaning can cause, but it definitely isn’t the only one. Warm water leaves mineral deposits behind as it evaporates, forming scale. The harder the water is in your area, the worse this problem can become.
Scale buildup can restrict the flow of air or water through your cooling tower, making it work less efficiently and potentially stopping your cooling system from cooling your building enough. Adding scale inhibitors to your cooling water can help to reduce this, but the only way to get rid of scale entirely is to have it cleaned.
How Does Biofilm Affect Your Cooling Tower?
Many of the bacteria found in biofilms will corrode metal, causing severe damage to your cooling tower if left unchecked.
It provides a protective environment for bacteria, making biocides less effective and giving them room to grow and thrive. Many of the bacteria that cause diseases from cooling towers will have started life in biofilm.
It makes the cooling tower run less efficiently. Even very thin layers of biofilm will trap heat effectively, making cooling much less energy efficient.
Biofilm is similar to scale in that it is a residue left on cooling tower surfaces. It is essentially a coating of slime made from colonies of bacteria that has all kinds of damaging effects on a cooling system.
Because biofilm resists biocides, specialized biodispersant chemicals are needed if you want to try a preventive approach. Even then, the only way to remove it entirely is through physical cleaning.
Removing Other Fouling
The bacteria and microalgae that form biofilms aren’t the only living things that can damage your cooling tower and prevent its proper functioning. Larger algae can form clumps or strands that clog pipes and choke strainers and fills.
While live algae will only grow in sunlight, dead and decomposing algae is a great food source for bacteria, so removing it still has a role to play in preventing disease from cooling towers. Mold is also a potential hazard in cooling towers thanks to the warm, damp environment found inside them.
Not all fouling is biological in origin either. Cooling towers are open to the atmosphere and so can let in all kinds of dust and debris, especially in relatively polluted areas.
Cooling Tower Inspections
Cooling tower cleaning companies don’t only remove scale and biofilm, they can also inspect the tower for any damage or corrosion. These are related problems: a corroded surface provides a great environment for biofilm to grow, making disease from cooling towers more likely. Damage to components can also allow areas of low flow to form, providing areas where biofilm and scale buildup is much more likely.
Because cleaners have to get inside your cooling tower and clean all surfaces thoroughly, your scheduled cleanings are a great opportunity to make sure that your cooling tower is working as it should.
Is your cooling tower due for its next cleaning? Contact Pinnacle Cooling Tower Service to arrange your free inspection and estimate.
Contact us
To learn more about cooling tower maintenance or to find out how we can help when it comes to routine cooling tower service and maintenance, contact Pinnacle Cooling Tower Service today at 732-570-9392. Our primary goals are safety, service, and customer satisfaction.
