Between Projects: In Praise of General Contractors

3 Must-have Features in Your Cooling Tower's Design

Cooling towers are a reliable method of air conditioning for large commercial buildings. Cooling towers use hot water, condensers and fans to help you regulate the temperature in the building. The design of the cooling tower is key to ensuring both optimal performance and ease of maintenance. Besides that, it can also help you minimise mechanical breakdowns. If you want to install a cooling tower for air conditioning in your commercial building, the following are some of the things that you should pay attention to when considering its design:

Strainers that Allow External Access

Just like many other systems used for air conditioning, your cooling tower is exposed to dirt and debris. Strainers are used to keep out dirt, ensuring that it does not penetrate to the internal parts of the towers and clog them. Depending on the manufacturer, strainers may either allow external access or require some bit of unscrewing before you an access and clean them. Considering that you cannot tell exactly when the strainers will get dirty, strainers that you can access externally are more preferable. You can shut off the water supply using the valves and clean the strainer by scrubbing them. Alternatively, you can use water gashing out of a hosepipe at high pressure to clean them.

Noise Control

If the cooling tower is installed close to your commercial building, the noise generated by the large fans and other components may not be conducive for some of the building's occupants. For instance, noise isn't ideal for a sections of the building that will be used as office space or an accommodation facility for hire. Therefore, noise control is another priority for your cooling tower's design. It should be fitted with noise mufflers that will keep the equipment's sound at its lowest level.

Compatibility with Vibration Monitoring

With limited access to the internal parts of your cooling tower, it is quite difficult to examine the components physically and identify developing mechanical problems. In the end, your machine can stall unexpectedly due to a major breakdown. Thankfully, you can avoid the problem through vibration monitoring that enables you to "listen" for any developing mechanical problems and have the cooling tower checked in good time. Before installation, ask your vendor if the cooling tower allows you to monitor vibrations with manual devices. You can then hire a professional to measure the vibrations and analyse the data from the devices. Thereafter, they will advise you accordingly on the overall condition of the cooling tower.