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Salt Water Concrete Cooling Towers - Design Considerations

Minimizing the Risk of Legionellosis Associated with Building Water Systems. Posted with permission from ASHRAE ©2000. This document may not be copied nor distributed in either paper or digital form without ASHRAE’s permission. Contact ASHRAE at www.ashrae.org.

A properly designed cooling tower promotes the maximum possible contact between air and water—and does so for the maximum possible time period. This effort on the part of the designer results in an efficiency which, although greatly appreciated in the summertime, has the capability to produce performance-degrading ice formations during winter operation.

A cooling tower reacts much like a human being to its air supply. If it is caused to reinhale its own exhaust, it begins to smother. If that air supply is restricted, it begins to choke.

Energy costs and operating efficiency have gained considerable importance in the minds of many building owners and plant operators in recent years. Current prospects for future prices of energy resources suggest that these issues will become even more urgent as environmental concerns and the high cost of money exert an ever greater impact on building design and operation.

Factory assembled cooling towers have been manufactured from "heavy mill galvanized" (HMG) steel for many years. HMG steel is continuously hot dip coated with protective zinc at the steel processing mill. The steel is treated subsequent to coating with a chromate rinse to initially passivate the zinc surface, providing for protection during storage, fabrication and initial operation from "wet storage stain".