• Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • Call Me Back
  • About
  • Knowledge
📞 Call us on 0330 223 31 31
  • 0Shopping Cart
Water Treatment Services
  • Home
  • Water
    • Applications
      • Boiler Water Treatment
      • Cooling Water Treatment
      • Closed Loop Water Treatment
      • Legionella Control
    • Services
      • Cooling Tower Cleaning
      • Cooling Tower Maintenance
      • Chlorine Dioxide Water Treatment
      • Commercial Water Softeners
      • Pre-Commission Cleaning
      • Tank Reline & Repair
      • TMV Servicing
      • Water Chlorination & Disinfection
      • Water Leak Detection
      • Water Testing
        • Drinking Water Testing
        • Metals Testing
        • Pool Water Testing
        • BSRIA Closed System Testing
        • SDI Testing & Analysis
        • Trade Effluent Testing
    • Training
      • Water Treatment Training
      • Basic Chemistry of Water
      • Industrial Treatment
      • Pre-Treatment
      • Boiler Treatment
      • Cooling Systems
      • Closed Systems
      • Wastewater Training
      • Advanced Treatments
      • Training Dates 2021
  • Wastewater
    • Metals Testing
    • Trade Effluent Testing
    • Wastewater Training
  • Air
    • Ductwork Cleaning
    • Indoor Air Quality
    • Local Exhaust Ventilation
    • Mould Testing
  • Energy
  • Legionella
    • Legionella Risk Assessment
    • Legionella Training Courses
      • Legionella Awareness Training
      • Responsible Person Training
      • Water Hygiene Awareness
      • Pseudomonas Training
      • Training Dates 2021
    • Legionella Testing
  • Contact
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
You are here: Home1 / Knowledge2 / Air3 / Cooling Towers & Evaporative Cooling Systems
Cooling Towers

Cooling Towers & Evaporative Cooling Systems

Cooling towers and evaporative cooling systems are used extensively in many industrial, process and commercial applications where there is a need to remove excess heat from liquids, fluids, process materials and indoor environments.

Typical settings for cooling towers and evaporative water systems will include power stations, manufacturing plants, large computer data centres, office buildings, hospitals, hotels etc.

Different Types of Cooling Towers

There are several types of evaporative cooling systems and cooling towers currently commercially available, and they come in many different shapes, sizes and designs.

In the UK the most common types of cooling tower include:

  • Forced Draught

    Enter content here

  • Induced Draught

    Enter content here

  • Natural Draught

    Enter content here

Forced Draught Cooling Towers

Forced draught cooling towers use a mechanically forced air flow to create cooling.

They are often noisier as the fan often operates at ground level.

Induced Draught Cooling Towers

Induced draught cooling towers are often the largest towers used.

They also use a mechanically forced air flow to create cooling.

They are usually quieter because of the location of the fan which is fitted at high level, often on top of the tower itself.

Natural Draft Cooling Towers

Natural draft towers are the most recognisable of all cooling towers.

They are the large hyperbolic concrete structures often seen close to power stations.

These towers use a natural draught process and use no fans to circulate the air.

They rely entirely on convection with the internal movement of air resulting from the difference in density between the air entering the tower and the air already inside it.

Cooling Tower Elements

The two essential elements present in cooling towers are a heat exchanger and cooling water or airflow.

However not all cooling towers are the same.

The large curved designs seen at power stations (natural draught towers) use the natural flow of air to cool water.

Other towers are called forced draft or mechanical draft cooling towers because they use fans to force the flow of air.

A complete cooling system will typically include a cooling tower, an evaporative condenser or some cooling element, a re-circulating system, a heat exchanger, plus other equipment such as sumps, pumps, storage tanks and water treatment equipment and chemicals.

The Dangers of Legionella & Legionnaires’ Disease

It is important to note that under certain circumstances cooling towers may present a significant risk as they can create a suitable environment for the growth of many micro-organisms, including legionella bacteria, which can be spread widely by aerosol into the surrounding area by the cooling tower and cause Legionnaires’ disease.

Cooling Tower Notification & the HSE’s ACOP L8

In the UK any business that uses one or more cooling towers or evaporative condensers must ensure that they take appropriate precautions to control the risks associated with legionella bacteria and Legionnaires’ disease.

This can be achieved by following the Health & Safety Executive’s Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) L8, Legionnaires’ disease: The control of Legionella bacteria in water systems, otherwise, alternative precautions need to be put in place which must be as equally effective.

Such businesses must also notify their local council to let them know that they operate cooling towers within their local area.

The cooling towers must be registered and then well maintained.

This is primarily because cooling towers can, if poorly maintained of left un-managed be an excellent source of legionella bacteria, which can easily multiply in conditions presented by the average cooling tower.

Tower Maintenance

Thus every cooling tower needs to be checked and maintained on a regular basis.

While it is not uncommon for legionella bacteria to be present inside a cooling tower, it should not be left to proliferate and rise above specific prescribed levels (set out by the HSE).

Cooling towers need to be tested, chemically treated and cleaned regularly to make sure that they are in good clean condition, fully managed, under control and safe at all times during their operation.

World Class Cooling Tower Solutions

Water Treatment Services offer a full range of cooling tower management solutions including cleaning, disinfection, water treatment and tower maintenance services including:

  • Cooling tower cleaning and disinfection to meet the HSE’s ACOP L8 and HSG274 Part 1.
  • Cooling tower water treatment programmes.
  • Tower packing inspection and cleaning.
  • Cooling tower maintenance, repair and refurbishment.
  • Water sampling and laboratory testing.

With offices in London serving the South and South East England, Manchester (North West), Birmingham (Midlands), Bristol (South East England and Wales), Leeds (North and North East) and Glasgow (Scotland), supported by regional teams of trained engineers, service specialists and technical experts we can offer professional, cost effective cooling tower management and maintenance services across the whole of the UK… management →

Contact us today to learn how our expert cooling tower management and engineering solutions can help optimise operational costs, reduce downtime, increase plant reliability, and improve safety and regulatory compliance…. contact us →

Contact Us Today

Further Reading…

More information about cooling towers and evaporative cooling systems… here →

Tags: Air Hygiene, chlorination, chlorine dioxide, cooling, cooling towers, Evaporative cooling systems, legionella, legionnaires, water treatment
You might also like
When to test for legionella When Should You Test For Legionella?
Role of the responsible person for legionella control Taking on the Role of the Responsible Person for Legionella Control
Legionnaires’ disease: A Health & Safety Perspective from 1991 Legionnaires’ disease: A Health & Safety Perspective from 1991
Hot Tub Legionnaires’ disease Deaths at UK DIY Store Lead to Manslaughter Charges
Legionella guidance for landlords Legionella Guidance for Landlords
Water Treatment for closed heating and cooling systems BG 50/2013 Water Treatment for Closed Heating & Cooling Systems – BSRIA BG 50/2013
Legionnaires Disease About Legionnaires’ Disease, Transmission, Symptoms & Treatment
Legionella Testing and Water Sampling: Legionnaires Outbreak Investigations Legionella Testing and Sampling During Legionnaires’ Outbreak Investigations

Search…

What’s New

  • Health Effects of Drinking Softened Water

    Health Effects of Drinking Softened Water

    This article looks at the potential health effects of …
  • How to Stop Pipes Freezing

    How to Stop Pipes Freezing

    Whether plumbing systems are used at home or at …
  • What is Trade Effluent?

    What is Trade Effluent?

    Trade effluent is defined as any liquid waste which …
  • Troubleshooting Problematic Closed Water Systems

    Troubleshooting Problematic Closed Water Systems

    This technical troubleshooting guide looks at closed water systems, …
  • District Heating – Heat Distribution Networks Explained

    District Heating – Heat Distribution Networks Explained

    This technical guide explains the concept of district heating …
  • Legionella Guidance for Landlords

    Legionella Guidance for Landlords

    In the UK landlords have a legal responsibility to …

REVIEWS

4.8
Rated 4.8 out of 5
Water Treatment Services is rated 4.8 out of 5 stars (based on 94 reviews)
Read our reviews

Free Newsletter

Receive exciting features, news, latest research and special offers! Just add your email address and we'll do the rest.

Contact us

Water Treatment Services

[email protected]

Tel: 0330 223 31 31

© Copyright 2021 - EDG Ltd. Operating as Water Treatment Services
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Mail
  • Home
  • About
  • Careers
  • Privacy
  • Environment
  • Reviews
  • Sitemap
Guide to Seawater Purification Seawater purification Legionnaires Disease About Legionnaires’ Disease, Transmission, Symptoms & Treatment
Scroll to top

WTS response to Covid-19. As a responsible organisation we have robust Business Continuity Plans in place to ensure business as usual whatever the circumstance. In response to Covid-19, our aim is to ensure continued operations whilst protecting both our people and our clients. To this end we have initiated a number of practical measures that will allow us to continue to support our clients in the most appropriate way. Rest assured that we are making every effort to prevent or minimise any impact on our services during this public health challenge.

OK

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refuseing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy
Accept settingsHide notification only