Cold-Water Basin

Cleaning of the cold-water basin

A cold-water basin or central collection/distribution tank (water tank for several cooling towers) can become fouled over time. Think of deposits such as slime, biofilm, macrofouling like leaves and mud but also micro-organisms such as Legionella and other bacteria. Even when a water treatment is in place, deposits can and will still be found in the water basin and/or tank after a while. The deposits can be circulated with the water and end up in the chiller tubes or plate heat exchangers. It is important to remove these deposits in order to reduce a loss of efficiency of the cooling tower.

Fouling of the cold-water bassin

(Macro) fouling in the cold-water bassin can have detrimental effects to the cooling tower and loop. Below, some potential issues can be found:

• Pollution can settle in dead zones with little flow and form a breeding ground for micro-organisms.
• Deposits can enter the condenser tubes of the chiller via the piping or settle between the plates of the plate heat exchanger. This fouling has a negative effect on the heat transfer and thus the efficiency of the installation.
• Polluted water can contaminate other components of the installation, such as the packing/fill, drift separators, etc.

At the moment, some companies dump the entire water content and then manually remove the deposits from the cold-water basin with vacuum systems or by hand. This is not only an intensive-, but also an expensive job. The water must first be drained, then the pollution must be removed and finally new, fresh water must be added. All this while the cooling tower is out of operation.

Cleaning with the CTV-1501

The CTV-1501 system is specifically designed for cleaning water basins and/or central collection/distribution tanks of cooling tower(s). The water vacuum makes it possible to clean the water basin during operation, without having to drain it completely. During the cleaning (on average) 10% of the water contents are lost.

The CTV-1501 system works simply, but effectively. The water vacuum can be manually used to clean all parts and corners of the water basin / tank. As soon as the water is vacuumed, the deposits/fouling will automatically be included. The advantage of this method is that the basin / tank does not have to be completely emptied/drained first - this saves a lot of time and costs. The CTV-1501 is ideal for the following types of deposits:

• Bacteria, including legionella.
• Other micro-organisms such as slime and biofilm.
• Algae, mud, leaves and sand.

0% water loss during cleaning

The CTV-F2 system is specifically designed to work in conjunction with the CTV-1501 Cooling Tower Vacuum System. In addition, the CTV-F2 filters the vacuumed water from the water basin and/or central collection/distribution tanks. By filtering the water, it can be reused in the cooling tower(s). This therefore results in a water loss of approximately 0% during cooling tower cleaning and maintenance activities.

Twin filter cartridges clean tower water down to 5 microns for a better performance. The filters are easy to clean and reuse. Each filter has an area of 3.7 m2 (40 sq ft) and a filter value of 5 μm (micron). As a result, even the smallest particles are filtered.