Cooling Tower Replacement can be a costly proposition and the average life expectancy of a commercial cooling tower, according to most manufacturers, is 15 – 20 years*, before they need to be rebuilt or replaced. Many cooling towers were installed in 1980’s and are 30 years old now. If the integrity of the tower’s metal sump, sidewalls and distribution pans are relatively sound, but the fiberglass fill has deteriorated to the point where it needs to be replaced, there are many dollars ($) that can be saved versus the cost of replacement.
In a cooling tower fill media replacement, we completely remove the fill from each tower cell, angle grind and metal patch all metal surfaces, seal the seams, and re-coat internal, wetted surfaces with a two part epoxy coating, – Belzona Immersion Grade. Once the towers are refurbished you can expect another 15 -20 years* of useful life expectancy at a fraction of the cost of replacing them with new towers.
An example of the dollar savings expected for refurbishing a tower vs. replacement is when Bond Water Technologies completely refurbished four (4) 200 ton cooling towers (800 tons total) at a cost of approx. $80,000.00 vs. the cost of new towers quoted at $100,000.00, plus installation costs. If you elect to buy new towers vs. rebuilding the existing ones, you also need to consider budgeting in the cost of a construction crane to lift them to the roof, after normal working hours or on a weekend, which would cost approx. $12,000 to $15,000 per day, plus the labor cost of the mechanical contractors installation, so you’re now looking at $200,000+ for this one example. We can verify these costs from actual proposals done compared to a new tower replacement cost quote.
Watch the short video on Refurbishing vs Cooling Tower Replacement and then click on the buttons to the right to ask questions or schedule a free consultation on the advantages of refurbishing.
Click here to schedule a consultation or to ask any question you might have.
Over the years we have completely refurbished many cooling towers in the MD/VA/DC area by dissembling them, re-coating and replacing the fill with “honeycomb” media,, which is more effective in the cooling process vs. vertical hung fill in most of the older towers. It also adds another 15 years* of life expectancy to these older towers, and offers the additional benefit of making the towers easier to clean. Please link to www.bondwater.com and click on the Services tab on the top bar and scroll down to Cooling Tower Cleaning and Re-Coating tabs to find more details about this service.
Rebuilding is particularly attractive if you have already invested in mechanical repairs, such as shafts, bearings, blower wheels, etc.
For additional information on this and other subjects related to Cooling Tower or Boiler Water treatment, please contact your local Bond Water Technologies Representative @ 301-721-2663 for details. You can also fill out the form below and we will follow up with you shortly.
* Tower restoration success and longevity may be dependent upon several factors including structural soundness, source water quality, operating conditions, water treatment application and on-going routine site maintenance.