Subject: Re: Cooling tower algae

From: [email-masked] (Tony DeVito)
Date: 3 Aug 1995 15:04:44 -0400

Arthur Crowe ([email-masked]) wrote:
: Currently, our water treater is telling me that all cooling towers have 
: some algae and there is little anyone can do to remove it all without 
: damaging our galvanized tower.  Is anyone else having algae problems with 
: their cooling tower and if so, how are you going about solving this 
: problem?  Is some algae normal?  Being in the South Carolina sun for a 
: majority of the day is not helping this problem either.  I appreciate 
: your help in advance.  Thanks.

: Sincerely, 

: Art

You can always increase the dosage of biocides, the frequency of 
application, or try other biocides but you may not always be able to 
control every little bit of algae. Sometimes you'll get some in areas of 
the tower where overspray or condensation occurs that is very difficult 
to control.

You might occasionally try cleaning the tower more frequently, say by 
applying a detergent and compatible biocide and letting it circulate for 
a reasonable amount of time then draining and flushing and mechanically 
cleaning the tower. Repeated once or twice a year it might pay off in 
terms of clean efficient tubes too.

Before gettings nuts with chemicals you might examine if there are other 
factors you can influence, such as installing head pan covers if its and 
induced draft tower.

Are you doing and microbiological testing to monitor how your biocides 
are working?

good luck,

tonyd

---

From: [email-masked] (Mark Elder)
Date: 4 Aug 1995 00:34:04 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Dean Steliga) says:

>>Is anyone else having algae problems with their cooling tower and if so, how 
>>are you going about solving this problem?  Is some algae normal?  
>
>I don't have a lot of experience with this, but I have seen some articles on 
>using ozone water treatment systems for this sort of problem. <snip>

I have been reading and hearing the same thing about ozone water treatment.
One additional item that may be worth noting comes from a recent 
discussion with a local rep for ozone water treatment.  Apparently the
system is so effective that without good controls, it can actually eat
up your system components.  Just thought I would throw that out.

Mark Elder