Value Delivered
ECM provided comprehensive refurbishment and relining for a six-cell cooling tower at Kansas State University, allowing for expansion of their chiller plant capacity. The existing tower had extensive scaling, corrosion, and damage, as well as water ingress that was creating risk for bacterial growth.
The refurbishment helped significantly extended the lifecycle of the cooling tower, offsetting capital replacement costs. With the addition of variable frequency drives on the fans, significant energy savings have also been realized.
Client Objectives
The client wanted to extend the life of their existing cooling tower and expand their cooling system, while also improving cleanliness and preventing bacteria and micro-organism growth.
Solutions
The cooling tower’s concrete basin, distribution system, and fill were all significantly deteriorated. Large areas of the internal concrete were delaminated, and water was seeping in beneath the concrete. This was further endangering the basin’s structural integrity and creating an environment for bacteria growth that could potentially contaminate the water supply.
Our team provided the following:
- Evaluated basin and filled with concrete and rebar where necessary
- Sand blasted interiors to remove existing contamination and prep for coating
- Repaired any minor holes caused by corrosion
- Applied protective base coating to concrete and protective top coating to all concrete and metal components
- New PVC distribution piping was installed to replace severely corroded steel piping
- Existing fill and drift eliminators were replaced with PVC components and supports were replaced with fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP) structures
- Four fans were replaced using FRP blades, watertight hubs, ductile iron hub spools, and aluminum blade clamps
- Fan motors were upgraded to new, variable frequency drive motors
Client Background
Kansas State University Vet Med Center is a full-service veterinary hospital providing routine, specialty, and emergency care.