Maintenance Guide for Cooling Tower Drift Eliminator

The water collector of a cooling tower is responsible for intercepting water droplets in the discharged air flow, reducing the drift rate and water consumption. Its maintenance directly affects environmental protection and operating costs. The following is a 700-word on-site applicable guide.

I. Daily Inspection

Weekly observation: Stand downwind and visually check if there is any obvious water mist escaping. If the water drift rate suddenly increases, first check whether the water collector plates have fallen off, deformed or accumulated algae sludge.

Sound listening assistance: The sound level remains stable when the fan is operating normally. If there is a "hissing" sound with water, it is mostly a local short circuit of the water collector. The position should be marked and the machine should be shut down for handling.

Rapid water quality test: When the turbidity of circulating water is greater than 10NTU or the residual chlorine is less than 0.5ppm, biofilm is prone to adhere, and cleaning should be arranged in advance.

II. Cleaning Process

Stop the machine and cut off the power. Remove the outer inspection panel and cover the motor and junction box with plastic sheeting.

Initial rinse: Use a low-pressure water gun with a pressure of less than 0.3MPa to rinse each piece from top to bottom to prevent high pressure from bending the PVC sheets.

Chemical descaling: For stubborn water scale/algae, spray 5% citric acid or a special non-oxidizing cleaning agent, let it stand for 15 minutes and then scrub. Chlorine-containing bleaching powder is strictly prohibited to prevent cracking of the sheet material.

Thoroughly rinse: until the pH of the drained water is consistent with that of the replenished water and there is no foam. Immediately drain the accumulated water after winter flushing to prevent freezing and cracking.

III. Quarterly Maintenance

Sheet shaping: If warping > 5mm or cracking > 20mm is found, remove it and use a hot air gun for local heating and flattening separately. When the damaged area exceeds 1/3 piece, replace the unit of the same model.

Sealing maintenance: Inspect the PE sealing strip between the water collector and the tower wall. Replace it if it ages or shrinks. The gap is ≤2mm to prevent short circuit of air flow.

Fastener retightening: Retighten the stainless steel bolts by 5N·m once. Install EPDM washers on the missing parts to prevent electrochemical corrosion.

IV. Annual Major Overhaul

Overall disassembly and inspection: Remove the scale layer by layer by number, and use the tank immersion method to remove the scale. The immersion solution temperature should be ≤40℃, and the time should be ≤30 minutes. Sheet material is scrapped when its thickness wear exceeds 0.3mm.

Anti-corrosion of the support: If the area of white rust on the hot-dip galvanized support is greater than 30%, after rust removal with sandpaper, apply epoxy zinc-rich primer + polyurethane topcoat, with a dry film thickness of ≥120μm.

Performance acceptance: Measure the drift rate in accordance with the CTI-STD-115 standard, with the target value being less than 0.001% of the circulating water volume. If the standard is exceeded, adjust the distance between the plates or install a secondary water deflector.

V. Safety and Records

When working at heights, wear a double-rope safety belt and add anti-fall ropes to tools. The voltage for night lighting is ≤24V.

Establish a ledger: Record the date of each cleaning, the amount of chemicals used, the number of damages, the replacement ratio and the drift rate data, to evaluate the cleaning cycle and cost.

By adhering to the above steps, the water collector can maintain its efficient interception, reducing the amount of make-up water and sewage discharge by approximately 20%, minimizing the impact of water mist in the surrounding environment, and extending the service life of the tower body and the fan.