Distribution systems
The distribution system is everything between the riser and the nozzle. When a tower is not making its temperature and the fill is sound, this is usually where the problem is.
Understanding the component
In a counterflow tower, water enters through a riser and is carried across the plan area by a header and a set of laterals, with spray nozzles along their length. The system is enclosed, which keeps daylight off the water and greatly reduces algae growth, but it also means you cannot see a problem without opening it up.
In a crossflow tower, water is delivered to open hot water basins above the fill and flows by gravity through basin nozzles. This is much easier to inspect and to clean (you can stand and look at it), but the open basin is exposed to sunlight and to anything that falls into it.
Either way the design requirement is the same: deliver design flow uniformly across the whole plan area, at the available head, and keep doing it as flow varies. Piping friction, incorrect lateral sizing after a modification, and the accumulated effects of twenty years of patching all degrade uniformity.
We supply components for cooling towers from every manufacturer, including towers whose original makers no longer exist. If it is on your tower, we can identify it.
What actually goes wrong
These are the failures we find in the field, roughly in order of how often we find them. If you recognize one, we can usually tell you what to check next over the phone.
| Failure | What it means |
|---|---|
| Uneven loading across the plan area | One end of the tower flooded and the other starved. Often the legacy of a flow increase the original distribution was never sized for. |
| Plugged laterals | Solids settling in counterflow laterals, progressively starving the nozzles furthest from the header. |
| Cracked or broken laterals | PVC laterals cracking at fittings and supports, dumping water in one place. |
| Corroded or silted hot water basins | Steel basins rusting through, concrete basins spalling, and silt partially blocking nozzles from beneath. |
| Failed flow control valves | Valves that no longer balance flow between cells, so cells run at whatever flow the piping gives them. |
| Algae in crossflow basins | Open basins in daylight grow algae, which then travels into the nozzles and the fill. |
Manufacturers and product lines
We are independent, so the recommendation follows your tower, your water and your duty rather than a single manufacturer's catalog.
Counterflow systems
Headers, laterals, fittings, supports and spray nozzles in PVC and CPVC, designed and supplied as a system for your flow and available head.
Crossflow distribution
Hot water basin repair and replacement, basin covers, target and crown gravity nozzles, and flow control valves.
Flow control valves
Fiberglass and cast iron valves for crossflow towers: see valves.
Basin covers
Covers for crossflow hot water basins, which keep daylight and debris out and substantially reduce algae growth.
Arrangements we work on
Which arrangement you have decides almost everything about the parts, so it is the first thing to establish. If water arrives in an open basin you can look into from the fan deck it is crossflow; if it arrives through a closed, pressurized pipework system it is counterflow.
- counterflow header and lateral
- crossflow hot water basin
- gravity target nozzle
- gravity crown nozzle
- counterflow spray nozzle
- flow control valve
- basin cover
Names you may find on the nameplate
Including lines that are no longer current. Many of the towers we work on are thirty to fifty years old, and identifying the modern equivalent of a discontinued component is part of the job rather than an obstacle to it.
- Marley
- Ecodyne
- Hamon
- Lillie-Hoffman
What we would tell you on the phone
This is worth measuring, not guessing.
Uneven distribution is invisible from outside and is one of the most common causes of a tower that has never met its design temperature. An inspection and performance test will identify it.
Redesign, not just replacement.
If the duty has changed since the tower was built, replacing the distribution like-for-like reproduces the original problem at the new flow. We will size it for what the tower actually does now.
Consider covering crossflow basins.
Basin covers are a genuinely cheap way to cut algae growth, and less algae means less nozzle plugging and less fouled fill.
Usually replaced or inspected at the same time
Nozzles
Gravity-flow basin nozzles and pressurized spray nozzles for crossflow and counterflow distribution: Fisher, Dek-Spray and C.E. Shepherd.
View componentFill
Film and splash fill for counterflow and crossflow towers, including fouling-resistant grades: Brentwood and C.E. Shepherd.
View componentValves
Butterfly valves in the Bray 30 and 31 series, crossflow flow control valves, and bottom-dump valves from 18 to 60 inches.
View componentLumber & hardware
CTI-grade treated Douglas fir and redwood, plywood, and fasteners in 304/316 stainless, silicon bronze, monel and hot-dip galvanized.
View componentSend us the nameplate and we will identify it
The fastest route to a correct quote is a photograph of the nameplate and of the component in place. Model numbers get superseded and drawings go missing; photographs do not lie.
- Phone
- (713) 643-0691
- Shop & office
-
3811 Cedar Blvd Ste A
Baytown, TX 77523