Repairs & upgrades

A thermal upgrade replaces the internals and, where necessary, the water distribution and air path, using current-generation components. The structure stays. The performance changes.

Fill technology has moved a long way. A tower built in the 1970s or 1980s is very often running splash fill, oversized nozzles and first-generation drift eliminators. Replacing those with modern film fill and properly matched distribution can produce a measurable drop in cold water temperature without touching the structure or the basin.

What an upgrade can achieve

• Colder water at the same flow: more condenser capacity, better process efficiency
• Or the same water temperature from fewer cells, which frees a cell for standby, or lets you take one out of service permanently
• Lower fan horsepower for the same duty
• Crossflow to counterflow conversion where the application justifies it
• Close approach to wet bulb for applications that need it

Because the gain shows up directly on the energy bill and in process throughput, thermal upgrades often carry a fast payback. That is a calculation we would rather do properly than promise loosely; it starts with a performance evaluation.

Cooling towers are wet, warm, chemically treated structures that people have to climb into. Access steelwork and grating degrade faster than the tower around them, and they are frequently the first thing an auditor writes up.

We replace and remediate handrails, kneerails, toe boards, walkways, grating, stair treads, ladders and cages, in galvanized steel, stainless or FRP depending on the water chemistry and the environment.

This is often the smallest job on this page and the easiest to justify. It does not need a capital project, it closes a live safety finding, and it makes every subsequent inspection and repair safer and quicker to carry out.