Why Is My Cooling Tower Using Too Much Water?

Cooling towers must use water because evaporation is how they reject heat. A sudden increase in makeup water, however, should not be accepted as normal without investigation. The added consumption may come from a leaking float valve, excessive blowdown, drift, overflow, a hidden system leak, changing load, or inaccurate measurement.

The quickest way to find the cause is to separate normal evaporation from water leaving the system for another reason.

Confirm That The Increase Is Real

Compare water use over similar operating periods. Cooling load, outdoor wet bulb conditions, hours of operation, and the number of active cells can all change consumption. A hot month cannot be compared fairly with a mild month using only the total bill.

Check the meter and the period covered. When the tower has no dedicated makeup meter, installing one helps separate tower use from the rest of the property. A separate blowdown meter provides another valuable number.

Record daily readings at the same time. A steady unexplained flow while the tower is off may point to a leaking valve, overflow, or another connection. EPA and Department of Energy guidance recommend separate metering of cooling tower makeup and blowdown water for effective water management.

Watch The Basin During Startup And Shutdown

A float valve set too high can send water through the overflow when pumps stop and water returns to the basin. A setting that is too low may allow the pump to draw air or cause the valve to cycle excessively.

Inspect the float, arm, valve body, seat, and linkage for binding, mineral deposits, corrosion, leakage, and incorrect adjustment. Confirm the operating level against the tower manual rather than choosing a convenient depth by eye.

Look at the overflow during a complete pump cycle. Water loss that appears only after shutdown can be missed during a normal running inspection. Universal Tower Parts advises setting the float so makeup closes below the overflow while maintaining the operating depth required by the equipment.

Measure Blowdown Instead Of Guessing

Blowdown removes concentrated minerals from the circulating water. Too little can contribute to scale and corrosion problems. Too much sends treated water and chemicals to drain unnecessarily.

The correct setting depends on makeup water quality, circulating water chemistry, heat load, treatment programme, and target cycles of concentration. Conductivity control should be checked and calibrated according to the controller and water treatment provider’s instructions.

Compare makeup and blowdown readings with conductivity results. A blowdown valve that leaks when closed, a stuck solenoid, a poor sensor location, or an incorrect set point can create substantial water loss. Increasing cycles of concentration within appropriate water chemistry limits can substantially reduce both makeup and blowdown requirements.

Inspect For Drift, Splash, And Distribution Problems

Drift is liquid water carried out with the discharge air. Damaged, missing, reversed, or poorly fitted drift eliminators can increase that loss. Wet roofs, mineral spotting, and droplets leaving one cell may provide clues.

Broken nozzles, blocked distribution passages, excessive water pressure, and uneven flow can also throw water towards openings. Check louvers and casing joints for splash escaping from the tower.

Visible vapour above a tower is not the same as liquid drift. Diagnose water loss from measurements and physical evidence rather than the appearance of the plume alone.

Look Beyond The Tower

Leaks may occur in condenser water piping, pump seals, strainers, drain valves, heat exchangers, side stream equipment, chemical feed connections, or remote sumps. Walk the complete system while it operates.

Check whether automatic drains, cleaning systems, or overflow lines discharge to locations that are difficult to see. Review recent work. A valve left partly open after maintenance can waste water without changing tower performance enough to trigger an alarm.

Use Meter Data To Find The Pattern

Dedicated makeup and blowdown meters help calculate water balance, compare cells, identify off hour flow, and verify whether conservation work produced a real result. Pulse outputs can also support remote logging and alarms.

Meters must be sized for the expected flow, pressure, temperature, pipe arrangement, and required output. An oversized meter may not record low flows accurately. Universal Tower Parts offers standard and pulse enabled water meters for cooling tower monitoring.

Find Cooling Tower Water Control Parts At Universal Tower Parts

Universal Tower Parts supplies water meters, pulse meters, float valves, float assemblies, repair kits, solenoid valves, water level controllers, drift eliminators, nozzles, and related components. Call 602 997 0403 with the tower information, pipe size, expected flow, existing controls, and observed water loss for help selecting the parts needed to diagnose and correct excessive consumption.