SEE THE CHART BELOW TO DETERMINE THE SYSTEM THAT APPEARS MOST APPROPRIATE FOR YOUR APPLICATION:

	Open Evaporative Towers	Closed Evaporative Towers	Radiators	Chillers	Liquid-to- Liquid Heat Exchangers

STEP 1: Establish the cooling load to determine system size.

Heat Load is a combination of flow and temperature rise, and is commonly expressed in BTU/HR (british thermal units per hour). One BTU is the amount of energy required to change 1 pound of water + or -1ºF. The cooling load can be computed as follows: BTU/HR = GPM (gallons per minute) x Change In Temperature x 500.

A common expression describing cooling load is "tons." This is derived from the amount of cooling that produced from one ton (2,000 pounds) of ice as it melts. The actual cooling conversion is 12,000 BTU/HR = 1 TON. A cooling tower is normally rated at 15,000 BTUs per hour for each TON. This was established because a water-cooled chiller dissipates 15,000 BTUs through the condenser for each 12,000 BTUs of cooling produced in the evaporator. Inventory the individual cooling loads in the system, recording the maximum acceptable operating temperature.

The cooling load may be provided in flow/temperature rise or tonnage, both of which can be easily converted into BTUs. Total all of the individual heat loads to determine the overall system requirements.

STEP 2: Establish maximum acceptable operating temperature.

It's crucial to establish the highest acceptable operating temperature possible, because lowering the temperature more than is required significantly impacts the power costs.

If you are treating an entire plant and a small heat load requires lower operating temperatures than the rest of the factory, it may be less costly to put a small dedicated low temperature system in that particular area.

STEP 3: Choose an acceptable coolant.

The two most common coolants are water and glycol. Most "closed" systems offer many advantages but require the use of glycol. It's important to determine whether glycol is an acceptable coolant.

Not sure? More info on glycol vs. water

STEP 4: Choose type of system.

Usually, the objective is to produce the maximum cooling for the minimum cost. Cost comes in three forms:
1) Initial cost, 2) Power costs, and 3) Operating and maintenance costs. Sometimes, a higher initial cost will produce lower power and maintenance costs.

Phone 800-888-6554 to contact a sales engineer.