Why must you do PM (Preventive Maintenance) for your companys cooling tower?

Nowadays, Cooling Towers is an essential equipment that is very important to the operation of industrial plants and power plants. The reason is because it is part of the cooling system that is necessary for various machines and equipment in the factory, if the Cooling Tower system has a problem or stops working it will affect the production and operation of the factory as a whole. Therefore, conducting Preventive Maintenance or what we call in short, conducting PM for the Cooling Tower is very necessary. To prevent problems and maintain system performance

The importance of doing PM (Preventive Maintenance) for Cooling Tower

• To prevent the damage to machinery and equipment. In case the Cooling Tower system has a problem or stops working, it will domino effect to various machines and equipment. PM will help company to prevent these problems and prolong the lifetime of machines
  
• Reduce the cost of Repair. PM will help company to prevent potential problems with the Cooling Tower before they cause damage. This will absolutely reduce the repair and replacement costs that may occur in the near future.
  
• Maintain the efficiency of the system on regular basis. Doing PM will help the Cooling Tower work efficiently while able to release the heat as designed. This will result in the running of production smoothly and with the best efficiency.

Systematic ways for making PM for Cooling Tower

To perform the task of PM for a Cooling Tower involves important steps as below:

1. Check and adjust the alignment of the machine (Re-alignment) to protect the machine from damage from vibration which may cause the machine to be damaged before the actual time.

2. Check and adjust the Angle of the Fan blade to prevent vibration. The reason is because of when used for a while, the nut will loosen from the force applied. Therefore, the Angle of Fan Blade must be inspected and adjusted to work according to the designed efficiency.

3. To change the gear oil according to the period specified by the manufacturer which normally on average the time required for replacement is approximately 6 months or depending on the usage of each plant in order to keep the machines running smoothly

4. Check the inside of the gear, check the backlash and check the condition of the gears to see whether there are any damage from operation or not? This will lead to the maintenance plan before actual damage and problems occur.

5. Check the water distribution system of the nozzle. This action is to check if there is a loose, broken, or damaged nozzle in order to prevent the water pressure from the water distribution pipe connected to the Nozzle from hitting the Fill pack and causing damage.

6. To inspect the Fill pack and Drift Eliminator whether there is any damage or blockage or not?

7. To check the Spectrum of machinery in order to analyze the working conditions of machines whether there is any problem from operation or not and also checking the signal from the Vibration Probes is sent to the Dcs. protection device correctly or not?

8. To check the Oil Level Switch signal to whether it is sending a signal to the Dcs protection device correctly or not in order to prevent errors in the operation of the machine.

9. To perform visual inspection of every piece of equipment to see whether it is in normal condition and ready to use or not.

Problems and precautions that need to be considered when perform PM of Cooling Tower

     Although we have seen the importance of PM for Cooling Towers, in practice most of the customers tend to overlook many important steps or some even perform only 1-3 steps and more important always choose the service provider with the lowest price without taking into account of their expertise and experience of the service provider. This may result in incomplete and inefficient PM operations.

     Therefore, when choosing the Service Provider for PM Cooling Tower, please take into account the expertise and experience of the service provider as an important factor because PM Cooling Tower requires specialists who have specialized knowledge and skills that not everyone can do it. In case choosing a service provider without expertise, this may result in incomplete and ineffective PM operations which can lead to the problems and damage that may occur in the near future.

     PM (Preventive Maintenance) for Cooling Towers is very important for the operation of industrial plants and power plants because this will help prevent damage to machinery and equipment, reduce repair costs and maintain the efficiency of the system. Therefore, performing a complete and correct PM will help the company's Cooling Tower to run efficiently with a long-life time.