When most people think of cooling towers, they think of the hyperboloid towers that are responsible for cooling nuclear power plants. These massive towers are iconic symbols of the nuclear age, but they are not the only cooling towers in the world. In fact, cooling towers come in all shapes and sizes, not just the massive cones associated with nuclear power. Regardless of what size cooling towers your building or property has, these towers need to be kept clean. Here are cleaning methods for some common sizes of cooling towers and what you should expect when you hire outside cleaners to address your cleaning needs.

Pressure-Washing the Massive Towers

Massive cooling towers are so big that several hundred people could climb down inside them. Once inside, they are frequently comprised of several vertical and horizontal panels and fans. A tower of this size has to be shut down and purged before treatment and maintenance crews can climb down inside and clean them. Typically, a commercial pressure washer is the most effective because it blasts thermally-baked on dirt and debris from the internal panels of the towers. There may also be some devices you can buy (called "scrubbers") that can help keep the towers somewhat clean in between service periods.

Rotary Cleaning Tall and Narrow Towers

While some cleaning technicians may still be able to sneak down inside these tall and narrow towers, it is often easier to just send a large rotary cleaning tool up or down inside the stacks. Of course, special scrubbers are more ideal for this type of cooling tower, since it helps eliminate the need for technicians to enter the towers and try to manipulate cleaning tools up inside the towers. The scrubbers themselves will need regular maintenance, but they reduce the number of visits your cooling towers will need from/with cleaning technicians.

Manual Scrubbing of Short, Stubby Packaged Cooling Towers

Packaged cooling towers are boxy in appearance, and they are typically used to cool small industrial or apartment buildings. They can be found on the roofs, where the steamed water escapes into the higher air. Usually, they are made of a hard plastic resin box with the cooling components just inside and the attached pipes are located outside this unit. Treatments and cleaning for these towers is almost always manual in nature because the towers can be dismantled and opened easily. After the parts are cleaned, the technician puts the parts back together and closes the main box of the tower back up again.