Cooling tower questions

[dbill74]

I have a number of cooling towers on the coast / beach like the image below. Most are more traditional with the fan on the top of the towers, but the fans are working and not my concern.

My first question is what is the proper term for the circled area? Air flows into this side of the cooling tower.
The baffles/fill are supposed to be black/grey. They are currently white due to a build up of sand, I know it is sand because you can pick it off with your fingers. The baffles/fill is approximately 12 inches thick as best I can tell.

Here is a close up of the same tower.

Here you can see that the sand is trying to build up and reduce the air flow over the baffles/fill. Also the jagged edge where the vertical panels of the baffles/fill is being damaged. Although not present on this one, a few towers have a slick calcium scaling under the sand.

Second question is can these baffles/fill be cleaned/replaced or does the entire tower need to be replaced. Fans, pumps and other ancillary equipment is working fine. Our maintenance contractor is pushing to replace the towers.

 

[LittleInch]

It's not easy to tell from those photos alone, but it looks like an inlet screen to me to stop leaves / twigs etc blowing in and / or water blowing out.

Any sectional drawings or pictures of what is inside the box or can you sketch it?

Make and model number?

So the water falls vertically down and air is drawn through and up the louvers?

Can you not simply remove the screens and clean or replace? Have you tried washing / jet washing it off as it looks like salt crystals mainly with perhaps a bit of sand thrown in.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[dbill74]

Units are old, no sections or internal details. No make or model number at this time.
Yes you are correct, air goes in through the screen, water down, air out through louvers.
Here are some pictures of another cooling tower at another building. This one is even closer to the beach.
Photo 1

This one has a big hole on the side. In the picture above, there is a large streak of rust running vertically down the side. The hole below is in a similar position on the other side.

Photo 2

Photo 3 - Is this the fill where water trickles down?

Photo 4

A look inside this tower
Photo 5

If the external feature where air enters is just a screen, this changes my outlook and recommendations on what to do with these cooling towers.
Just trying to better understand what I am looking at.

 

[LittleInch]

That'll teach me!

Looks very much like this is a Marley ( the clue is the painted name on the side of the unit) cross flow with what looks like an MBX or similar fill which is a drop in pre formed plate pack.

If I was you I would find a local Marley distributor and take their advice.

http://www.frenchandcompany.com/marley-mx75-crossflow-film-fill/

http://proofinperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/PIP-MBXFil-17-1.pdf

http://proofinperformance.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/SP-MBX.pdf

how it works

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aN1WSxffg0

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[MedicineEng]

If it is salt mist, you might be able to somehow wash it off with fresh water as salt dissolves in it.

If it is sand, then you are not going to clean it that easily...

 

[LittleInch]

It would be very interesting to see if you took the fan off can you see all the way through the fill / matrix?

If so you might be able to clear each air entry from the reverse side.

I now realise your second photo was a different cooler, but I still think they are cross flow units which appear to act more like a heat exchanger than a more traditional cooling tower.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[Strong]

I think it is a counter flow tower type and the fouling is on the film fill.

http://dl.owneriq.net/f/f28c0f03-2a95-4bf4-9517-29a652d66b2d.pdf

http://www.proofinperformance.com/pdfs/library/PRG-12.pdf

Obviously the cooling system is in poor condition, in case you are maintaining, upgrading or replacing it.

Walt