Talk:Cooling tower

message: This is a piss poor article... of course it has a tacky and plebian Simpsons reference... I'll fix it, since it seems everyone else of worth has ignored it... 130.156.169.248 20:34, 22 September 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree. This sentence is also incorrect. "The primary use of cooling towers are to lower the temperature of power plant waste heat without causing heat pollution in nearby bodies of water." Cooling Towers are found on all large buildings or more accurately any where chillers are used. --67.3.219.78 06:27, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree with the two of you above and I believe that the edits, which I just made, have corrected the problems that you raised. mbeychok 20:50, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Poor article

message: I have revised the lead-in discussion of why large industrial cooling towers are used.  As noted in that discussion, a circulating water system with a cooling tower in a typical 700 MW coal-fired power operates at a water flow rate of about 71,600 cubic meters per hour and only a small part of that is lost to the atmosphere as evaporated water from the cooling tower and as blowdown, amounting to a makeup rate of perhaps a total of 4-5 percent. That compares to about 100,000 cubic meters of once-through water which must continuously be returned to the ocean, lake, or river and be replaced by fresh supply water. In other words, the amount of makeup water using a cooling tower is about a 95% reduction of the makeup supply water needed in a once-through system. In areas which are not near to an ocean, a large lake or a large river, the cooling tower is clearly a better choice than trying to supply once-through water from a well.
That is the reason why cooling towers are used despite the cost of building a cooling tower and despite the cost of chemicals used in a cooling tower system to control scale, pH, algae and biological growths. - mbeychok 06:44, 18 April 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Reason why cooling towers are used

message: Whilst it's great to have all of the equations and the details of exactly what concentrations of disinfectant you need to clean them, some REALLY basic information is missing:
# How big are they (typically)?
# Why are they the shape they are?
# What goes on inside those things?  (We really need a photo of the inside)
# How are they constructed?
# What is their history?  Who invented them?  How did they evolve into their present shape?  What did we do before we had cooling towers?
Please think of all the really mundane questions a mere mortal might ask!
SteveBaker 03:24, 17 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  More mundane information needed. 

message: As discussed above, I have now removed a great deal of the information on the detailed maintenance guidelines for controlling Legionella.  I am now in the process of inserting much of the removed information into the Legionella article. I think this article is now much more balanced and yet still stresses the importance of controlling Legionella in cooling towers. - mbeychok 21:49, 30 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Moving most of Legionella information to [[Legionella]]

message: I met a older structural engineer on the roof of an large industrial plant in Tupelo, MS.  He asked me if I had ever seen a cooling tower fall through a roof?  I said that I had not.  He said that he had, and that it was almost impossible to put enough steel under a frozen pyramid of ice [of unlimited size] to support it. --Copeland.James.H 18:44, 10 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Cooling Tower Operation In Freezing Weather

message: It seems to me that something which should be stated right off in this article is that a "linear structure," approximated by a cylinder, will have the greatest surface area to volume ratio.  This is as opposed to a sphere which has the smallest surface to volume ratio.  This is the reason to use towers in the first place as heat exchangers, evaporators, etc.  The article needs this overlying theme! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.111.227.123 (talk • contribs) 8 August 2007 (UTC)
:You are indeed correct about the geometry of cylinders versus spheres. However, I really think that is a theme which belongs in the Heat exchanger article rather than here. - mbeychok 02:56, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mathematics of using a linear structure for heat exchange 

message: hi, 
i have a question about cooling towers.
what's the economical kind of the cooling towers in saving energy with more value of cooled water?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.218.251.15 (talk) 08:47, 21 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  a question 

message: I think this needs to be discussed in more detail, with better references and description of the once-through vs. closed cycle environmental debate. Water consumption vs. water withdrawal, wildlife impinging/entraining, thermal effects of once through cooling and blowdown pollution should all be mentioned. Or at least more prominent links to the appropriate pages. IDK112 (talk) 00:23, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Environmental Impact of Industrial Cooling 

message: I removed 11 of the 23 images and the article still has 12 images.
The caption of one of the removed photos emphasized water flow from the bottom of the hyperboloid tower ... but the water could not be seen. 
One was an inside view of an abandoned hyperboloid tower by someone who must have lying on hos back to take the photo ... but it did nothing to enhance the technology of the article. 
Another was a "cute" photo of a windmill in front of a hyperboloid tower ... but again nothing to enhance the article's textual content.
Another was a photo of the stairs at the bottom of a hyperboloid tower ... that one was neither "cute" nor instructive in any way.
One photo of the Legionella bacteria is sufficient ... no need to have two of them, so removed one of them.
Another hyperboloid tower loomed over a two-story house ... bu did nothing to enhance the article's textual content.
Two of the photo's illustrated the water vapor fog created by some hyperboloid towers. No need to show the same thing twice, sone one of them was deleted.
Another photo of hyperboloid towers in the Ukraine was in the "See also"section. They looked essentially the same as the towers in the introductory section ... so it was deleted.
Another photo was of a crossflow, rectangular cooling tower (which I had placed in the article about 4 years ago) that seemed now not to add anything of substance to the article.
And so forth. I think the 12 remaining articles are more than enough. After all, this is a technical article about cooling tower technology ... it is not a cooling tower photographic gallery. mbeychok (talk) 04:54, 22 March 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Article had 23 images which was just too excessive by far.  

message: The section entitled "European market" consists of one table based on Reference 15. When I click on that reference, my Firefox browser warns me that it is not a website to be trusted.
When I conducted a Google search for other sources of European cooling tower markets, I found that all such reports were confidential and only available for purchase (in the hundreds of Euros). I am led to believe that even the data in Reference 15 came from one such confidential, costly report ... which means that the "European market" section may be violating someone's copyright.
In brief, Reference 15 cannot be accessed to verify the tabulated data ... and if it could be accessed, it may be violating a copyright. What should we do?? In my opinion, Reference 15 should be deleted since it cannot be accessed.
That means that the "European market" section would need to be deleted as well since it would contain no content. Again in my opinion, deleting that section would not be removing any content of great significance. 
What do others think? mbeychok (talk) 18:19, 14 May 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Although I dislike deleting content, I agree with this one, for the reasons stated.  --Reify-tech (talk) 16:29, 16 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  European market 

message: Dry cooling towers or Heller dry cooling system and Air cooled condensers (ACC) and fin fan coolers are also relevant to be included in this article ‘Cooling towers’. The present content is totally about the wet cooling towers. ACCs are more and more used in thermal power stations due to the scarcity of perennial cheap water supply, no land required for makeup water storage, water & air pollution from wet cooling towers, lesser overall auxiliary power consumption, no chemicals (water & effluent treatments, biocides, anti scaling and anti corrosion) and fog problems in both tropical and cold countries equally though their cooling approach temperatures are not comparable to wet cooling towers. Sometimes fin fan coolers are provided with evaporative cooler as accessory to achieve enhanced cooling in dry and hot ambient conditions if water is available.
It is requested to add content about dry cooling in this article. 124.123.220.131 (talk) 12:47, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it would be far better to create a separate, stand-alone article on dry cooling systems ... and entitle it as "Dry cooling systems" rather than "Dry cooling towers". I find it difficult to visualize air-cooled condensers as being "towers". As you noted yourself, dry cooling systems are very different from wet cooling towers (i.e., no water treatment, no scaling, no fog plumes, no air pollution, no freezing, no Legionnaires disease) and hence a separate, stand-alone article makes good sense. mbeychok (talk) 16:07, 16 February 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Dry cooling towers

message: (Conversation copied from User talk:Morgan Riley and posted here for full disclosure of off-talk page discussion):
That anonymous user added an external link to a company website. When an anonymous newcomer to WP makes only one edit, the addition of a link to his/her company's website, the odds are that he/she is only interested in advertising that company's website. I therefore removed the link ... and 117.192.117.123 added it in again. I removed it a second time and 117.192.117.123 has again added that link.
I don't want to continue this edit "warring" any further. Would you take a look and see what you can do? mbeychok (talk) 15:28, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: Agreed that it looks suspiciously like spam, even if well-intentioned; if not spam, then its marginal educational value should be discussed before its replacement. I removed the link, added the Template:No more links hoping that may help some, and requested that before its replacement that it be discussed at the talk page. Also, good call on 3RR, keeping your cool, and bringing in a third party. Cheers! Morgan Riley (talk) 16:40, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Issue of external links 

message: This article now has 22 images which strikes me as too many by far!! Everyone having a photo of a cooling tower seems to have posted it in this article.
mbeychok (talk) 16:54, 8 October 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Too many images?? 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Substituted at 12:15, 29 April 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Assessment comment

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hi All
I think I have found an error in the page. The "heat transfer methods" section says the following:
"Approximately 420 kilojoules per kilogram (970 BTU/lb) of heat energy is absorbed for the evaporated water."
This I believe is referring to the latent heat of vaporization of water. In which case the number 420 kJ/kg looks wrong, a number more like 2,256 kJ/kg would be more appropriate (@ 100 deg C) https://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/water-properties-d_1573.html. The BTU/lb number looks OK to me.
If this is a stupid mistake/comment I apologize.
Thanks,
Jords787 (talk) 11:03, 5 April 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: This is an issue with Wikipedia's "convert" function and it is being addressed over here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Convert#BTU/lb Fastidiously (talk) 18:03, 18 November 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Error in the section - Heat Transfer Methods 

message: In Quebec, where the average of those who have died is 79, the outbreak's source is believed to be water cooling towers. Towers are being inspected and disinfected with bromine, according to Canadian media reports.
https://www.livescience.com/22760-5-things-you-should-know-about-legionnaires-disease.html Zezen (talk) 21:29, 11 June 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other dangers 

message: The line
> Studies have found Legionella in 40% to 60% of cooling towers.
Cites this pdf: https://web.archive.org/web/20210513193135/http://www.cti.org/downloads/WTP-148.pdf
which just states that "Various studies have shown that some 40 to 60% of cooling towers tested contained Legionella." without any proof or further citation. Panosfirbas (talk) 14:54, 25 July 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unreliable citation about legionella