The Client –

Rubber Processor, South Of England


The Challenge –

Failing Cooling System


The Solution –

Energy Saving Analysis & Cooling Tower Replacement

It can often be confusing for clients looking to install, upgrade or replace cooling equipment because of the wide range of products available to choose from and their respective advantages or disadvantages depending on the application.

For one client trying to choose between a cooling tower and an adiabatic cooler, Aqua carried out a cost analysis based on their facility and operating conditions, to illustrate the true lifetime cost of both options.

Based on the South Coast, the client specialises in cabling for energy and telecom applications. Their large factory facility had a cooling tower-based cooling system on site. However, after serving them well for 30 years, the aging towers were starting to raise health & safety concerns within the business. However, a question remained over whether they replaced the equipment with similar cooling towers or moved to adiabatic cooling.

“Often customers look to move away from cooling towers because of the associated risks of legionella and the ongoing water treatment costs and H&S implications but in reality, the key is good regular maintenance” explains Aqua Group Sales Manager, Shaun Lancaster.

“For our client we analysed the true costs of both systems – considering capital costs, energy costs and running costs (including maintenance) – and cooling towers came out on top. Where we like to feel we’re different as a business, is we give transparent energy & related cost savings. We look at the complete picture, considering capital and operational costs, our savings aren’t just on the supply of the equipment but on the lifetime operation and all the variables that brings.”

“We also considered how we could introduce glycol into the adiabatic cooling option without adding it to the main factory water. The answer was relatively straightforward – just add heat exchangers and additional pump skids – but the impact of this would have been an increase in the temperature of the supply water.”

Aqua supplied a replacement Marley NC tower unit, factory assembled, single cell, crossflow design. The cooling tower’s casing, structure, collection & distribution basin were constructed in galvanised steel to give additional corrosion protection. Aqua engineers erected, installed and commissioned the tower.

“The icing on the cake, so to speak, was that Aqua supplied the new tower based system for the buy- back cost of some redundant adiabatic units that the client had on site, so the project was completed with zero CAPEX investment.”

The Client –

UK Automotive Component Manufacturer


The Challenge –

Failing Adiabatic Cooler + Access Challenges


The Solution –

Replacement Adiabatic With Reduced Footprint

Our design team are used to overcoming access restrictions on sites but an extremely narrow passageway and overhead cabling on a recent project posed a real challenge.

The client, a leading manufacturer and distributor of automotive components, tasked us with replacing an old, failing adiabatic cooler. Removing a legacy unit and replacing it with new equipment is relatively straight forwarded most of the time – but on this occasion things were going to be trickier! A narrow walkway restricted access and overhead electrical and telecommunication cables ran above the site’s fencing, meaning using a traditional HiAB lift wasn’t going to be an option.

Whilst our client wanted a like for like replacement, our engineers used the initial design phase as a chance to reduce the dimensions of the new adiabatic cooler, giving more room for manoeuvre – quite literally! Whilst the new unit could achieve the same duty as the existing, our design team managed to make it significantly smaller in size.

Aqua supplied a 500+kW adiabatic, working on a water supply temperature of 30+°C, with a return temperature of 43.4°C, with a wet bulb of 19°C. Fluid was 25% ethylene glycol/water. By changing the configuration of the unit’s fans, the footprint was considerably reduced.

Whilst replacing the old adiabatic with the new unit wasn’t easy, positioning and installation was made much easier by the unit’s reduced dimensions. It also made navigating the restricted access ways a more straightforward task.

The full Aqua solution included:

  • 505kW adiabatic cooler
  • Bespoke design service
  • Mechanical disconnection & disposal of the legacy cooler
  • Full delivery and installation
  • Hoses and related ancillaries

“This installation is a great example of how important the initial design phase can be” explains Aqua Sales Engineer, Bhaskar Choudhury. “Once we visited site the access and delivery restrictions became clear and the work our design team then did at that early stage made life so much simpler when it came to the final install, saving our client both time and cost.”