Tag Archives: Phoenix AZ

Cooling Tower Maintenance

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Cooling Tower Maintenance AZ

With energy costs as high as they are proper cooling tower maintenance can mean better profitability for your company.  With time a cooling tower that’s left neglected leaving water temperature will rise.  This can raise your energy costs by up to 6% for every 2 degrees F that it rises.  To ensure that you keep your energy costs low keeping your cooling tower well maintained with help it to run at optimum efficiency.  With the harsh summers here in Phoenix Arizona it can be the critical difference in the performance of your cooling tower, and your company.

If you’d like to save up to 15 percent on your electricity costs these simple maintenance tips can help you save money.  Regular maintenance also will help you save on water and extend the life of your cooling equipment.

What you need to know – A step by step guide to help you

  • Listen for any unusual noises to set a baseline which will help you notice any possible problems. Also check the condition of the unit as a whole.
  • If it requires some hands on work make sure that you follow the lock-out protocol and disconnect the motor switches to make sure you’re working safely.
  • Clean debris from strainers to keep the system clear from excess materials and inspect it thoroughly.
  • Take a look at the water distribution system and keep an eye out for dry areas over the fill coil area. This will help avoid scale buildup and help add years to the system’s lifespan.  If the surface is not fully wetted, inspect the nozzles for cracks and clogs.
  • Flush debris and dirt from the cold water basin out the tower drain or use a sump strainer to maintain water filtration and prevent dirt from collecting.
  • To conserve water and reduce air entrainment check the makeup water supply for the predetermined water level that is considered appropriate.
  • To prevent an accumulation of solids from recirculating water match the bleed rate according to your local evaporation rate regulations and local water quality.
  • Address any tension issues on the belt to ensure the best belt-drive system performance.
  • Following the manufacturer’s recommendations make sure to routinely check oil level, shaft alignment, oil quality if you’ve got a gear driven system.
  • Lubricate fan shaft bearings on a quarterly interval at the very least to ensure proper operation. Consider talking to the professionals about installing automatic bearing greasers that will save you on monthly maintenance.

The frequency of your maintenance can vary depending on the condition of the water and environment in which you operate your machinery.  Solid maintenance habits will help avoid failure and increase the lifespan of your cooling tower.

Professional Cooling Tower Maintenance

Keeping up with all the steps that you need to take to just keep one part of your operation functioning up to its full potential is a time consuming project.  It takes training and education to understand how to effectively perform the routine maintenance that these towers require.  Using dedicated professionals who only do this day in and day out will help your bottom line when it comes to man hours, training, extending the life of your cooling tower and even helping to cut energy costs through ensuring optimal performance.  Let the experts at All Kote use their expertise, skills, and specialized tools to take the headache and guesswork out of how to maintain these critical parts of your operation.

Give us a call at 480-366-4446 or shoot us an email at info@allkotelininginc.com

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Tips to Streamline Your Cooling Tower Maintenance

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Cooling towers are widely used to keep large facilities comfortable and cool. Cooling towers are the size of Large Dinosaurs and keeping them working in top condition can take some work, especially if you fall behind on your maintenance schedule. It is not difficult to keep your towers humming; it just takes some dedication to the process and the time to do so. This blog entry is going to suggest some ways you can stay ahead on maintenance and keep your cooling towers working efficiently without having to break your budget.

Make needed updates

Cooling towers are a large investment to have installed as a part of your facilities operations. That kind of investment is meant to last and that means there are plenty of cooling towers out there that have already seen decades of service. These towers can stay efficient because their owners have made necessary upgrades as time when on and innovations were made. Keeping up with the times in regard to your cooling tower will maintain and even increase the efficiency of your tower’s performance.

Make and execute a plan

Developing a methodology for the upkeep of your towers is both extremely important and massively beneficial.  It takes time to learn your towers and their idiosyncrasies, but once you have a good idea on their behavior you can draw up a standard procedure for all to follow in regard to maintaining your cooling towers.

Collect as much data as possible

As stated above, it takes time to learn the behavior patterns of your cooling tower.  In the initial stages and beyond, collecting as much data about the various aspects of your cooling towers will arm you to be able to keep them running well with the least amount of effort put into their upkeep. Streamlining the maintenance process is only possible with enough data available to do so.

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Cooling Tower Fill Types

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At first assumption one would probably believe water to be the core of the cooling towers operations, however the real star of the show are the fills or wet decks.  Fills provide the cooling tower operation with extra surface area for the water in the tower to be exposed to air and absolutely maximize the evaporation process. There are several types of fills out there and different types of cooling towers will utilize different fill types depending on their methodology when it comes to creating evaporation. We will outline a few different fill types in brief in order to set you on the path to furthering your understanding of how cooling towers actually work!

Splash Fills:

Splash fills work by breaking up the flow of water crating droplets by ‘splashing’ the water. The droplets evaporate quickly and increase the rate of evaporation in the right conditions and tower. As the water descends  various splash fills increasingly break down the water into smaller and smaller droplets that have air flowing against the descending water.

Film Fills:

Film Fills operate by spreading water into a thin flowing layer over a large surface area exposed to air flowing across the water in order to extract heat and elevate it out of the tower.  There are patterns on the fill called flutes to help control how the water flows and to keep it at the desirable level for the evaporation to happen at the rate the tower operator is looking for. The goal of the flutes is to have the water take the longest possible route across the fill so air has the most time possible to do it’s part of the evaporative process that the tower is designed to perform.

The fills listed above present different advantages and disadvantages and there really is no right choice. The main factor in deciding which one to choose is the process they will be deployed to be a part of. This is a very brief description and there is definitely plenty more to learn. All Kote Lining inc is happy to answer any questions you may have and to assist you with any of your cooling tower needs.

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Legionnaires Disease 101

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If you are the owner or a perspective owner of cooling towers, one risk that you should be fully aware of is the potential for the development of Legionnaire’s disease in the pools of your towers. With the water disaster in Flint, MI (which is absolutely tragic and inexcusable) awareness of Legionnaires disease is on the climb because so many are currently being affected by it. While the development of Legionnaires disease is easily avoidable, understanding the disease is still important.

Bacteria:

Legionella is the bacteria that involved with outbreaks of Legionellosis, which can develop into Pontiac Fever or Legionnaires disease. While Pontiac Fever tends to pass through your system on its own, Legionnaires disease is a form of pneumonia that requires a hospital stay to eradicate. The mortality range of Legionnaires disease is 5%-30% which is alarming enough to take every measure to avoid its development.

Spreading Legionnaires:

The most common way that Legionnaires Disease is transmitted through water that has been aerosolized, which is why cooling tower owners need to be educated and aware of this disease. A less common way that it can be transmitted is via drinking water. While it is possible to become fatally ill, most people who actually come into contact with the disease do not fall ill and the disease cannot be passed from one person to another.

Legionella occurs naturally in fresh water, but it isn’t pervasive enough to cause illness. It’s when Legionella starts to prop up in artificially heated and contained bodies of water. These environments accelerate the growth of Legionella and are almost ideal for it to develop enough to become problematic for humans.

Performing regular maintenance on your cooling tower is the easiest and most effective way to avoid experiencing any problems related to Legionella, especially Legionnaires Disease.

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Benefits of Stained Concrete

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Concrete floors are widely utilized in many homes, industrial facilities and businesses across the world. You will find a varying concrete floors ranging from basic floors without any coating applied, floors that are polished and coated with various epoxy coats, floors that are stained and floors that are adorned with artistic designs. You can outfit your home or facility with a floor to suit almost any needs. In this blog entry we are going to go over some of the benefits of stained concrete floors.

Versatility

The limitless nature of color application means that there are nearly limitless options for decorating your concrete floor. You can achieve deep and rich coloring in your flooring that can be enhanced with many possible effects. As long as you are willing to be creative and see your vision through, you can have a stained concrete floor that is unlike any other in the world.

Lifetime of Color

If you have a quality stain that has been properly applied, you will never see it fade. Not only will the color stay strong, you will not see chipping, peeling or flaking either. This happens because the stain works itself into deep levels of the concrete which will keep the color eternally rich.

Low Maintenance

Once the stain has been applied and sealed it will be protected from the wear and tear of every day traffic. Applying an epoxy coat will keep the seal intact for exponentially longer. After the application of the coat you will not have to do much in regard to maintaining your concrete flooring. Saving time on maintenance will turn into monetary savings as time goes on.

Whether you are looking for an aesthetic or functional upgrade, you will receive both by having a professionally stained and coated concrete floor.

 

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Benefits of Epoxy Coating for Your Concrete Flooring

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If you want to coat you concrete floor with a coating that will last for decades, you should strongly consider an epoxy coat. There are many advantages to coating your concrete floor with epoxy that we are going to outline here in this blog entry.  Many homes and facilities utilize some form of concrete flooring for many reasons. Usually the areas that have concrete flooring see heavier forms of traffic or elements that can be damaging or corrosive. This being the case, measures should be taken to protect your floor to ensure its durability over the long run.

Epoxy can be mixed with other elements to create hybridized coats that can be tailored to fit the environment that they will be residing in. Things like quartz, marble and glass can be added to enhance the physical durability. You can use epoxy resin for acrylic applications. You can put in additives to enhance water proofing capabilities, chemical erosion resistance, stain resistance as well as static resistance among many more. You truly can find an appropriate epoxy coating to fit into any scenario. You can even concoct a coating that will be antimicrobial in order to reduce the transmission of germs and illness.

Aside from the functional benefits that are possible to attain from the right epoxy coating, you can greatly enhance the look of your office or facility as these coatings can be installed in an artistic fashion. You can include logos, abstract designs, color changes, messages, and graphics of  all types to make your floor pop and serve as an elegant frame for the rest of the space. In places like auto dealerships and plane hangars, the right flooring serves as an element of the sales display and can actually enhance the way the products on display appear.

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Choosing the Right Flooring for Function and Aesthetic

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Making changes to your flooring is always a major undertaking. Whether you are refinishing your floor or installing a new flooring system, many considerations will need to be made before the floor is set in place and finished.

Functionality:

We all want flooring that is visually appealing, but the first factor that should be considered is the functionality of the flooring. Whatever the needs of your home or facility are, making sure they are met is imperative when it comes to keeping operations moving. If you have a great looking floor that slows down the pace of your living or work space, you are sacrificing efficiency for aesthetic appeal. That can be a costly mistake, literally.

Flooring Style:

Matching the aesthetic of the surroundings will only enhance the visual effect that your floor contributes to the room. Choosing the right material and colors can really bring a room or facility together, visually, and can augment the atmosphere of your home or business in a major way. Custom designs can be incorporated, whether it’s a company logo or related art, or an abstract piece meant to break the visual monotony, you can add a unique touch to your flooring by making it a piece of art.

Color:

You can have your floor colored in any shade of any color so your options are literally endless. Colors can be mixed or different colors can be used to bring together other visual elements in the environment so the visual aesthetic can have a natural flow.

Budget:

While you may be dreaming of the most amazing floor that any eyes have ever seen, being realistic about your budget is something that you absolutely must stick to. Go with the best flooring options that you can truly afford. Odds are you will be satisfied.

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Concrete Restoration

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If you are the owner of an older facility that has concrete floors you may be thinking about improving the condition of your flooring. The need to Restore your concrete floor is inevitable and you will eventually need to take measures to keep your floor efficient and functional. Going through the process of concrete restoration will give your entire facility a rejuvenated look and feel. Not only will your floor be restored to an attractive and functional state, you will save money by not having to completely replace your concrete flooring. This can be a scary prospect for many people because many things come along with having your floor worked on, including possible work stoppages which can lead to losses. Many companies can work with you to avoid as much disturbance and inconvenience as possible. While there is some risk of experiencing these inconveniences, the benefits that you can gain from restoring your concrete floor are more than worth it.

During the process of restoring your concrete you can take measures to add desired traits to your floor. You can have coating applied that will add attributes like non-slip, stain guard, resistance to heavy traffic, and even decorative designs. Having a new coat applied to your restored concrete floor can significantly lower the amount of time you need to spend on maintenance and cleaning. Keeping your floor protected after restoration will go a long way in saving you money and time on another restoration as they will significantly increase the durability and longevity of the restored state of the floor. While it may not seem very noticeable, adding attributes to your flooring that can enhance the everyday operations that happen within your facility can lead to a major increase in efficiency as well as subsequent profits. Enhancing your floor is truly an investment that can pay for itself and then some over time, the caveat is having to make the initial investment up front, which can be substantial, in order to ever see those savings and augmented profits.

If you notice cracks and deterioration developing across your concrete floor you should address them as soon as possible. Allowing your floor to continue to deteriorate will only cost you more money when you do decide that it’s finally time to repair and restore your concrete flooring. Restoring and increasing the protective surface that covers your floor will cost you money up front, but will save you a ton of money on maintenance and repair costs that you would likely incur over the long run. Sometimes it takes money to save money and concrete flooring is one area where this notion is definitely true. Making the investment to restore your concrete floors can save you from the expense and hassle of having to totally replace your concrete flooring in the future. While it may seem like a sizable investment to restore your floor, it pales in comparison to the cost you will incur if you have to replace your entire floor. Have a strategy for your floor restoration and a plan on how to maximize its serviceable lifetime for your benefit. You will not regret it.

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The Benefits of Concrete Grinding

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If you are own a home or business that has concrete floors, grinding, or polishing, is a great way to restore your floor. There are several benefits to the process that you should strongly consider:

  1. Affordability: Your preexisting floor will be used as a base layer as opposed to being totally replaced. That alone saves you a lot of money as you won’t have to pay to demolish and remove you old floor and you won’t have the cost on the flip side of having to pay to have a new floor constructed. After constructing your floor, you are going to need to coat it as well. Grinding will allow you to avoid need to purchase or use any chemicals, which can also be expensive on top of being hazardous. You also will not need to use any chemicals to maintain or clean your floor.
  2. Easy to Clean: Polished floors are extremely easy to clean. Think of them as a giant nonstick surface. Dust and particles will not stick to your floor and will easily sweep away. Oils and lubricants won’t stain the floor and will only require a wash with cleaning detergent and a solid wipe down to bring the floor back to its shiny, polished state. You will save a lo t of money on cleaning and maintenance costs over the lifetime of your floor.
  3. Durability in Any Climate and Environment: Polished concrete flooring is extremely durable and can be deployed in any climate, interior or exterior, no matter the conditions. Unpolished concrete floors are susceptible to wind damage and cold, usually cracking on the surface.  No only will your floor be less efficient if it becomes cracked, it can grow to be unsightly as well. Polishing your concrete eliminates the possiblilyt of you concrete floor cracking due to cold and wind.
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All Kote Lining Inc

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If you are looking for the premier cooling tower service and epoxy coating company in the Valley of the Sun in AZ, look no further than All Kote Lining Inc. Located in Phoenix, All Kote offers repair service, maintenance service, installations and replacements of cooling towers of all types and sizes. The health of your cooling tower can have a massive effect on your business on multiple fronts. Keeping your facility comfortable for your employees is vital to the efficiency with which your staff performs their respective duties.  Aside from comfort level, keeping your towers clean and up to standard can eliminate literal health risks as legionella can develop in the pools of unkept cooling towers. Decreased efficiency and a legionella bloom can be easily avoided with keeping tabs on the condition of your cooling towers and actively practicing beneficial maintenance habits. Your cooling towers are a major investment and All Kote fully understands the depth of that fact, which is why they take such care to ensure your tower is brought to its best possible working condition. All Kote can truly help you get the most out of your cooling towers while saving you money over the long term.

If you are looking for coatings for you cooling tower or your concrete flooring, All Kote also has you covered in both realms. The Coating experts at All Kote will suggest the best course of action to take to coat your Cooling towers and concrete floors. The experienced team will lay out a plan that will fit your budget and needs all while guaranteeing your satisfaction with the end results. All Kote Lining Inc has left a long line of satisfied customers throughout Arizona and that line is sure to grow longer. Call All Kote Lining Inc today and see why there is such a legion of satisfied clientele.