Cooling Tower Inspection with Scuba

Abstract

A serious problem of scale and other solid material settling in heat transfer equipment was threatening to shut down our ethylene plant. All evidence pointed to the cooling tower as the source of the contamination. Visual inspection of the cooling tower pump suction basin was accomplished by diving into the basin using SCUBA gear. It was possible to see a build-up of debris on the pump suction basket strainers and on the floor of the sumps. Also, it was discovered that one of the four baskets had been installed incorrectly. Photographs of the basket strainers were taken to aid in describing their exact condition.

With the aid of SCUBA it was possible to sufficiently clean the pump sumps so that costly downtime was avoided. Likewise, using this technique, steps were taken to greatly reduce the chance for further contamination of the circulating cooling water system.