What are the most common problems in cooler non-performance?
– poor thermal design, insist on third party check rating, or onsite performance test in accordance with ASME-PTC-30 – L-Base wrap on fin separation creating gap resistance between fin and tube – commonly overstated fan efficiencies, insist on air side performance tests – hot air recirculation off the top to the inlet of same or neighboring cooler – request computational fluid dynamics analysis when laying out the plant, watch high intake velocities – under estimating the air side fouling factor due to airborne contaminant – excessive tip clearances between fan in fan ring – the absence of inlet bells to the fan ring for efficient air entry to the fan – system freezing of process fluid – insist on maximum side recirculation duct face velocities and adequate instrumentation
