Production Facility in United States Repair HVAC Cooling Tower Leak
A leaking HVAC cooling tower at a production facility in the United States of America is successfully sealed after several attempts to repair a large crack and significant surface damage to the concrete floor inside the structure failed.
Case Study Overview
Site Production facility
Location United States
Repair Type Cooling tower leak repair
Products Superfast Aqua PW Epoxy Putty, Industrial Metal Rapid Epoxy Paste
Pipe Defect
Temperature control at the production facility was provided by a HVAC system. Water sent through pipes absorbed heat from inside the building, which was then pumped to a cooling tower located on the roof.
This warmed water was exposed to air inside the tower, leading to heat being rejected into the atmosphere via evaporation. The re-cooled water was then pumped back into the building and the whole process repeated.
After water was seen leaking from the cooling tower, it was drained and accessed. A long crack was found in the floor, with significant amounts of concrete either side having crumbled away.
With the effectiveness of the HVAC system determined by the amount of water cooled, any loss from the tower through leakage was extremely damaging to efficiency.
SylWrap Solution
The HVAC manufacturer had never seen a fault like this in one of their systems. After several repair attempts made using their normal tried-and-tested methods all failed, the manufacturer contacted a Sylmasta distributor in the United States for advice.
Because the tower floor was still saturated with water, filling the crack was done with Superfast Aqua PW Epoxy Putty – chosen for its high underwater adhesion properties.
The surface was first prepared by grinding with an abrasive disc. Superfast Aqua PW was then mixed by hand and forced into the crack. It hardened inside within 20 minutes, curing to form a solid material sealing along the entire leak area.
With the leak sealed, attention turned to repairing the damage where the concrete floor had crumbled away. This was done using a fast-working version of Industrial Metal Epoxy Paste with a five-minute gel time, rather than the 60 minutes of standard grade.
Industrial Metal Rapid was mixed using a putty knife before being applied to rebuild the missing floor around the crack. It filled the damaged areas with a smooth, metallic-like material offering excellent corrosion resistance to further enhance the sealing power of Superfast Aqua PW.
Outcome
Within three hours of the repair starting, the cooling tower was sealed and the HVAC system back operating at full efficiency again.
Follow Up
The HVAC manufacturer is now using Sylmasta products for a wider range of applications, having been so impressed by the ease and speed of repair at the production facility.
Products Used
Superfast Aqua PW
Epoxy putty with special formulation for high wet surface and underwater adhesion
Industrial Metal
Epoxy paste rebuilds large areas of significant damage to structures and surfaces
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