Most operators assume that cold weather is a blessing for cooling. After all, if it’s freezing outside, the tower doesn’t have to work as hard to shed heat, right? This is the single most dangerous misconception in wet cooling tower management.
When ice forms, panic leads to silence. Silence leads to stagnation. Stagnation leads to a tower that looks less like a heat exchanger and more like a frozen waterfall. A frozen cooling tower cannot be thawed with steam hoses; it must be rebuilt in April. cooling tower handbook
If you see ice, do not shut down. Increase heat load. Increase water flow. Do not stop the fan unless you intend to scrap the cell. Most operators assume that cold weather is a