Summer is around the corner. Time to think about cooling tower maintenance.
A cooling tower is used in some buildings to provide ventilation, air conditioning and/or heat. There are cooling tower variants depending on how it is used and how big the building is. A dirty cooling tower will lead to reduced cooling capacity, impaired reliability, and health and safety risks, such as Legionnaire’s disease, which can be easily be avoided by regular preventive maintenance of the system.
Registering The Equipment
Building owners must enroll / register their new or existing cooling towers and evaporative condenser with the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB), effective August 18, 2015, in accordance with Local Law 77 of 2015. Existing equipment enrollment deadline was by mid-September of 2015. New equipment should be registered prior to its initial operation.
Maintaining & Certification of Cooling Towers
Building Owners are required to test, clean, disinfect and inspect cooling towers and keep records of inspections, disinfections, maintenance, and repairs of the towers. Records must be available on demand by inspectors/city officials. The cooling towers need to be certified annually.
Notify Discontinuance of Use
Building owners are also required to notify the DOB when a cooling tower is removed or permanently discontinued from use within 30 days from removal or discontinued use. The notification should also verify that the equipment has been safely drained and sanitized in compliance with DOHMH regulations.
Enforcement
Failure to register, submit the system for inspection and provide certification of such as well as failure to report the discontinued use of the equipment may result in a violation report punishable with a fine up to $10,000 as well as the potential for lawsuits.