Case study · Completed November 2025

Staged cooling tower refurbishment: completing all 5 towers

A staged cooling tower refurbishment let a site with 5 cooling towers have all of them refurbished, without taking the whole cost in one year. We refurbished the first 3 over previous years, then completed the final 2 with new fill, drift eliminators, fan blades, fan hubs and drive belts.

Staged cooling tower refurbishment: row of industrial cooling towers under a clear Queensland sky

The challenge

The site runs 5 induced draft cooling towers, and all of them were due for refurbishment. Doing every tower at once would have meant a large one-off cost.

To spread that cost, the work was staged over several years. Each stage had to bring its towers back to full condition so the set stayed reliable while the rest waited their turn.

Induced draft cooling tower on block piers with caged ladder access — One of the final 2 towers before the works

The staged cooling tower refurbishment

We refurbished the first 3 towers in earlier stages. For this final stage we completed the remaining 2:

Replaced the fill media.
Replaced the drift eliminators.
Fitted new fan blades and fan hubs.
Installed new drive belts.

Inside a cooling tower during refurbishment, with spray pipes overhead and drift eliminators along the walls — Inside a tower during the refurbishment

Top deck of a refurbished cooling tower with fan motor and handrails, looking over bushland and hills — The top deck after the works

The result

All 5 towers now refurbished, with the final 2 completed in November 2025.
The cost spread across several years and maintenance budgets, not taken in one hit.
Each tower fitted with new fill, drift eliminators, fan components and belts.