10 Rockefeller Plaza
Central Plant Cooling Tower Replacement, New York, NY

AKF was retained as the prime consultant and coordinated the architectural and structural engineering services.

We designed the replacement of an existing eight-cell field-erected cooling tower. The replacement consisted of a factory-fabricated eight-cell cooling tower with a capacity of approximately 8,000 tons. A high-efficiency condenser water and filtration system was also designed. The cooling tower was furnished with variable speed drives to provide greater operational savings by monitoring the condenser water temperature and the fan electrical consumption.

The existing roof level condenser water and steam piping was redesigned with motorized valves on the supply and return and was reconfigured to enable operation of any combination of cells at any time. A common equalizer line was also designed to better maintain the water level in all basins. A new cooling tower winterization system using steam basin heaters and new controls was also included. To enhance winter operation for the new cooling tower, a water make-up booster pump system consisting of a stilling chamber and electric level control probes in the basin was also designed and installed. To help reduce the installation cost of the electrical work, the existing building electrical services were upgraded from 208-volt to 480-volts.

The existing dunnage steel was substantially modified to accommodate the new cooling towers. New ladders, catwalks and railings were included as part of this work.