TP26-17 Balancing of Cooling Tower Fans

Cooling tower fans are used by many plants, factories, hospitals, etc as a means of heat rejection for their cooling systems.  Although the majority of these machines come already balanced and ready for service, the effects of time, wear and tear and the occasional factory or installation error result in unbalanced fan wheels which in turn cause elevated vibration levels and low reliability.  Performing balancing of these fans in the field (on-site) is thus occasionally needed to restore low & acceptable vibration levels and along with it reliable service.  This paper will present a method of field balancing well suited to cooling tower fans along with a presentation of a case history illustrating its effective use in the field.