What is the cooling capacity in tons for a cooling tower circulating 35,819 pounds of water per minute?

To determine the cooling capacity of a cooling tower when it is circulating 35,819 pounds of water per minute, we first need to convert the water flow rate from pounds per minute into tons per hour. Since 1 ton of cooling is defined as the removal of heat equivalent to melting 1 ton of ice over 24 hours, this can be quantified in terms of BTUs.

A common conversion factor is that 1 ton of cooling capacity equals 12,000 BTUs per hour. First, convert the flow of water:

1. Convert pounds per minute to tons per minute:

• There are 2,000 pounds in a ton, so:

[

\frac{35,819 \text{ lbs/min}}{2000 \text{ lbs/ton}} \approx 17.91 \text{ tons/min}

]

2. Next, convert tons per minute to tons per hour:

• Multiply by 60 (minutes in an hour):

[

17.91 \text{ tons/min} \times 60 \text{ min/hour} = 1,074.6 \text{ tons/hour}

]

3. To find the cooling capacity in terms