adg process water cooling

With increasing frequency, the ALFORD DESIGN GROUP inc., (ADG), is being asked if there is any "hard" information regarding the effects of water cooling on snowmaking operations. Eight to ten years ago, process water-cooling was considered to be a luxury that, for most ski areas, was too expensive to justify as an individual retrofit addition. However, there was an increased awareness of this cooling process, based on systems being installed as a component part of much larger and more complex systems. Today, many ski areas nationally, and internationally, believe that water-cooling benefits their snowmaking performance and operating efficiencies. Here are some believers!

AREA	TYPE OF INSTALLATION
Alpine Meadows, California	Induced Draft Towers
Bear Mountain, California	Spray Nozzles
Hunter Mountain, New York	Forced Draft Towers (retrofit)
Keystone, Colorado	Induced & Forced Draft Towers (retrofit and new)
Loon Mountain, NH	Induced Draft Towers (retrofit and new)
Mammoth Mountain, California	Forced Draft Towers (new system)
Mont-Sainte-Anne, Quebec	Forced Draft Towers (retrofit)
Park City, UT	Induced Draft Towers (retrofit)
Ski Incline, Nevada	Induced Draft Tower (retrofit)
Snowmass Area	Induced Draft Towers (new system)
Squaw Valley, California	Forced Draft Towers (new system)
Sun Valley, ID	Induced & Forced Draft Towers (retrofit and new)
Whitetail Resort, PA	Induced Draft Towers (retrofit)

Based on past test results and experience, ADG believes the most critical range to control process water temperature is from 35F to 39F at ambient temperatures above 21F_wb. The average decrease in A/W ratios in these ranges is 40%. ADG is absolutely certain that some process water cooling will be justifiable in any type of snowmaking system, A/W, FANS, PEDESTALS, TOWERS, or any combination of any these process types. And in any system where process water temperatures are higher than 40^oF, the benefits of process water-cooling will be greater than shown above!

Finally, unrelated to the test program, ADG has completed a simple thermodynamic analysis using certain assumed conditions, which are considered to represent normal early season operating conditions. The A/W ratios for these assumed operating conditions - ambient temperature, process water temperature, etc., - have been taken from the "hard" test data, that has been developed through fourteen (14) years of tests at a major ski area. The results of this thermodynamic analysis can be obtained by e-mailing ADG, or giving by giving us a call!!!