Air cooled heat exchangers are typically used in circumstances where a source of cold clean water is not available or expensive, where the water may be corrosive in nature or where water is not an option due to environmental concerns. Air cooled heat exchangers do provide an environmental advantage in some cases because they do not develop a temperature rise in a water stream and they do not require water treatment as is required for Cooling Towers and Wet Surface Air Coolers. Air cooled heat exchangers do however, typically require more energy input to cool the same load as a Wet Surface Air Cooler.
