Total Cost of Ownership for FRP Cooling Towers: The 20-Year Picture
The purchase price of a cooling tower is the number everyone compares, and it is usually the smallest part of what the tower will cost you. Over 20 years, water, energy, treatment, and maintenance add up to many times the equipment price. This page walks through every cost line, shows a worked example for a 250-ton tower, and explains where fiberglass (FRP) and galvanized steel towers differ.
The 20-year cost lines
A complete total cost of ownership (TCO) for an open-loop cooling tower includes nine lines. Some are paid once, and some are paid every year:
- Equipment: the tower itself.
- Freight: getting it to your site.
- Rigging: crane or boom truck to set it.
- Assembly: labor to put sectional models together.
- Piping: supply, return, makeup, overflow, drain, and bypass lines.
- Electrical: fan motor power, disconnects, controls, and any VFD.
- Water treatment: chemicals, service, makeup water, and blowdown (sewer) charges.
- Energy: fan power for every operating hour.
- Maintenance: routine service, parts, and major repairs or replacement over 20 years.
FRP vs galvanized, line by line
| Cost line | FRP (CTS Model T-2) | Galvanized steel | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | CTS publishes list prices online; for example, the 250-ton T-2250 lists at $27,027. | Often lower at purchase. | Galvanized |
| Freight | FRP is light. The T-2250 has a dry weight of 2,270 lbs. Models T-23 to T-280 ship assembled by LTL freight. | Steel casings and basins are generally heavier for similar capacity. | FRP (slight) |
| Rigging | Lighter lifts can mean a smaller crane or boom truck. See the rigging guide. | Heavier lifts may need more crane capacity. | FRP (slight) |
| Assembly | Factory-assembled. T-23 to T-280 arrive in one piece. The T-2250 takes 32 man-hours (4 workers, 1 day). | Similar for packaged steel towers; far higher for field-erected towers. | Even (vs packaged) |
| Piping | Depends on your site layout, not the tower material. | Same. | Even |
| Electrical | Depends on fan motor size and controls, not the shell material. | Same. | Even |
| Water treatment | FRP does not rust and is not attacked by white rust. That gives your treatment vendor more room on pH and cycles of concentration. | Needs passivation at start-up and tight pH control to prevent white rust, which can limit cycles and raise blowdown. | FRP |
| Energy | At the same design conditions, shell material has little effect on fan energy. | Same when new. Corrosion damage to fill supports or casing can reduce performance over time. | Even to FRP |
| Maintenance (20 yrs) | No coating to maintain. 20-year warranty on FRP casing and cold-water basin; 2 years on PVC fill; 1 year on motors and drives. | Coating touch-up, basin repair, and corrosion work. Basin and casing corrosion often ends the tower's life before 20 years in open-loop service. | FRP |
The pattern is consistent. Galvanized wins on the purchase price. FRP wins on the lines you pay every year and on how long the tower lasts. For a longer comparison, see FRP vs galvanized steel cooling towers.
Worked example: a 250-ton tower over 20 years
The example below uses a CTS Model T-2250: 3,750,000 BTU/hr (250 nominal tons), 7.5 HP fan, about 750 GPM at a 10°F range. Equipment and assembly figures come from CTS published data. Every other figure is an assumption, listed so you can swap in your own numbers.
| Cost line | Basis / assumption | 20-year cost | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Equipment | T-2250 list price (October 2026; subject to change) | $27,027 | 3.4% |
| Freight | Allowance; actual cost depends on distance from Macon, GA | $2,500 | 0.3% |
| Rigging | Allowance for a half-day crane or boom truck | $2,000 | 0.2% |
| Assembly | 32 man-hours × $85/hr | $2,720 | 0.3% |
| Piping and electrical | Site-specific; the same for FRP or galvanized, so excluded here | Not included | – |
| Fan energy | 7.5 HP at 90% motor efficiency ≈ 6.2 kW × 6,000 hrs/yr × $0.12/kWh = $4,476/yr | $89,520 | 11.1% |
| Makeup water and sewer | 6 GPM evaporation + 2 GPM blowdown at 4 cycles = 8 GPM × 6,000 hrs = 2.88M gal/yr × $10 per 1,000 gal = $28,800/yr | $576,000 | 71.6% |
| Water treatment program | Chemicals and service, $3,000/yr | $60,000 | 7.5% |
| Routine maintenance | Inspections, cleaning, belts, bearings, $2,000/yr | $40,000 | 5.0% |
| Fill replacement | One allowance during 20 years | $5,000 | 0.6% |
| Total | $804,767 | 100% |
What the example shows: the tower itself is under 4% of the 20-year cost. Water and energy are over 80%. A tower that costs a little more but keeps running efficiently, tolerates better water chemistry, and does not need replacing is almost always the cheaper tower.
Where FRP saves money in the example
1. Higher cycles of concentration
Blowdown is the water you drain to control dissolved solids. Raising cycles of concentration cuts blowdown. In the example, going from 4 to 6 cycles reduces blowdown from 2.0 to 1.2 GPM. That saves about 288,000 gallons a year, or roughly $2,880 a year and $57,600 over 20 years at $10 per 1,000 gallons.
Higher cycles usually mean higher pH and alkalinity, which is exactly what galvanized steel does not tolerate well. FRP gives your water treatment vendor more room to run an efficient program. Your vendor sets the actual limits based on your makeup water.
2. No replacement inside 20 years
Here is a hypothetical comparison. Suppose a galvanized tower of the same capacity costs 15% less at purchase ($22,973 vs $27,027, saving $4,054). If corrosion forces a replacement in year 15, you buy a second tower and pay freight, rigging, and assembly again, which totals more than $30,000. The upfront savings disappear, and you also lose downtime and staff time.
CTS warrants the FRP casing and cold-water basin for 20 years, the full period of this analysis.
3. No coating maintenance
Galvanized towers need their zinc coating protected. Once it is gone, steel corrodes quickly, and repairs to basins and casings are labor-intensive. FRP has a gel coat for UV protection and no coating that the water attacks.
4. Stable thermal performance
A tower that loses capacity runs its fan longer and sends warmer water to your chillers or process. Chiller efficiency drops as condenser water temperature rises, so lost tower performance also shows up on the chiller's power bill. Keeping the structure, fill supports, and water distribution intact protects performance for the life of the tower.
Where galvanized still makes sense
If you expect to replace or leave the system within about 10 years, galvanized's lower purchase price can win. The same is true for a short-term or temporary installation. If that is your situation, we will tell you.
How to reduce your own 20-year cost
- Size the tower correctly. An undersized tower runs hot and wastes chiller energy. See how to size a cooling tower.
- Add a VFD to the fan motor. Fan power falls sharply with speed, and most towers run at part load most of the year.
- Run the highest cycles your water allows. This is often the biggest single saving.
- Keep up routine maintenance. Use our cooling tower maintenance checklist.
- Choose factory assembly. It keeps installation cost low and predictable. See factory-assembled vs field-erected cooling towers.
More on operating cost: how FRP towers reduce operating costs and cooling tower ROI and savings.
Frequently asked questions
What is the biggest cost of owning a cooling tower?
In most open-loop systems, makeup water and sewer charges are the largest cost, followed by fan energy. The equipment price is often less than 5% of the 20-year total.
Is an FRP cooling tower more expensive than galvanized?
Often slightly, at purchase. Over 15–20 years, FRP usually costs less because it avoids coating maintenance, corrosion repairs, and early replacement, and it tolerates more efficient water treatment.
Does tower material affect energy cost?
Not directly. At the same design conditions, FRP and galvanized towers use about the same fan energy. FRP helps keep that performance from degrading over time.
How long is the CTS warranty?
For U.S. orders: 20 years on the FRP casing and cold-water basin, 2 years on PVC fill, and 1 year on fan motors, major drive components, and internal moving parts.
Can CTS run a TCO estimate for my site?
Yes. Send us your heat load or flow rate, water temperatures, operating hours, and local water and power rates, and we will help you build the comparison.
Get a 20-year cost estimate for your project
Tell us your load, location, operating hours, and utility rates. We will recommend a model and help you compare the full cost of ownership.