Chiller Efficiency and Maintenance

If your company owns one of those industrial chillers to help maintain various equipments that may be damaged from too much heat, then you’d probably know that chiller maintenance don’t come easy.

A chiller can only be beneficial if its efficiency is at its maximum or remain to be unaffected despite several factors.

A chiller’ efficiency is measured by the amount of energy it needs or it takes to produce a ton of cooling and is usually expressed as kw/ton. All types of chillers including air cooled chillers and water cooled chillers have certain efficiency established before being released out in the market. However, there are a lot of factors that can affect it which can result to poor efficiency and higher operating costs.

An industrial chiller can have an operator to better keep track of the activities. The operators are known by a few titles: Stationary Engineer, HVAC engineer or service technician. Nevertheless, they perform the same job: they watch over the chillers. Chiller operation includes collecting and logging data from different estimates and controls the meters near or on the chiller. There are also service contractors whose expertise is the equipment repair. They are the ones you must call when you need major repairs.

There are three types of chiller maintenance:

Water chemistry – keeps the proper balance and minimizes the effects of corrosion, and debris fouling.Mechanical Maintenance – includes adequate liquid refrigerant, proper lubrication and a series of oil levels and pump curve tests.Operational Procedures – includes calibration of gauges and meters, oil analysis and other different tests that checks the operation process.

Chillers must be maintained and kept well for a longer lifespan. They don’t come cheap so taking care of them is worth the extra years they give as service before they break down.