Chiller Maintenance/Service

[bkv1997]

Has any of you ever had your chiller serviced?

How much does something like that run and where did you take it to get serviced.

I've had my chiller roughly two years now and was thinking of getting it tuned up, still works, but not as good.

Plus another member here in chattanooga just bought a used chiller and he is also interested.

Is it possible just to use R134a from autozone to do this yourself?

Please let me know.
Thanks
Brandon

 

[Fishboy42]

I don't know if it's an easy DIY, but when I had a problem with my chiller, I called our heat and air guy. It's basically an air conditioner with different "attachments," so he was familiar with the important parts. He tested/fixed a leak and recharged it with R134a coolant and it worked fine after that. Just thought I'd mention my experience--if anyone has different/better ideas, I'd like to hear them too!

Matt

 

[bkv1997]

Matt:

If you don't mind me asking how much did something like that cost you? Debating if it is worth it or should I just buy a new unit.

Brandon

 

[Fishboy42]

I really don't remember, maybe ~$100 (but he came to the house, if you can bring it somewhere it would probably be better). At the time with the temp creeping up into the high 80's F in the reef, I thought it was worth it!

 

[bkv1997]

Thanks.

 

[gflat65]

You can do service yourself, these days, as long as you have an idea of what you are doing. They sell 134a in cans (at almost any car supply store for around $20) that have a tube that hooks directly up to the fittings (if you've got fittings-if not, they are cheap and can be purchased as self piercing). I charged my car AC with these cans and didn't use any gauges, but it may be a little trickier with the chiller.

 

[cee]

I just got done cleaning the titanium heat exchanger coils on my unit and topping off the R-134A in the unit using an automotive recharge kit. Fortunately, it really didn't need any refrigerant, but attaching the gauge to the low side line was useful to verify the pressure was within spec for the unit (150 psi low, 235 psi high for mine). I don't think there is enough pressure in those DIY cans to overcome the low side pressure, however.

Dave

 

[bkv1997]

Dave:

If you don't mind how did you clean the coils? (Just run water through it backwards, or did you use vinigar or something else also)

Also I'm running the 1/5 horse power JBJ Artica Titanium Chiller seen here http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod_chiller.html When I remove the cover it doesn't appear to have the standard or any fittings that I can see for attaching the common R134A AC stuff to it.

Thanks
Brandon

 

[RevHtree]

Hey Brandon my brother in law works for a refrigeration company and I could talk him into cleaning it and filling it up for free I'm sure.

 

[cee]

Vinegar and let it soak for a few hours, depending on the level of foaming. If it's really bad, I've used CLR on a closed loop into a bucket before, but you really have to rinse it well if you go this route.

Do a little research. I found one AC company who really didn't know much about these and put too little refrigerant into it.

 

[bkv1997]

Dave:

Thanks for the info guess I'm going to try and clean the coils tonight. I called jbj and I would need (142.2 low pressure/ 298.6 High Pressure) for a total of 250 grams or .55 pounds of refrigerant.

They however mentioned if it was cooling at all they didn't think that was the problem and suggested making sure the titanium coil was clean and the grill was vacuumed good and free of dust.

What size do you guys use? They suggested I needed more than a 1/5 on a 100 gallon, but its rated for 180..

Thanks

 

[cee]

Brandon:

You mentioned previously that the chiller was working fine but its performance has degraded. Something has obviously changed, perhaps more submersible pumps, higher wattage lights, etc. If you have the auto recharge kit, you can easily hook the line to the low pressure side with the correct adapters and read the pressure (make sure you don't hook it to the high pressure line or it may explode on you). If you're uncertain as to which is the low pressure line, don't attempt it. The compressor must be running to measure the pressure accurately, though.

I use a 1/4 hp on a 125, but recently had to remove some pumps to reduce the heat load. Now it works well, only turning on about every 3 hours for about 30-45 minutes at a pop. Those chiller ratings are kinda like skimmer ratings, I always err one level higher than recommended depending on the pull-down from ambient requirements. Also, if you have it located outside, it has to work much harder because it's the temperature difference between the ambient air temp and the desired water temp that matters. Hope that all made sense...

Dave

 

[bkv1997]

Well I use to be running the same lighting on a 55, but had two SEIO 820s, 2 queit one 4000HHs and ran my tank at 77.

I'm now using a bigger tank 100 gallons same amount of lights 2 (250 watt HQI Pendants), external iwaski 70, external blueline 55 and am running at 79.5.

I would have thought going external pumps with more water and the same amount of lighting would have made things alot better not worse. Its really not a huge deal I was mainly asking for ironman as his is completely gone, but was also interested to see if there was potentially something I could do for a reasonable price seeing how it is two years old.

I'm familiar with car AC systems, but mine doesn't have the fittings at all... jbj said if i wanted it serviced I would have to pay the place that serviced it to install the fittings, it wasn't designed to really be serviced.

Think I'm going to take david up on his offer just to see what his connection thinks.... Like you said I'll probably just get a 1/2 HP next time.

Brandon

 

[ReefRacer]

I may be wrong but IME refrigeration type units (fridge,car ac,) etc don't "use" or consume the substance (freon like stuff) so you must have a leak. Just because the mechanic doesn't find it doesn't mean it is not there. I had a car AC charged after they put some in and leak tested it. It was leaking under the dash into the passenger part of the vehicle so it was cold for 2 days.
Leaks can be slow though, for example we have a calibrated leak device for checking leak detectors. This unit will leak helium slowly for years. A seal could go bad and leak slowly but will probably get worse, Just my .02. Good luck

 

[bkv1997]

Yea I manually replace the evaporator core in an 86 taurus once... removing the dash was great fun.

Thanks for all the replies, maybe some of my above assumptions are were just off and my system is just to big for my system now.

 

[cee]

No service fittings? That's going to make for an expensive repair. No wonder the JBJs are so inexpensive...

If you do buy another, go American and get a Tecumseh compressor. Bullet-proof and anyone can work on it. My previous one had many years on it.

Dave

 

[ct_vol]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8124395#post8124395 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bkv1997

I'm now using a bigger tank 100 gallons same amount of lights 2 (250 watt HQI Pendants), external iwaski 70, external blueline 55 and am running at 79.5.

Might be your bulbs... Those Phoenix 14k's were a lot more intense than the XM's I used to run... Don't know about your Geisemanns' though...

 

[bkv1997]

Before and After pics of the cleaning.

I'm hoping this will help, your thoughts?

 

[cee]

How are you getting that much junk in there? Maybe you need a strainer on the pump that feeds the chiller? Mine was two years since a cleaning and looked nothing like that, was virtually clean. It will def. help, since you'll now get more flow around the entire heat exchanger area. However, I'm surprised, as the titanium tubes don't look very smooth or uniform like mine. That shouldn't hurt performance too much, though.

 

[bkv1997]

I'll let you know if things get any better.

I have no idea where it came from but it has been two years. I don't run any filters excepts for the skimmer.

The tubes look relatively smooth when you look at them with your eye, but that picture is zoomed in pretty good. It is looking down a 3/4" hole.

Brandon