Chiller Issues

[Bill George]

Well the chiller I purchased last summer seems to have went belly up. Compressor runs, not much cooling so I would say either a low charge or bad compressor as the condenser was clean. Low hours on this thing and I have contacted the seller to see if any warranty. Low charge maybe and that means its an aluminum to copper connection leaking. Bad compressor not worth the cost even If I did myself, which I can.

So found this on eBay > Genuine S&A CW-5000DG Industrial Water Chiller 110V 2yr warranty USA stock

and its right at $500 shipped. Did some else buy one of these lately? I seem to remember. I will see if my current one is in warranty otherwise I will order one of these.

[Bert Kemp]

yea my chiller died today too, Ice in the bucket melted in 2 hours:D109 out today :cool:

[Kev Williams]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Industrial-Water-Chiller-Cool-a-Single-150W-CO2-Laser-Tube-CW-5200DG-110V-US/152923022869?hash=item239aec2615:g:xksAAMXQROxRFhq 4 << this is the one I just got, except it's a 5200 not a 5000 for the same price, I got it quick, it's the real deal, it works great :)

[Bill George]

The one I found had 100% Positve feedback and its the next size smaller.... I think anyway. Hoping to hear about mine tomorrow. Business is really picking up, and its just my website and some good repeat customers. Thanks Kev.

So Mike you deleted my Link to the eBay auction but not Kev's :),

[Matt McCoy]

If it's S&A 5000, it could be a leak. It happened to me and since it's a sealed system, I had to add taps and recharge.

How did you test the compressor?

[Bill George]

If it's S&A 5000, it could be a leak. It happened to me and since it's a sealed system, I had to add taps and recharge

How did you test the compressor?

Its a rotary compressor and the discharge gas is what cools the compressor, hard to believe and the system worked fine last year. The compressor is hot and vibrates while running, but no cooling suction line is not cool. It holds like maybe 3 oz of 134A which means your looking at a leak rate of about 1 or so oz a year, pretty hard to find. No sense in recharging if the leak is still there. Now if it had rubbed a or cracked a line lost all at once I would repair, pull a vacuum on the system and recharge. Rotary compressors I would not even bother with replacement unless it was on my AC unit outside.
BTW its not the brand above but one I purchased from someone else.

PS it could also be a clogged cap tube and you would not find that unless you have both high side and low side readings. Line tap valves all leak, some are better than others. We always took off and added permanent valves to be sure.

[Matt McCoy]

Thanks for the info.

[Bill George]

Well so it turns out the Chiller I purchased May 17, 2017 is just over 3 weeks on the one year Warranty so it looks like I am either shopping for a new one or perhaps as Matt suggested attempt a repair.

So I did find my T fittings and solder in taps, drilled a hole in suction line and very little refrigerant in the system. Added in the fittings and will braze in tomorrow. Matt I also found a suspect area on the suction line leaving the chiller, might be the leak.

[Dave Sheldrake]

Kev's link goes to Cole CNC on ebay, good company and reliable

The earlier 5000's all had the dissimilar metal problems, stainless to aluminium joints, but they solved that in the later versions.

[Matt McCoy]

Can you add dye?

[Bill George]

Yes I do have some UV dye to add. But I will pressure check the gobbed up area first. Dave this looks like just copper to copper, but it does take some skill to braze up lines without leaks. Looks like the Chinese need to refine those skills.

[Bill George]

Well its running and cooling now, leak checking proved fruitless as I predicted. I brazed in a Schrader valve and Tee on the suction line, pressure tested and pulled a vacuum. Balanced charged and checked superheat. Hoping it will hold, if not I have almost a full 30 lb tank of R134a. I stocked up that and R22 when I retired. Hard part for a retired guy is keeping track of where did I put those refrigeration tools its only been 10 years since I used last!!