chiller question

I do Heating and AC. Watersource heatpumps such as geo thermal has stainless steal heat exchanger in them. I have found thes busted and the water leaks into the refrigerant system and vice versa. Has anyone ever had or heard of a heat exchanger busting in a aquarium?

 

I've never seen/encountered that problem. I assume that is the reason the chillers are so expensive because they use more expensive materials for the components to make them fail-safe?

 

Dang just thought of it. Bet they use a stainless steel canister and and wrap the refrig. line around it like a water fountain. duh..... lol

 

They use titanium.

 

I did heating and ac as well,i've never heard of one leaking into a system,but it would be disaster if it did.I imagine all the chlorine molicules in older ones and all the propane based solvents used in todays refrigeration equipment (not to mention oils) would wipe out a tank in no time.

 

Never tore one apart,but i bet your right,just to keep from contaminating the water.

 

Oh yea im sorry ment Titanium. The older units had stainless steel.

 

my chiller did just that. the condenser fan went out and this caused the system to overpressureize and it cracked the evaporator coil inside the water chamber. this caused all the freon to leak out into my system. took about 2 days or so to go to zero. I tried a fixit product, but it didnt work. ended up with a dead unit and had to buy another one.

it was a titanium coil in the exchanger.

 

The heat exchanger is on the low side of the system. The condensor fan and condensor coil is the high pressure side. You wouldn't by chance have the old chiller laying around? Because odds are your developed a leak on the high side. Was there oil in your aquarium?

 

Yes, there was oil in the water. you could see the sheen on the surface and smell it. you could also hear it bubbling in the water inside the exchanger. there was no evidence of leaks on any of the external tubing. trust me. I did all I could to save it short of cracking the heat exchanger open and brazing it up. unfortunately, I tried a product that is supposed to seal metal holes in a 134a system. didnt work and now the entire system is clogged. I plan on cutting it apart and trying to vacuum it out then repair the exchanger.