Chiller help, plan of attack.

I need advise from someone who has chiller experience. Or experience taking chillers apart.

Pic first before I start explaining.
My thoughts are to take everything off this to clean it up and go over it epoxy anything that might be leaking.
The hose right in the middle of the pic that screws into the base. I assumed this was a supply line for the water, but after I started to unscrew it I decided to cut off the insulating foam and it goes from I'd say 1/2" tubing to 1/8" tubing. My big concern with anything is that I done want to release any cooling fluid or open anything that would cause the coolant to escape as there is no issues with the compressor. The fitting right in the middle and all the way to the right are water lines correct? I am just confused because the supply lines look like they meet up with the compressor lines and does the water come in and go through the cooling heat sink. This unit isn't as self explanatory as I thought it was and I'm second guessing all the hose parts of it.
I would definitely like assistance before I continue the breakdown.
Thank you.

 

Maybe a little ahead of myself. I BELIEVE that the fitting is like a bulkhead fitting for the coolant to go down to the bottom to cool the water. I looked inside the IN opening and I see the spiral cooling coils. So I won't remove that fitting. I think the bottom where the water is, is a PVC tray that houses the coils. The bottom of the unit is held on with rivets and I almost want to drill out the rivets and see if I can get into the bottom. I can fix PVC, metal and so on but I'm no HVAC guy so that I don't want to mess with.
Any thoughts please. Hopefully someone whose had experience with this before.

 

I think that's what I'm going to do later today after work, I'm going to drill out the rivets to get the bottom pan off. I can rivet it back no problem.

 

that thing has some serious corrosion.

 

Yes, yes it does. It's mostly surface and its not in the water system. I like a challenge and this thing still has a chance. Not going to throw in the towel just yet.

 

I agree. worst case detail it and sell it if you feel uncomfortable as 'at your own risk' type of deal.

I agree with others. I think its condensation and should be fine, but cleaning it up will be sure to pinpoint any issues, and a good maintenance regimen will prolong the life of the equipment.

 

I agree. I am going to clean it well, very well. And I do my best to maintenance all equipment on a regular basis.
Definitely cleaning it up should pinpoint any issues that I haven't been able to see.
From what I did see though, is that the rusted areas have no way of accessing the reservoir. The threaded fitting thread onto a plastic fitting and there is an o-ring below that to seal that fitting. So condensation I too believe is the main culprit.
But until I get into this as much as possible and really feel comfortable I do not feel comfortable setting this up to my dt. But I tell you what, I do like the challenge this has given me.

Also I can tell that the cooling fan was replaced. It is not the original, there are a couple different screws and also the holes in the plate are different.

 

So I put the baby to bed and am getting my drill and equipment ready to drill out the rivets to see what's going on below.
Will keep posted of the progress.

 

I drilled out the rivets tonight, good news. The whole top area where everything is mounted to is just that. It's just a plate that everything is mounted to. I drilled out the rivets and I wasn't able to get it apart. The whole bottom is the reservoir and there are only 3 areas that have bulkheads to the top and that's, 2 for the cooling cool and 1 for the temp probe. I took what I could off and sanded around the fittings. I am going to get a 2 part epoxy and put it around the fittings and over the areas that are rusted. I also want to get some paint. Probably a rustoleum to spray the plate to inhibit the rust from spreading anymore. I will re rivet the plate to the reservoir and then hook it back online to the bucket. I ran some vinegar through it but I think I need to run more of a 2:1 ratio water to vinegar instead of the minute 20:1 ratio of water to vinegar. I will also turn the heater up as high as it can go and not chill for a day. Then run the chiller for a day with the vinegar water. After that I will inspect for any issues. If it is fine I will run one day fresh water, replace fresh water and run another day. The final 3 days I will run ro/di water and test the TDS daily to see if I have any issues. (Is there another way to test for anything else that will be bad. Like a pool store having oil tests or something I'm missing?). I can see there is some decent amount of nastiness still in the bottom. I would say from years of use without any maintenance whatsoever. That's the reason for the extreme cleaning I plan to do.
If anything I plan to do raises any red flags please let me know.
Thanks for your help.