Massive Water Chiller

[Stewie007]

Good news... Tractor supply has propylene glycol in stock!!! :-)

21 bux a gallon...

[runmc]

Yeah it's time to pull a vacuum on this thing and put some gas in it. We need to find out how it's going to work.

[Buckeye]

Yeah it's time to pull a vacuum on this thing and put some gas in it. We need to find out how it's going to work.

Agreed !!!

[Stewie007]

I'm hoping for a first start-up tomorrow evening... Though, no guarantees hehe...

[iNF3rN0]

I was always told to mount the vibrasorber on the discharge line parralel to the crankshaft to properly isolate from compressor vibrations. When your compressor is running the torque and vibrations will be side to side, which would just push your vibrasorber in the direction it's pointing, the way its mounted currently. Maybe this rotary won't vibrate, I don't know. That's the only thing that stuck out as "wrong" in my eyes. Otherwise, this is the most impressive build I've seen. I'm very inspired by this project and I've already begun designing my own chiller. Great job.

[Stewie007]

I suppose I misunderstood the "perpendicular" to the source of vibration.

I guess I could hard mount the compressor. It isn't necessarily required to spring or rubber mount... I just thought it'd be better for the overall system noise. Something to research this week. I didn't get to do any testing today (obviously), but probably better that I didn't.

[Stewie007]

What do the rest of you guys think???
`

[Buckeye]

Yeah it's time to pull a vacuum on this thing and put some gas in it. We need to find out how it's going to work.

This is what we think

[Stewie007]

True.... hehehehe.... But should I be worrying about my vibration absorber alignment??

[runmc]

I never use them but I always use soft copper and a loop or some other type of flexible bend.
Does the vibration absorber allow for any movement the way it is? It may be fine.
The reason I wanted you to test it out was because you need to make sure it's working close to the way you want it incase you have to do some major change. If that makes sense. It will be easier to change now than when you get stuff built up around it.

[Stewie007]

I agree.

Not going to build anything up. At this point I just need to wire the relays and run the last few pieces of pipe. I got a bit behind Saturday helping my old man with some other things. I did get Propylene Glycol today, though. I need to have a good long period to evacuate the unit. I can get it down to 500 Microns, but never lower because I run up against time. This coming weekend I am getting ready to begin the testing phase. >=^)

[runmc]

Be sure to triple evac. Run it down as far as your pump will take it, break the vacuum back to 1 - 2 lbs pressure with nitrogen and then re-vacuum three times doing the same thing. That does the trick. On the last go round add the refrigerant to break the vacuum and put about 50psi in for start. IMHO of course.

[Stewie007]

Well, to be honest I've probably triple evacuated it three times by now.... LOL...

The past several weeks, I've run the pump while working. When I ran out of supplies and tuition took over... I just ran the pump. Broke with nitrogen several times.. There can't be a drop of moisture left... hehehe

That said, I never did take it down to the sub 200 Micron level... just got it to 475. The pump can go that low, I just never had the time. Hopefully this weekend I do. I'm getting bloody eager to see what it can do.

[Buckeye]

I'm getting bloody eager to see what it can do.

So are we !!

Just messing with ya Stewie

[Stewie007]

That reminds me, I've gotta get some pipe insulation too...

[tool_462]

My lights dimmed a little this morning, thought you might have powered this beast on...

[Stewie007]

If only it were so....

[Stewie007]

Well, So far no run. I ran my pump for quite a long time, but it wasn't able to get where I needed it to get until about 10:30, and had to pack it up at that point. I did manage to finish some important parts. I was going to test it without the cold coil functionality given that I haven't completed the drain pan yet. So, alone it sits, more complete, and charged with nitrogen. The good news? I did get it to 350 Microns and performed the first standing vacuum test. It held at 345/350 for roughly 5 minutes until it rose to 430 Microns by minute 10. So we had a 85/80 rise. More than acceptable.

So what did I do? Well, I wired the A419 switch and tested it for operation. It works as expected. The radiators are properly wired to the power supply. All I have to do is wire that PSU to the main circuit. Finally, next week I will wire the final circuit and hopefully I'll hit <200 Microns and then a'chargin we will go.

Really sorry to disappoint. I was fully anticipating a test this evening. Next weekend will be the charm (I hope). I'll post some pics later. Right now I gotta do some homework.

[Stewie007]

Picture number one is a view of the power supply location. I wanted it to be underneath the stream of air. Moving air will keep it cool. I'll have to put a splash guard behind it, though, given the location of the reservoir.

Second picture is a shot of the protruding valves for the inlets, and the single outlet. It took quite some time getting all of this together, but I am pleased with the results. Underneath, it can be seen as far as how it all laid out. It works quite well.

[runmc]

Have you done a pressure (leak) test on it yet? Put 150 - 200 psi of nitrogen in the system and see if it will hold. You can loose pressure through your hoses, so I try to leave no hoses attached if possible.
If you want to put down more microns and you have no leaks, change your pump oil.

[Stewie007]

Pressure tested a while ago. Tested for differential too. 250psi high side 30 psi low side. Then equalized to 200 psi. No leaks. I even did a standing pressure test at 50 psi for a week. No leaks.

I did neglect to mention that I forgot to change the oil until a bit later in the process....

It pulled from 500 to 350 very quickly after that ... I was just so concentrated on the piping and the wiring that I didnt change it until late hehe... oops..

[Stewie007]

It would not have mattered though. I didn't get the wiring finished on the main circuit. I also had to go to the hardware store twice, which slowed me down.

I suppose I have a tendency to make a lot of mistakes so I am making sure that I take my time to get everything right. That said I got the wiring right. Tested for continuity and all is good. With the way I have it wired I cannot activate any of the circuits until everything is complete and the reservoirs are filled. I used two triple circuit terminal blocks and each circuit has one input and four outputs. In other words a pump is connected to the same circuit as the radiator fans and timing relay. If I were to activate that circuit the pump would run dry since I don't have the reservoirs filled. Not to worry I only have one circuit to wire.

[Stewie007]

Sorry guys, not going to be doing any testing today. Unanticipated plans.

[Stewie007]

Well, I didn't do any testing, but I did give it an initial charge on Sunday morning. System held a Vacuum well with acceptable rise on equalization. I charged it, but unfortunately, I had the wrong solenoid active. I made the switch and we've got equalized pressure of around 64PSI. Overdid it a bit, but that should be fine. I used a leak detector to sniff out any leaks, and found none. The system is leak free.

I won't get to start tuning until next week. Though, I finished the wiring job, and installed the hoses to the radiators. One thing I will do before testing is complete the drain pan for the cold coil and partially insulate after a brief leak check. Shouldn't be an issue.

So, we're 97% there. I like how the orange tubing color matches the radiators so well, too.






Its funky just how bent that tube loops in the middle there... It actually bends only slightly... weird camera positioning there..

[Stewie007]

A bit of a better shot of how I routed the radiator tubing. It would have been too difficult for it to go from one radiator to the other in short runs, so I planed for long runs between radiator assemblies. Well... maybe not a great shot.. you can't really trace it here, but at least you can see the general idea.