Turbocor Problems

[turbo geek]

OK, I have retrofitted many dozens of these compressors. I have changed and or field repaired at least 60% of them. I have done startup on some 175ton Turbocor factory mounted chillers. Some of these even failed. I believe in these machines and think they will be bug free someday, but I think they have much to improve on. They've improved a great deal in the past year. Has anyone else seen problems with these on the same scale as I? Please explain if you can.

[Randy S.]

I see more of these coming my way. Went to the McQuay WMC school in August.

[turbo geek]

They factory mounted ones were not on McQuay. One of them failed 1.5hrs after startup on chiller control(the turbocors internal control). Was running perfect and out of the blue KU-BOOM! I've only had 2 KU-BOOM on me. THe others had many different electronic failures. Condensation probrem seems to out number all other problems. I might add that most of them were installed in air cooled chillers. They were under a lot of stress.

[chiller32]

Originally posted by J3hall
these factory mounted ones are they on McQuay machines or other manufactures

more then likely there on multistacks and other units , since they had a hard time on the controls

McQuay on the other hand spent millions and years developing the controls for the chiller and compressor of these units.

Again you have to remebmer this is a compressor , and nothing else other then that, becasue there will be faluires , even the McQuay ones have faliures, we have had two out of the 30+ that we have installed and sold so that avarage isnt bad.


But if your replacing that many why ***** about its just more money and work for you :)

Just for your future sales information the turbocor compressor is more then "just a compressor" Turborcor compressor contains the Drive unit and a full control module that doesn't need the McQuay or anybody else's controls to operate. The compressor can control a chiller on its own.
The McQuay controls are just a fancy Operator interface, and incase of a failure with the right EXV board and some wiring
changes ( EXV, flows switches, stop/start ) the turbocor could be configured ( internal software )to operate without the MicroTech 2 control panel. only problem is you might void the warranty from McQuay.

[jd 07]

In my experience the failure rate is around 80% with several going Kaboom! not one was due to the controls that were controlling the chiller. Most were caused but the electronics on the compressor as well as the igv falling apart. I have worked on at least 100 of them from several diferent mfg's . I hope they can fix all the problems because when they run they run great.

[turbo geek]

OK, Its not just bad luck on my part. Others are having the same probs. When talking to Turbocor they will not admit to anything. They say "its the 1st time" or they want to point the finger and send some of there support people to check your work. After they've been there to evaluate they assure us it will not happen again and send a replacement.

We were told by Turbocor that the 134a tt-300 will be just fine on air cooled retro. Said they had many in Austrialla working flawlessly. They help engineer the retrofit.


I have replaced just about every component on these. Invertor( which is a mofo), capacitors, dc-dc converters, soft starts, serial drivers, BMCC's, PWMs, feedthroughs, and backplanes.



I just wanted to know the truth about these. I am tierd of the bull****!! Now I know!!

[Edited by turbo geek on 10-22-2006 at 11:55 PM]

[blue_r1]

mcquay spent several million dollars on research on these compressors and controls? why can't they spend a few extra dollars on the interior of their equipment so it does not look like bubba with a welder, some galvenized 1/8" steel and threaded rod built in his shed.

i went to their chiller class about 6 years back which included a tour of the "factory" everyone there looked like they were miserable and where hating life. quality control was lacking big time

[glgto]

I heard the turbo cors are very sensitive to vibration and must be isolated. this makes cents due to the electronics in them. We haven't used one yet but I'm dying to. with all of the energy concern going around I belive this technology is here to stay we cant wait on a power grid that has had no improvements in 30 yrs to get upgraded and no one wants a tower or power plant in their backyard so get ready here we go.

[supertek65]

I am sure if FAGAN installed 30 of them, not one would fail!

[rebchill]

We have had several sensors leaking and control board failures in the last year....
Is this common?

[turbo geek]

Not had any leaks. Control boards yes. Version G7 has beafed up electronics.

[PaulFaust]

We have designed an installation using the MultiStack.
Any special thoughts other than prayer?
Paul

[absrbrtek]

The thread you drummed up is like 14 months old. Any type of Multi Crap needs a prayer, turbo core or recip.
We have designed an installation using the MultiStack.
Any special thoughts other than prayer?
Paul

[chiller32]

The thread you drummed up is like 14 months old. Any type of Multi Crap needs a prayer, turbo core or recip.

Yea what he said LOL

[feelthejoe]

our company just installed a new Turbocor chiller at a contract and i believe it is the biggest piece of **** out there. it came with no holding charge and we have found over 15 leaks on it. we also have another contract with retrofits and have constant compressor problems and they are installed correctly and evacuated properly before installation.

[supertek65]

I have never put one in.
I have talked to some guys in kc and they swear that they have done a couple dozen retrofits and never had a problem!

I have talked with one customer that has two and is buying two more.

[acjourneyman]

100% agree with Abs and Chiller32.

[cool_tech]

:)hello,
have not had a lot to do with theese turbo cores but a few mates have worked on them they were saying the early models had some bugs in them but the new models especially the water cooled models are pretty good now.
its a shame the australian goverment didnt back the original designers.
.

[Ausccn]

A 23XRV will wip its arse and it's been tryed and testered, I have never seen a chiller of any kind that will unload to meet the output of the cooling tower and not drop out on high HP.

Why didn't the big name players take up the Turbocor compressor. There must be method in their madness!!!!!!

[HVAC Teacher]

The turbocore has a noise dampening & condensate prevention kit available. I did 3 this summer.

[chiller32]

A 23XRV will wip its arse and it's been tryed and testered, I have never seen a chiller of any kind that will unload to meet the output of the cooling tower and not drop out on high HP.

Why didn't the big name players take up the Turbocor compressor. There must be method in their madness!!!!!!

I think the heat down under is getting to you.

[supertek65]

what is an arse?

[Ausccn]

Sorry...fanny to you guys....

[excel]

We have just installed a SMARDT chiller with dual turbocor compressors. The contol logic for the chiller is Kilteck. Our chiller is water cooled. It has been running for about 6 months with not one problem. Hope to continue with the good luck. I believe turbocor is the future of our industry. The DB (noise rating) in our machine room is unbelievablely quiet compared to our old york centrifugal chiller. I hope these gain popularity in our trade. We installed a honeywell Volcum refigerant monitor next to the new chiller to sense leaks if or when they occur. Since no oil is in the system it will be a little harder to leak check. Like any new technology bugs will have to be worked out and improvements will be made. I will post pictures of our install next week. Thanks Nathan, Sacramento California

[lubbie1]

Yes, Turborcors do have a few issues, but the company I work for has put in more Turborcors than any company in the country. Most problems are caused due to the Kiltech control not being set-up properly. We have since converted to the new Flexsys panels and have much better control over the overall system.

[Galen Manapat]

our company just installed a new Turbocor chiller at a contract and i believe it is the biggest piece of **** out there. it came with no holding charge and we have found over 15 leaks on it. we also have another contract with retrofits and have constant compressor problems and they are installed correctly and evacuated properly before installation.

I spent two months evaluating three or four competing brands sold in SC. I, along with other managers at our facility visited 4 -5 sites sites looking at different "brands": I also saw a multistack turbocore and smardt turbocore at different locations in Charlotte, NC, and talked to an hvac supervisor in charge at The Florence detention center using 1 1/2 year old turbocore.

Most had NO serious problems. At one site problems were fixed with software upgrades. Another site had "dirty" water towers and had industrial grade water prefilters added after the installation. One had to tighten a pressure gauge fitting to stop a leak.

Another had a welder fasten a ground rod in the wrong place and take out the electronics.

Our group saw nothing that scared us about the turbocores. The Austrailians are using them. They are being installed across the country. One of the ones in Charlotte was manufactured in Montreal Canada.

We will install 750 tons of cooling at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine starting this winter after the dust settles from the bidding, and the winner is announced. We will be using factory authorized installers.