CVHF128 Full of water

[drivewizard]

Looking for some ideas, from an enviromental standpoint on what to do.
Chiller is full of water, I mean FULL of water. Clear up to the top of motor.
Purge tripped on "High liquid level", it is so high.

Customer wants to scrap chiller.
Obviously we need to remove and dispose(properly) the refrig and water/oil mixture.
Question is, how do I get this chiller ready for scrapping?
I was thinking of drilling/cutting holes in bottom of barrels, econo, casings, motor, etc,etc.. to remove all water/refrig/oil so it can be disposed of safely, and make the EPA/DEQ/OSHA etc., etc.. happy.

Pulling a vac thru a cold trap is out of the question I think, due to the time involved.

If I pulled a vac thru a cold trap just to get the refrig out, would R-123 boil up thru 8-10" +- of standing water, or would it just lay there.

Maybe I am overly concerned with getting all the refrig out, but not really keen on the liablity of having some dude at the scrap yard kick it due to huffing some R-123.


Anybody else run into this problem, ideas? Thanks.

[rover]

I would assume you valved out the waterside of the chiller and if the disc hasn't gone, drain vessels, try some nitrogen push it into drums.

Get real game and reuse the gas if you not what I mean.

[rover]

I will correct myself, had a few beers, doesnt really matter about the disc

[BKLYNBORN]

I agree with Rover because that is the way i did it,pushing it out with nitrogen into drums and i mean a lot of them.And had a local refrigerant company take it away and they cleaned a few hundred pounds up out of it also make sure you have real good ventalation and lot of fans and a filter mask you will be huffing it.You have mess to clean up good luck

[rover]

I agree with Rover because that is the way i did it,pushing it out with nitrogen into drums and i mean a lot of them.And had a local refrigerant company take it away and they cleaned a few hundred pounds up out of it also make sure you have real good ventalation and lot of fans and a filter mask you will be huffing it.You have mess to clean up good luck

Thanks for the tick of approval, busy in the states

[Chiller Guy]

You might try Hudson or another recovery company that uses big tankers to deinventory the unit. IF the disk went or relief lifted the refrigerant may be a mute point. What was the machine pressure when you found it?

[drivewizard]

Chiller was at approx 7 psi when I found it. Rupture disc had blown.
No oil on roof.
The first thing I did was valve out and isolate both bundles.

Chiller pressure is at 7 psi, now due to the standing water in vent line.
Cond water side is at 0, chilled water side is at approx 8-10# so I am assumming leak was/is on the chilled water side.


We should be able to drain most of the water thru evap charging valve, at least to get below rupture disc level. Then install new disc or blank off to pressurize with nitrogen and get more water out of econo valves


I doubt we will be the ones tearing down to send to scrap yard, so the question still remains. would you worry about the pockets of liquid stuck in the volute casings, econo. etc..?

[Chiller Guy]

Sounds like the only pressure you saw was from the water.
Food for thought - How do you know there are any pockets of refrigerant in the machine? Can you prove or disprove it? Or are you speaking of pockets of water? Do you have access to a portible Refrig monitor while processing this thing?

[drivewizard]

Sounds like the only pressure you saw was from the water.
Food for thought - How do you know there are any pockets of refrigerant in the machine? Can you prove or disprove it? Or are you speaking of pockets of water?

I was assuming that the refrig and water would mix somewhat, although the highest concentration of refrig should be at the bottom since its SG is higher than water.

I know from experience in recovering R-123 from a healthy machine that there are pockets of refrig that have to be boiled off to recover.
Although now they would be mixed with water, and vaporizing to recover is not practical.

[klove]

You need to get a company that specializes in recovery to do this one and get it ready to cut up. R123, when mixed with water in certain amounts and under certain conditions creates R124A (think I got the # right) which is a carcinogen. Time to let someone else share in the profits for the overall good of the team on this one.

[drivewizard]

You need to get a company that specializes in recovery to do this one and get it ready to cut up. R123, when mixed with water in certain amounts and under certain conditions creates R124A (think I got the # right) which is a carcinogen. Time to let someone else share in the profits for the overall good of the team on this one.

I will call our Chemist and ask about that. Good info. Lord knows I don't need any more carcinogens coursing thru my body. Plus, we are right next door to California and pretty much any and everything there is known to cause Cancer.
All kidding aside, thanks for the heads up on that, I will definitely check it out.

[acjourneyman]

Run a hose out to the gulf of Mexico and drain it there, can't be any worse than the damage done already by these incompetent morons running this country.

[klove]

Run a hose out to the gulf of Mexico and drain it there, can't be any worse than the damage done already by these incompetent morons running this country.


Wait just a cotton pickin' minute!!!! :toetap::toetap:

He's gonna have to run that hose right past my house to get there. What if the level goes up in the gulf? Then I could have that crap in my house ('course, it would have to rise several thousand feet to get there). NNaahhh - just keep that stuff in Oregon (I've already had a few just like it down here). We got enough mess of our own - don't need anymore. We're runnin' out of garbage bags.......

[M100 Tech]

Lots of copper in that there chiller. Don't give it away!