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Got ok to pull and re-gasket. Been busy so have not had time to update.

Great info I work on plenty of low pressure York YT's and now if we ever have a mystery leak I know right where I am going to check.

Good info!

have not tried ivory but have tried joy soap in a sprayer and have 50/50 results might try the ivory. i do use big blu and have good results but sometimes have to go back several times to get results. i dont trust electronic detectors 100% considering where i work. have " halocarbons around at various times." i have to consider that. i trust a soap in most occasions. all this is on external leaks.i like the garlok gaskets the best and was told to soak overnight in refrige oil to get better seal. if dont have time i use nylog brand, lube, sealant and assembly lube and have great results except on sst. then i use teflon paste and have found if one uses permatex surface prep with teflon paste, it works great.i dont like teflon tape as for me it permeates oil.on the nylog one has to get the correct type for type of freons. when i say halocarbons around , i work in a plant that has many types.

Our customers are pretty spread out over 4 states, I was never close to a supply house, I would get ivory soap and a pump up sprayer mix 50/50 and just hose everything down. Ivory soap doesn't have any glycerin in it to fool leak detector. It doesn't bubble up but just grows a beard. 409 also works good on small leaks.
If the leak is the suction ell, we have had to take to machine shop and true up gasket surfaces and use thicker Garlock gaskets to make up. If cooler flange is pitted also, we have had good results by filling in with an epoxy and buffing it smooth. The cork gaskets seem to lose the elastomer if constant contact with liquid 123. Make sure you are not pulling over liquid into wheel. Just my 2 cents.

I once found a leak using Big Blue. While looking for bubbles on the ruture disc assembly, I bent over to look at the back side of it. I felt nitrogen blowing against my cheek, but no bubbles. I figure the leak was so big that the nitrogen was blowing right thru the soap without making a single bubble. I found that the ring of the disc had cracked from the ID to the OD. Just pointing out a limitation of soap on a high volume leak.

My electronic goes off on small setting around suction elbow bottom flange. No bubbles though with snoop or big blue. I have tried the duct tape around flanges before with mixed results. It's not my call whether to pull and regasket. I let my office know findings and then mounted our purifier purge before I left job.

My guess is they will just say get air out and then run unit. Perhaps have customer rotate chillers more often.

good tip

Originally Posted by r404a

knew york, does tapeing the elbow help in locating a leak?

I would always tape the flanges on discharge and suction elbows and poke a tiny hole in the tape and check it with an electronic leak detector. One of the problems is that the gaskets are cork and tend to soak up oil laden with refrigerant. Sometimes a "false positive" can be generated from a cork gasket. When taped, sometimes the small hole poked will even show a bubble when soaped.

knew york, does tapeing the elbow help in locating a leak?

Originally Posted by caddy

Machine not running.

If you have an electric oil pump, attach it to the leaving side of the 1/2" dryer on the purge (after closing all the valves associated with the purge). Start your pump and it should suck out most of the oil.

Solution to problem: disconnect chilled water and condenser piping, remove incoming power, slide old YT out of room, slide into place a new maglev chiller. No oil, no purge, no ear plugs, low energy consumption, no vibration, happy customer! LOL!I've have had shaft seals that didn't leak much oil but when down for rotation they would go flat. Pulling shaft seal would show oil had "cooked" around seal. Seal pressure regulator at fault each time, either set wrong or trash getting into regulator. If Low speed thrust goes to max limit of spec seal face contact will allow leak after drying out. YKs have software that turns oil pump on every 24 hrs to keep leakage down. More art than science! Keep looking and good luck!

Originally Posted by KnewYork

if the machine is running, pull wire #61 off the terminal strip. That deenergizes the oil solenoid and the oil returns to the sump. Run for 5-7 minutes and all the oil should be out of the purge and in the oil sump.

Machine not running.

Originally Posted by caddy

Any tips for removing oil from purge with minimizing mess?

if the machine is running, pull wire #61 off the terminal strip. That deenergizes the oil solenoid and the oil returns to the sump. Run for 5-7 minutes and all the oil should be out of the purge and in the oil sump.

We have a couple of 500 ton YT with hard to find leaks. I started to leak check one today but no luck picking up a trace with my electronic. I brought up system up to 7psig. I will try tomorrow to check areas suggested in thread. Customer noted that units run fine until off for about 3wks. After extended shutdown then units have excessive air.

Question? Any tips for removing oil from purge with minimizing mess? Any other suggestions/tips? The thing I don't like about these chillers is not being able to remove excessive air with OEM purge. I will pick up our purifier purge from shop to do that job.

Update = I extensively leak checked the machine once more and again found nothing. Just before I started attaching the explosive charges to the machine I remembered what jayguy posted about purge leaks being hard to find due to the oil , so I shut the machine down after the purge went through its drain cycle , took the oil out of the machine , and made sure all oil lines were drained. I pressurized it and started leak checking again and about 5 minutes in I.................yes I did , I found the leak. So you ask where was it (DRUMROLE PLEASE)... on a flare fitting on one of the purge solenoids. It was a substantial leak = leak detector screamed on the large setting and bubbles galore. You know the crazy thing is Ive checked that particular fitting both electronically and with soap probably 15 times , never picked up a trace , not a single bubble , and not a drop of oil on or under the fitting. I am relieved. Thanks to all that posted.

If it has the original purge, check the purge exhaust check valve when it is in a vacuum. The solenoid valve will prevent leakage when under pressure, thus no leak to detect. Bad check valve will let air leak in after machine shut down when it's in a vacuum.
Just stick your gauges on check valve flare after shut down and watch for vac.
Or just put a spit gob on it! It will show quick. Or take it off and test under pressure, should have no leakage.

Greg

I agree the chiller should be checked every day by the operator. The prevac allows the unit to be serviced or leak chekced easily after being installed. For hard to find or small leak in the chiller it can save on the repair until it becomes worse. We have several of the units in service and have good luck with them. I would not use the blankets either. You can also put them on a two whell dolly and use them at multiple locations.

PreVac? Hmmm, I might would consider the version with the water heater and recirc pump, but I wouldn't want those blanket heaters on my chiller. But I would worry that the PreVac would "hide" any leaks, especially high side leaks, while the chiller is off. A good operator will inspect and log a chiller at least once a day (shutdown or running), and will verify that a shutdown chiller is at the pressure that it should be, for the temperature that it's at. To determine if it has air, if it's a low pressure machine. The ability to leak check and service is nice, though.

We have had the oil cooler lines leak on use as well. To prevent the unit from taking on air while not in use you may want to install a prevac system. It will keep the air out, allow to leak chek, and service it without pulling the charge.