Centrifugal Chiller Rebuild

[Tech Rob]

Re-gasketing a 1984 Trane CVHE032 with the original UCP1 controls. We're doing an economizer flange upgrade on this thing, too. As you can see from the 1st and 3rd pictures, there's not much room to work in this place, and the whole ceiling is covered in that awful spray-on fireproofing material. I'll post more pictures as the job progresses.

[y7turbo]

Cool pictures, thanks for sharing..

[Nuclrchiller]

I thought it was still Classic Black panel in 1984. Like on the chiller next to it in the last pic. Anyhoo, thanks for sharing.

[Tech Rob]

Cool pictures, thanks for sharing..

I thought it was still Classic Black panel in 1984. Like on the chiller next to it in the last pic. Anyhoo, thanks for sharing.

1984 was still the classic black panel, which I refer to as UCP1. A lot of people call the one that came after it UCP1, though.

[Tech Rob]

This one had the motor replaced recently.

[meplumber]

Great Pics. Don't you love how they never give you enough room to work in the chiller house and boiler rooms. Darn Architects always shave space in the mechanical spaces.

Good work.

[Tech Rob]

What's really sad is that they had no good reason to here. These chillers are up in a penthouse on the roof. The building is 12 stories tall. Another 6 inches would not have killed them. C'est la vie. Having to transfer each piece twice just to get them off of the chiller makes for an interesting job.

I wasn't in on the motor replacement job, but those guys did a pretty good job with it, considering the inherent difficulty of the site.

[Chiller works]

Looks like a good job. Did the motor burned up or is just inboard bearing replacement?

[Tech Rob]

The one that I'm working on right now had leaks all over the place. Got in there and found the journal bearing oil seal needed to be replaced anyway.

The chiller in the 2nd set of pictures had a burnt motor.

[Tech Rob]

Update: My camera phone broke, so no more pictures

Got everything put back together now. Did an air-run on the machine with the suction elbow off. Final leak test, then I put the machine on a vacuum and pulled it down to 300 microns in a matter of a few hours. Turned off the pump, going back tomorrow to check if the vacuum rises. If not, I'll start charging 550 lbs. of R-11 and repair the insulation I had to take off. Almost there!

[Chiller works]

Good deal!

[chiller-thriller]

Cool pix. How did the flange change out go? Gotta love tight spaces.

[Tech Rob]

Went very nicely. Drop the economizer, measure and cut the old flanges off, bevel the pipes, tack the new ones on, put the econo back up with the old gaskets to check the fit, then take it back down and do all the welding. The new evap flanges welds right on top of the existing flange. The new flanges are much thicker and have a pipe extension to keep the heat of the weld away from the flange. The gasket is like a paper gasket with a bead of silicone around it, the bolts are bigger and there are more of them. Both of the flanges are tapped now, so there are no more nuts and lock-washers. Looks like this is the ultimate fix for this problem.