Chiller Questions

[samksy]

What do you check when getting a used chiller from another person? Can you really check if it's working if you don't hook it up, what do i need to know? In general are chiller made to last?

I am getting a use custom sealife chiller, anyone have any comments on this chiller brand, i think they are out of business now. Thanks in advance

 

[samksy]

anyone:question:
I really need some suggestion on it. :thanks:

 

[jhale]

sam,

I don't know of any way of checking a chiller by not running it, I think your never supposed to run it without water actually. If you feel worried I would ask the person selling it for a chance to test it out. either have an agreement to be able to return it or arrange for half payment up front or something like like.

 

[Barnacle_Blenny]

considering compressor's have about a 30 year life span you shouldn't have much to worry about. You may have to recharge the compressor if its over 10 years old. Best way to think of it is think of your fridge at home. You can turn it on without water in it for a minute to check if the compressor works but you have no way of testing its effeciency at cooling. As stated before if it doesn't cool like it's supposed to just recharge it at a appliance repair shop. Tell them you need to refill a fridge compressor shouldn't be more then 50-70 dollars.

 

[ShaunW]

Like any air conditioner, a used chiller will lose its ability to function in an efficient manner over time. So I would pay attention to its age and if it was overdriven on a tank bigger than it should have been, i.e. overworked.

 

[samksy]

considering compressor's have about a 30 year life span you shouldn't have much to worry about. You may have to recharge the compressor if its over 10 years old. Best way to think of it is think of your fridge at home. You can turn it on without water in it for a minute to check if the compressor works but you have no way of testing its effeciency at cooling. As stated before if it doesn't cool like it's supposed to just recharge it at a appliance repair shop. Tell them you need to refill a fridge compressor shouldn't be more then 50-70 dollars.

Barnacle, if you plug in the chiller, how do you know if the compressor is working or not? What's the sign?

 

[samksy]

Thanks for all the great input guys. I guess i'll have to have the guy plumb it if possible. What's the risk of just taking the chiller home untested ? And if it's all paid for I doubted there's a possible refund...
The guy is not from manhattanreefs.com so there's no gurantee.

Anymore inputs? Thanks

 

[pecan2phat]

Well Samsky,
Based on your question, here's an experience that I had last year: Guy by the handle of AlexR was selling a 6 month old PCI 1/10 chiller for $225. I offerred him $200 and picked it up in Manhattan. Plumbed it a week later and the unit was not cooling down. I emailed & PM'd him like 10 times and he said he would call Pacific Coast since he got this directly from them as a replacement unit. 3 weeks later after another 10 emails and PMs, he said he had an emergency and was out of the country and that he would take care of the problem when he got back.
Never heard from him again and he doesn't post on here or RC anymore.

I wouldn't buy a used chiller again unless I was able to see it actually work and bring down a tank temp in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[samksy]

Well Samsky,
Based on your question, here's an experience that I had last year: Guy by the handle of AlexR was selling a 6 month old PCI 1/10 chiller for $225. I offerred him $200 and picked it up in Manhattan. Plumbed it a week later and the unit was not cooling down. I emailed & PM'd him like 10 times and he said he would call Pacific Coast since he got this directly from them as a replacement unit. 3 weeks later after another 10 emails and PMs, he said he had an emergency and was out of the country and that he would take care of the problem when he got back.
Never heard from him again and he doesn't post on here or RC anymore.

I wouldn't buy a used chiller again unless I was able to see it actually work and bring down a tank temp in a reasonable amount of time.

That's a horrible experience, you are scaring me off. Aww, i guess i'll go over and check it out and decide if i want it. Thanks for your input. I appreciated.

Where's that chiller now? Did you have it fix?

 

[FRY]

pecan do you still have the chiller and is it fix

frank

 

[pecan2phat]

I talked to Pacific Coast about it for weeks and basically if you do not have a sales receipt, they will not honor the warranty. I used it as a giant door stop for a few months and was getting ready to chuck it when I found out that one of the guys that works in my office, has an uncle that is in the refrigeration repair business. He offered to take it into the shop to look/see.
They were trouble shooting it with the techs at Pacific Coast over the phone cause he thought that I needed a new internal controller but PCI didn't think so. Eventually, they found a leak somewhere and it's on the backburner until they have more time to work on it.

 

[cali_reef]

Samsky,

You don't need to plumb it to check it; it is hard to check the performance if it is plumbed in a tank.

Bring an electronic thermostat, (you should get one for your tank if you don?t own one, radio shack have one for indoor\outdoor temps with the outdoor sensor at the end of a long wire). Fill the cooling chamber with warm water and stick the temp sensor in it before you plug the chiller in. You should see a quick temperature drop once you plug the chiller in, make sure the chiller is able to cool the water down to at least 60?F in not more then few minuets and don?t let the temp go below 40?F, freezing the cooling coil is not cool and the PVC\plastic cooling chamber may crack. I am guessing the time required to drop the temp since I don?t know the specifics of the chiller. You can also check the controller if it comes with a external sensor element, just stick the sensor in the cooling chamber and play around with the temp setting to cycle it on and off.

I have never seen a 30 year old freon compressor, in any application. I just looked at some 20,000 BTU titanium cooling coil proto type chillers made for the Airbus?s A350 electronic bay today, very nice units. I just need to make up a reason for them to send me one for my system at home. The expected life on the compressor is about 50,000 hours and the cost is in the 6 digits. Aquarium chillers usually rust out in less than 10 years due to the proximity of salt water and the humid climate they operate in. I have two 1/3 hp units that are less then 5 years old, the housing and the base is rusting.

 

[samksy]

Pierce,

I brought home the chiller already, before reading your post. I took a bet and got lucky, the chiller is working perfectly fine. It came with a temperature controller and i did what you said. Filled the chiller water tank with water, turned on the chiller, dropped the temperature sensor into the chiller water tank. The Water temperature didn't really go down too much after 20 minute, but when i empty out the water into a bucket, the water was ice cold, and i dropped the temperature sensor in the bucket, the temp drop another 8 degree, so i guess that's fine. The unit looks very new, no rust at all and the compressor is working, so i guess i have nothing to worry about. Thanks for the advice.

 

[DEEPWATER]

Well Samsky,
Based on your question, here's an experience that I had last year: Guy by the handle of AlexR was selling a 6 month old PCI 1/10 chiller for $225. I offerred him $200 and picked it up in Manhattan. Plumbed it a week later and the unit was not cooling down. I emailed & PM'd him like 10 times and he said he would call Pacific Coast since he got this directly from them as a replacement unit. 3 weeks later after another 10 emails and PMs, he said he had an emergency and was out of the country and that he would take care of the problem when he got back.
Never heard from him again and he doesn't post on here or RC anymore.

I wouldn't buy a used chiller again unless I was able to see it actually work and bring down a tank temp in a reasonable amount of time.

srry about that ,,but there is a good way to deal with that ,,,small claims court ,,it cost 15 bux ,and a days time ,but it works ,most of the time you settle out of court ,for 200 bux the guy would have to go to court 4 times ,lose work ,and get mad ,,,but works ,i did it to some ppl ,,they thought it was a joke ,but not only did i get my money back ,but eveythiing stayed in my house ,
i bought a use chiller from ebay ,the guy was located in brklyn ,i saw the item ,looked new ,paid 300 for a custom sealife 1/4 chiller ,and controller ,
its a chance to take ,but most of thetime ,bring a pump ,a bucket ,a hose ,and start that baby up ,,use warm water to have it cool it down ,,simple

 

[samksy]

srry about that ,,but there is a good way to deal with that ,,,small claims court ,,it cost 15 bux ,and a days time ,but it works ,most of the time you settle out of court ,for 200 bux the guy would have to go to court 4 times ,lose work ,and get mad ,,,but works ,i did it to some ppl ,,they thought it was a joke ,but not only did i get my money back ,but eveythiing stayed in my house ,
i bought a use chiller from ebay ,the guy was located in brklyn ,i saw the item ,looked new ,paid 300 for a custom sealife 1/4 chiller ,and controller ,
its a chance to take ,but most of thetime ,bring a pump ,a bucket ,a hose ,and start that baby up ,,use warm water to have it cool it down ,,simple

Ronen

I hope i don't have to go through something like that. But just wondering,what's wrong with the chiller you brought. I just brought a custom sealife 1/4 chiller with controller. Seems to cool down the temp very well, but have to put it into the system to see it actually working.