Two ways to make your chiller run more efficiently

We see a lot of different machines being used as chillers in the field.

Some of them good, most of them not. But across all of them, we see that there are usually ways to make them run more efficiently.

Whether that's being able to squeeze an extra degree of cold out of the same unit, or keep the same temp but use less power.

1 - Placement

We've seen the little domestic units in recovery spaces sitting right next to the tubs.

Whilst I would never advocate for using one of these in a commercial setting, especially relying on the little filter attached, sometimes there can be genuine reasons that people can't upgrade.

But the mistake I see with them - where they are ventilated.

They're placed right next to the ice bath, in a corner, or even worse, they have a decorative box/cover over them.

The heat isn't able to escape from the fans, and if it is, it's blown directly into the tubs that you're trying to cool.

Always have the chiller in a space where it can breathe; outside is best.

2 - Servicing

This is the thing that people skip over.

We've had one chiller breakdown in the last 18 months.

We got a panicked call in the middle of summer, it had just stopped working.

We asked what had happened, they said it had been clunking for over a month.

We asked when they'd last serviced it - they hadn't in years.

We had someone out there right away and it was an easy fix, but the only reason it happened is that they hadn't serviced it.

It was overheating because the coils were blocked, and the clunking was the overheating sensor doing its job.

We reminded them that they had their scheduled services, but also to call us in future if there were any weird sounds.

Chillers run around the clock and they move a lot of air through them.

Ours for example move between 40 and 100 million cubic metres of air through them per year.

They have to in order to chill the pools reliably.

Obviously with this amount of air, they pick up dust and things can get a little blocked up.

Scheduled servicing cleans this out, keeps them running efficiently and can find any potential issues before they become an issue.

Takeaways

Chiller placement

• Is it blocked or boxed in at all?
• Can it cycle air out of the fans clearly?

Servicing

Call your manufacturer and ask who they recommend for servicing of the unit. It might cost you a couple of hundred dollars, but you would see that return in your electricity bills over the next 6 months