Help! Chiller woes... JBJ 1/4hp

[ToXIc]

Ok R2R i need help, i have a JBJ 1/4 chiller DBE-200 rated 260g and i have a 120g (probably 90-100g actual water vol.)

but since friday its not cooling.. it will shut off if the pump is off. i've back flushed it; unplugged the control panel then recalabrated it per jbj but its still not cooling..

the only thing changed on friday is that i added a biopellet reactor and the pump for it isnt new so i know its not the little pump heating the water..

any ideas? i'm gonna call back jbj when they open but was wondering if you had any ideas..

below is what came out from the back flush

 

[Tab28]

Did you check your R123? That is the freon like stuff. How old if the chiller? Also they are only rated for so many degrees below ambient. How cool is the room it is in and what tep is tank and what is the chiller set at? A pre filter before the chiller would help with the coral fragments.

Not that it matters but you have a 1/4 hp and is rated for 260 gallons. That is a good chiller I have a 1/4 hp but is only rated at 150 gallons.

 

[ToXIc]

right now i have the returns to the display turned off so the chiller can just cool the sump down while there is no heat source in the display and its taken well over 45mins to drop .7 degrees..

 

[ToXIc]

Did you check your R123? That is the freon like stuff. How old if the chiller? Also they are only rated for so many degrees below ambient. How cool is the room it is in and what tep is tank and what is the chiller set at? A pre filter before the chiller would help with the coral fragments.

Not that it matters but you have a 1/4 hp and is rated for 260 gallons. That is a good chiller I have a 1/4 hp but is only rated at 150 gallons.

how can i check the freon? i dont think it has any connections.. room temp swings from 80-82.. chiller currently set for 78, chiller is about 2 1/2 years old..

 

[ToXIc]

http://www.aquacave.com/Manuals/JBJ_Arctica_Chillers_Manual.pdf

i looked at the exploded diag. on page 12 and dont see and connections to check the level..

 

[Tab28]

The temp in the room and the chiller seem OK. Mine if maybe 4 years old and have the temp stats as yours. Mine is rated at 10 degrees below room. Maybe some chiller can't be filled. I though all could be. If you look inside the front of it your should see screw off caps. Like a tire stem valve, but bigger. There could be 2 of them. But if you are unsure some auto shops will check and refill. But at only 2.5 years if it is low there maybe a leak, if that is what is wrong. Is your chiller air filter really dirty?

 

[Tab28]

Was the biopellet reactor before the chiller? Was the water flow into the chiller hampered/slowed. Chillers have a min/max flow if you drop it too low it will freeze the system. Like a A/C unit not being able to bring in air.

 

[ToXIc]

The temp in the room and the chiller seem OK. Mine if maybe 4 years old and have the temp stats as yours. Mine is rated at 10 degrees below room. Maybe some chiller can't be filled. I though all could be. If you look inside the front of it your should see screw off caps. Like a tire stem valve, but bigger. There could be 2 of them. But if you are unsure some auto shops will check and refill. But at only 2.5 years if it is low there maybe a leak, if that is what is wrong. Is your chiller air filter really dirty?

i know what the valves look like i did car HVAC for a summer when i was a younger.. no filter just a fin guard.. i took my compressor and totally blew out the chiller before back flushing it..

Was the biopellet reactor before the chiller? Was the water flow into the chiller hampered/slowed. Chillers have a min/max flow if you drop it too low it will freeze the system. Like a A/C unit not being able to bring in air.

the chiller has been running for about 4 months.. installed the reactor on friday.. the flow rating of this chiller is 480-1920 and i have a Mag 9.5 feeding it..

 

[poolkeeper1]

Sounds like a circuit board issue, If these start failing just what is happening goes on in my experiance with Chillers. They tend to fail to keep the desired Temp when set. JMO
Bill

 

[Tab28]

i know what the valves look like i did car HVAC for a summer when i was a younger.. no filter just a fin guard.. i took my compressor and totally blew out the chiller before back flushing it..

I did not mean to affend. I had no idea of your experience level. I just answer as if most are like myself and have little or no experience, so I appoligize. My LFS will no longer carry JBJ's chiller because of issues of failing. So it may be a bad chiller issue which sucks since it is hot outside and chillers are expensive.

 

[ToXIc]

oh.. i didnt get offended.. i just stated that to let you know i know how hvac systems work..

i hope nothing too expensive is wrong with it..

 

[cparka23]

Many years ago, I had a ViaAqua 1/4 HP chiller that did not have a recharge port in it, so I wouldn't be surprised if your chiller doesn't have one either. Just seems extremely wasteful not to have one, though.

 

[ToXIc]

ok so i went home during lunch and removed the chiller cord from the mass of stuff and plugged it into the room adjacent so it would have more power. doing so dropped the temp by 1 degree but its not going below 82.9

 

[pickupman66]

kevan, put your hand on the condenser fins (the ones on the outside of the unit) when it is running. if it is warm to the touch, you have freon in it. (this is it taking warmth out of the water) If it is the same temp as the room, I would then assume that the trash you blew out had worn a hole in the evaporator coil and all the refrigerant has leaked out. if this is the case, they are titanium coils and dont repair well. only way to fix is to break apart the water jacket and then to weld or reseal the coil which is mildly successful.

Does the chiller continue to run constantly without cooling the water? If so, and the condenser coil is not hot, you have low or no refrigerant. if coil is not, turn down water volume a little.

if the chiller cuts on and off more than it should, you have a circuit board issue. try putting it at a much lower temp setting and then see if that will make it run. also, check to see that the condenser fan is moving plenty of air. if that fan stops, you can blow out the evaporator coil due to teh excess buildup of pressure.

I had one do that on me. its still in the garage with a hole in the evap coil. I tried to use that freon fix they use in vehicle HVAC, and ended up plugging up the orifices.

fwiw, I have a 1/4 hp unit on my tank that sits in the garage. it will pull the tank down 1 degree in about an hour or two. it is undersized for my tank but oh well. its all I gots.

 

[ToXIc]

k.. ill check it.. thanks..

it doesn't flip on/off, its stays running...
with stationay water in it; it cools it down then shuts off...


jbj stated they have a flat $40 labor fee and then i'll have to pay for parts..

 

[pickupman66]

you can also remove the fittings and then put your finder in the cooling chamber and touch that coil it shoud get cold really quickly with no water moving in it.


BUT!!!

dont run it long without water movement thru that chamber. you can freeze it up.

 

[ToXIc]

Yeah looks like a leak. The front fins are cold.
Looks
Like I'll have to send it to them.


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[pickupman66]

that sucks bro.. been there, done that... fyi, if the refrigerant leak occured in the evaporator coil, you most likely will have compressor oil in the water. dose up on the carbon for a while.

 

[ToXIc]

that sucks bro.. been there, done that... fyi, if the refrigerant leak occured in the evaporator coil, you most likely will have compressor oil in the water. dose up on the carbon for a while.

Good point but don't have any film on top of the water.


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[pickupman66]

I would do just in case. when mine went down, I basically had all my rock in the sump with no tank attached. there was a nasty film on the surface.