HeEEELP! Need chiller parts quick!

[jessezm]

Well, I'm a complete idiot.... I overtightened the line going into my new (used) chiller and cracked the flow-through housing with the coil in it. Now I have an expensive hunk of junk, and I'm so sad I could cry.

It's a CSL 1/3 HP chiller. Does anyone know if the reservoirs are interchanchable with other chillers, and how one would go about fixing it? Would you have to drain the coolent and recharge it when replacing this part? I'm stumped...

 

[jessezm]

Thanks, David! I can't get a pic unfortunately until Saturday, as I'm headed up to Atlanta now for a Two-day meeting.... This couldn't have happened at a worse time!

Ouling mentioned that the coolant may settle down to the expansion chamber since the coil is up above everything, but I can definitely see how there would still be some loss... From what I can tell without taking the cover off, there are two threaded collars/fittings attached to the reservoir, but I do not see any isolation valves...

 

[schwaggs]

Is there any way you can patch the housing? If it is PVC plastic, maybe you could use PVC primer and glue to glue it together? If the threaded part cracked, maybe you could thread a fitting into the chiller with PVC glue on it. A picture would help...

 

[jessezm]

Oh, I used JB-weld liberally to try to patch it up but there was a large chunk that came off the top of the chamber that I couldn't get to seal up again. Maybe I should have used thick PVC glue instead, but I never would have felt confident in the repair since there was such a big hole...

 

[jessezm]

Update:

I think I maybe, possibly, sort-of, might have patched the leak...(knock on wood) Testing so far and no drips... Time will tell. Looks like I had just missed a hair-line crack. I sealed around the whole break with PVC glue.

After talking to the former manufacturer of CSL chillers, I do have a more permanent fix in mind that I think is going to work. I can cut off the broken end of the chamber and replace it with a 3" PVC coupling if I am careful. But that's for another day...

 

[schwaggs]

You could also cut a piece of PVC out of a piece of pipe or a fitting and glue it over the hole. PVC to PVC joints are very strong. Again, this is all easy for me to say... without a picture, it is hard to tell if this would even work...

 

[jessezm]

I see exactly what you're saying--kind of like a saddle valve (is that what they're called? If the curve matched up, it would work well, but there is a flat surface where the fitting goes into the chamber, so I don't think it would work in this case.

Two hours and it's still going strong. Hopefully it will hold as is for now.