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  • has your glycol chiller ever...

    forced you to sleep in the brewery in the interest of saving whole batches of beer?

    Both recirc and process pumps overheated and failed over the night and I have been dealing with it all day. Just trying to save beer in the first days of fermentation.

    But has anyone else seen both go in the same incident? I have to admit, my experience with glycol issues is limited, but is becoming less limited every day.

  • #2
    Sounds like you may have had issue with your power supply that took the pumps out. Did your pumps trip their OL Relays, did the motors fail?

    Hope you were able to get the system up and going. Good Luck.

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    • #3
      power supply

      That's something I should look into. I'll ask my refrigeration guy about that tomorrow. Of course this happens on a Saturday when we won't be able to get the pumps anywhere. And yes, it was the motors. One did trip it's OL relay, the other did not and smoked to high heaven. The process pump worked as soon as I reset the relay, but then burned out as soon as the recirc pump was re-installed.

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      • #4
        I, too suspect a low voltage issue causing your problems. Are there other industrial businesses on the same source as you, and are they having similar issues? This might be something to bring up with your electrical utility provider.

        Just random thoughts......

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        • #5
          Sounds like your motors were not protected properly. Normally shouldn't happen. Pay special attention to your motor protection circuitry and try to keep spare motor(s) on hand. I'm forced to do this because of my remote location, but consider it good practice in general. If you have the option to select similar pumps and motors, it makes this easier. Sometimes even significantly different flow rates can be achieved with the same motor/pump set if you trim the impeller to the right diameters. We use same basic motor/pump for glycol recirculation, CIP, and HLP. Good luck & hope you can get this working soon.
          Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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          • #6
            Replace motor starters

            It is good practice to replace the motor starters on your pumps and compressors, as mentioned this is the main protection and the contacts and overload protection will diminish over time. Another good practice is go through and check your that wire terminals are tight, loose connections cause heat that will likely lead to equipment failure down the road.

            If you are in an area or region with unstable power, power monitoring units can also be added to most systems that will shut the system down in the event of a loss of ampower supply issue (loss of phase, under-over voltage, etc). Your service contractor should be able to provide this device.

            Good luck

            Jim
            Pro Refrigeration Inc.

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            • #7
              Bad disconnect

              Thanks for all of the comments. Turns out it was a bad disconnect that lost a phase overnight. Lucky we didn't lose the compressor as well.

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              • #8
                Phase monitor

                We used to have all sorts of problems with our chiller; blown fuses, burned out compressors, fried motor starters, dead pump motors etc. I had to climb onto the roof a few times a week in all kinds of weather. A couple of years ago a refrigeration tech installed a phase monitor and the problems disappeared. It shuts the unit down for a set amount of time when any kind of power irregularity occurs. If we'd installed the unit (which cost about $300 including installation labor) a few years earlier we might have saved thousands of dollars and a substantial amount of lost production time.

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                • #9
                  I would to also recommend a Linebaker 8002.
                  It will only run the unit when proper voltage is there.
                  Let me know if you have problems getting one.
                  Cheers Sandy
                  J.C. Younger Company
                  5626 WEST LAKE STREET
                  MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55416
                  (952) 929-1838

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                  • #10
                    One more thing while we're on electrical protection for chillers.... Upon a return to power after an interruption, a time delay relay is very helpful to bring up your high-load chiller after the mains voltage has had a bit of time to stabilize. We have several heavy loads set to turn back on after 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes... It keeps heavy loads from experiencing bad brown power, thereby saving your motors. Also helps restore proper voltage faster to other lighter loads.
                    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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