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Advice on combining process cooling and walkin cooler on one glycol unit?

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  • Advice on combining process cooling and walkin cooler on one glycol unit?

    had been researching a glycol chiller to run both our process stuff and our walkin cooler. probably a 10 or 12 ton dual compressor unit for redundancy. we could limp along on one compressor if we didnt crash any tanks, or maybe crashed a tank over 2 days or so.

    the other option is to just get separate units- a glycol chiller and a standard AC setup for walkin.

    im assuming we'll get some energy efficiency by having one unit chilling both needs? and its not crazy expensive given it handles two jobs at once.

    anything im missing in terms of pitfalls, benefits, etc?

    anybody have bad experience using glycol chilling in their walkin?

  • #2
    Search the threads on this...

    Others have asked about this same thing. Use separate systems. There really is no efficiency to be gained. Pushing glycol around is more energy-intensive than using a standard walk-in evaporator. And putting all your eggs in one refrigeration basket will bite you eventually. Don't reinvent the wheel with this; there are good reasons to keep your refrigeration systems for walk-in, tanks, and beer lines separate.
    Phillip Kelm--Palau Brewing Company Manager--

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    • #3
      We have used glycol from a single system (with multiple compressors) for the last 2 years. It's great. Highly recommended.

      Before that we had a traditional system where the cooler had it's own condensing unit with typical refrigerant. It was nothing but trouble. We spent a ton on maintenance. Not sure if that is the norm or not but we didn't want to go through it again on the new cooler and so far, so good.

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      • #4
        Originally posted by gitchegumee View Post
        Others have asked about this same thing. Use separate systems. There really is no efficiency to be gained. Pushing glycol around is more energy-intensive than using a standard walk-in evaporator. And putting all your eggs in one refrigeration basket will bite you eventually. Don't reinvent the wheel with this; there are good reasons to keep your refrigeration systems for walk-in, tanks, and beer lines separate.
        as im now thinking through this a bit more i think i may need to play it safe. we are a brewpub, so our brites are just single wall serving tanks, direct to the bar. if we were to lose the walkin cooler we'd be SOL for serving all of our beer.

        if we had an AC unit on walkin we could likely get it serviced and fixed same day. (we are in big city) but if we had a failure of the entire chiller that would have to be something that controlled the whole unit- not just a compressor. we could be waiting for parts for a while if it was a control board or something like that.

        losing a batch would suck, but not being able to pour beer would be horrible.

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        • #5
          Complexity and Redundancy

          Originally posted by gitchegumee View Post
          Others have asked about this same thing. Use separate systems. There really is no efficiency to be gained. Pushing glycol around is more energy-intensive than using a standard walk-in evaporator. And putting all your eggs in one refrigeration basket will bite you eventually. Don't reinvent the wheel with this; there are good reasons to keep your refrigeration systems for walk-in, tanks, and beer lines separate.
          I will go along with what Phillip is saying on this subject.
          While it can be done and work well, you need a lot of chiller redundancy which most people do not have in order to guarantee that your walk in does not go down if your chiller goes down.
          Because you are pumping fluid by means of a secondary system, this is another point of potential failure. People that are not versed in working with Glycol daily or often will be prone to leave leaks.
          For those that are saying they have had a lot of trouble with DX walk in systems, I would have to posit that you have or had a system that was not correctly setup or repaired historically.
          For the Highly Skilled HVACR Tech, DX Walk in Refrigeration is the easiest thing in the world to set up and run. The so called Techs in the field that say otherwise are those without the skills needed.
          Having worked on HVACR for 30 years, Walk Ins have always been my choice if I had to work on anything at all with Chillers 2nd in line.
          A 2 compressor system is always a good idea, and 2 chillers are always better than one on a single property.
          No one ever thinks about redundancy on the matter of Chillers unless they have a Mechanical Background.
          There are also likely more than a few Chillers at large that are overloaded on a regular basis, especially with respect to the return fluid temperature being pushed too high too often.
          While this can be gotten away with for a while and moreso in the cooler months, it will lead to premature compressor failure.
          This is due to lack of realism and ingnorance of design limits.
          Warren Turner
          Industrial Engineering Technician
          HVACR-Electrical Systems Specialist
          Moab Brewery
          The Thought Police are Attempting to Suppress Free Speech and Sugar coat everything. This is both Cowardice and Treason given to their own kind.

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