so we are replacing the tiny little reservoir that came with our chiller and getting something more appropriately sized. for 3hp we got a 70qt Marine cooler. figure that should be a decent size, filled to about 15gals or so. the plumbing is the issue im a little stumped on here. the chiller likely started life as a CNC/lathe/etc type chiller, not a brewery chiller. hence the tiny reservoir.
in any case, I can't figure out why it seems to have a bypass on the feed from the HX to the reservoir that skips the tank and just heads straight into the pump. it seems a bit odd to me, as the the tank is tiny, and it has a direct gravity feed right into the pump off the bottom, so why the bypass?
here's a pic. excuse the shitty markups. blue is the feed from HX. yellow points to bypass line. reservoir is upper left. to the right of the tank you see the tee, and the HX cold feed is at 3 o'clock, but at the bottom of the tee is the bypass at 6o clock. which comes down and 90s and then meets the suction line, which comes directly out of the tank bottom. very strange and short bypass. can't figure out what the hell its really for, which means I can't decide whether to copy it or not into the new reservoir plumbing. maybe its intended to push glycol into the pump suction? with a bit of pressure behind it so as to avoid negative suction? just a guess.
anyone familiar with these? or know why they'd plumb it this way?
in any case, I can't figure out why it seems to have a bypass on the feed from the HX to the reservoir that skips the tank and just heads straight into the pump. it seems a bit odd to me, as the the tank is tiny, and it has a direct gravity feed right into the pump off the bottom, so why the bypass?
here's a pic. excuse the shitty markups. blue is the feed from HX. yellow points to bypass line. reservoir is upper left. to the right of the tank you see the tee, and the HX cold feed is at 3 o'clock, but at the bottom of the tee is the bypass at 6o clock. which comes down and 90s and then meets the suction line, which comes directly out of the tank bottom. very strange and short bypass. can't figure out what the hell its really for, which means I can't decide whether to copy it or not into the new reservoir plumbing. maybe its intended to push glycol into the pump suction? with a bit of pressure behind it so as to avoid negative suction? just a guess.
anyone familiar with these? or know why they'd plumb it this way?
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