Flooded Chiller Drowns Building Tenants in Heat Wave
When a 1,200-ton chiller goes down during a
heat wave, building occupants can get a little
hot around the collar. In fact, they can get real
hot. That‘s exactly what happened in a New
Jersey office building that housed 5,000-plus
employees–the chiller flooded, causing cata-
strophic damage and making working condi-
tions nearly impossible.
Sink or Swim. Monsen to the Rescue
The building management immediately called
Monsen Engineering to navigate the difficult waters. —We arranged for a rental
chiller–on site and operational the very next day–and went to work assessing
the damage,“ said Jeff Somers, Monsen Engineering‘s Service Operations
Manager, —but the problem was worse than we had anticipated.“
Monsen discovered that nearly 200 tubes in the chiller had frozen and ruptured.
—Considering the amount of moisture and the severity of the damage, it would
literally take us months of dehydration using vacuum pumps and dry ice,“ said
Somers. A process so laborious and slow, it appeared to be the engineering
equivalent of treading water. —That would cost the client a fortune in man-hours
and chiller rental time. We needed a cost-effective solution–
fast
.“
Staying Ahead of the Challenge
Monsen called Hudson Technologies, a partner that specializes in catastrophic
refrigerant-side services, for help. Immersing themselves in all the intricate details
of the project, the teams worked together to form an action plan that required
Monsen to complete key tasks while Hudson perfected its dehydration strategy.
—Dehydration is never easy,“ stressed Joe DeMaio, Hudson‘s regional sales
manager. —Each make and model of chiller is a unique dehydration challenge.“
Because of Hudson‘s successful track record and extensive chiller dehydration
research, Monsen had every confidence that the expert subcontractor would rem-
edy the problem quickly.
Three Month Job Performed in Two Weeks
While Monsen prepared the chiller for dehydration, Hudson technicians arrived
with a fully equipped refrigerant-side service vehicle. In addition, they brought in
state-of-the-art tools to dehydrate the 1,200-ton chiller: the ZugiBeast™, a high-
speed refrigerant decontamination system, service refrigerant,
Monsen technician starting
rescued chiller
