HVAC Chiller Maintenance: It’s About That Time

Now that the hot weather is winding down here in the northeast, it’s time to think about laying up your chilled water system for the winter. Some plants do a dry lay-up with the condenser ends pulled off, and piping open to the atmosphere. Other plants do a wet lay-up with a chiller tube cleaner and chemicals circulating in the system to prevent build-up on the inside of the tubes and piping. See the “how to” video below if you prefer the latter.

Whatever method you choose, the one thing that I found crucial to making the following year’s start-up successful was doing the scheduled maintenance on the system as soon as possible.

Early in my career, I would keep chiller maintenance off the docket until March or April. That’s because we would concern ourselves with all that went into keeping the power plant running in the winter, and wait for spring before going up on the roof and servicing the towers. This turned out not to be the best strategy as occasionally we would get some unexpected warm weather.  This caused problems. If you are in a plant (or in my case a hospital), and the weather gets over 70 degrees, you need chilled water. If you don’t have it, the Operating Rooms can’t function properly. So we would have to slap everything together, and start up the plant. Once it was running, it didn’t go back down until the fall, so the proper maintenance never occurred.

I eventually discovered that the optimal time for such maintenance was after shutdown. I learned to focus on chiller maintenance in the fall to avoid headaches or emergencies come late winter or early spring. Once I established the optimal time to maintain the chiller, a high level chiller maintenance checklist like the one below became easier to sustain:

Step 1: Maintain a Daily Operating Log
Step 2: Keep Tubes Clean
Step 3: Ensure a Leak-free Unit
Step 4: Sustain Proper Water Treatment
Step 5: Analyze Oil and Refrigerant

Whatever your maintenance strategy and checklist, the one thing that cannot be overstressed in timing. Based on my past experiences, I recommend starting the process immediately after chiller shutdown.

Next Steps:

• Check out our learning center on how best to maintain all your facility’s existing equipment.
• Subscribe to our blog to stay informed on the latest HVAC maintenance news and insight.
• Stay up to date on facility maintenance tools such as chiller tube cleaners, boiler tube cleaners, hose/pipe cleaners, descaler systems, test instruments, industrial vacuums, commercial pressure washers, and drain cleaners.

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