Creating a load on chilled water pipes

[wordtokyle]

How would you create an artificial load on chilled water piping in order to perform a capacity verification on a chiller? The chiller is connected to an 8" piping loop, but with no air handlers or coils connected tied into it since it's been abandoned for some time. I imagine that there is perhaps a steam or hot water jacket that could be wrapped around a section of pipe to raise the temperature of water returning to the chiller. Does anyone have knowledge of such a thing or know where I could find more information? Other thoughts or ideas on adding load to a chilled water loop are welcome as well.

 

[Shophound]

How do you plan to circulate the water in the loop with no air handler coils in place? Is there a bypass? If so, is the bypass near the chiller or out in the loop, away from the plant?

Has this chiller also sat a long time? How are its tubes in the condenser and cooler? Sitting a long time can foul them if the chiller was not drained prior to being mothballed.

 

[wordtokyle]

Water will be circulated through a full size bypass in the loop, several floors away from the plant. The chiller has remained unused for about 2 years, but care was taken before it was abandoned. Chiller was drained down, refrigerant removed, and charged with nitrogen. The tubes will be inspected and cleaned prior to start up.

 

[Compositepro]

Add water to your loop at a known measured flow rate and temperature and let it drain after the chiller. Then measure the temperature of the draining water. A back-pressure regulator would be useful in the drain line.

 

[317069]

I have some points:
- why do you want to check the chiller performance, do you want to bring it back to the service or the owner wants to sell it to someone else.
- your didn't mention your chiller capacity, but 8" piping loop and several floors, I guess your chiller is around 150 ton nominal capacity, how can you creat such load in a field test,
- if chiller is to be brought back to service, connect it to real load then check its performance, because if the chiller needs any care, you can do it later.
- if chiller is to be sold to another user then I thing a manufucturer or specialist contractor has to check it for liabilty.

 

[MintJulep]

Take out a section of pipe and install a heat exchanger.