Need a small water chiller....but non-ozone depleting

[aspearin1]

Hello all, I hope you can asssist. I'm looking for some small water chillers (3-ton), preferably air-cooled. I've had no problem finding them, however the prefered refrigerant still appears to be R-22 for these smaller units. This plant no longer allows this refrigerant. Can anyone recommend a comparable unit using R-134a? Or, should I look at a 5-ton unit using R-22, and simply use R134a instead... though inefficient? Your advice is appreciated.

Aaron A. Spearin
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http://www.Engineering6ss.com

"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee

 

[NCDesign]

I don't think you will find one in that tonnage that is R-134a. You might be able to find one that is R-410. In that tonnage you are dealing in scroll compressors, and it is still hard to find light commercial equipment (5-25 tons packaged and split units utilizing scroll compressors) that are not R-22 (in the US at least). At this stage you might be stuck needing to work directly with a manufacturer to build a custom unit to meet your no R-22 requirement.

I don't know about anyone else but I find the lack of non R-22 options in the light commercial (including small chillers) a real pain.

 

[AbbyNormal]

search the water/ground source heat pumps maybe

Take the "V" out of HVAC and you are left with a HAC(k) job.

 

[atlas06]

see

http://www.multistack.com

they use R407C

 

[NCDesign]

Interesting. Recently when I was doing some poking around for a project there was a thread with a similar question. I had checked multistack and thought they were still R-22 only. Thanks for the heads up atlas06.

 

[aspearin1]

I was able to find a supplier to use R410A, but it's not standard. Also, it actually appears to be a 5-ton unit normally specced with R-22, designed to operate at 3-ton using R410A. Luckily, it doesn't seem to change the physical size of the system.

Aaron A. Spearin
ASQ CSSBB

http://www.Engineering6ss.com

"The only constant in life is change." -Bruce Lee