How Do I put in to running my CHILLER - 20TR ?

It sounds like you have freon leaks. It must be found and fixed immediately. Depending on where you are located the leak may be accompanied by an odor.

A freon leak is dangerous since Freon will displace air.

Not withstanding the damage to the ozone etc

A proper refrigeration technician should put in some die to locate the leaks, and repair them.

Freon has no odor and is colorless--Look for oil on sweated(welded) joints as it will leave compressor oil when it escapes to atmosphere. Check around the shaft seals of your compressor/s. Use soap in a spray bottle and spray the joints and seams and look for bubbling.

Techno is right if--If your Freon has Chlorine in it, it is illegal to intentionally vent it to atmosphere and it is in poor taste to know that you are losing it and not do anything(no matter where you are on this planet).

I don't understand your statement about 3 and 5 chillers--3 chillers run and 4 and 5 cut-in when there is a load? How thermal expansion valves set to different temperatures? Have you been evacuating the insoluble gases and atmosphere when changing compressors?

Suction side is poor---How? high pressure or low pressure? What are your pressures? Do you have sight glasses with moisture sensing---Filter/Dryers? How big is the system in tons?--Piston or vane compressors? Are you getting ice on your suction accumulators or anywhere on the system?

I don't understand your statement about 3 and 5 chillers--3 chillers run and 4 and 5 cut-in when there is a load?

We have 5 Machines ( Chillers ), in each machine there are 4 cooling systems individually 5 ton capacity. Out of 4 systems we required only 3 for cooling in normal conditions. If ambient temperature is more then 4th system will come in to working.

How thermal expansion valves set to different temperatures?

As per factory setting only. If any problem manufacturer will come & adjust.

Have you been evacuating the insoluble gases and atmosphere when changing compressors?

Yes, Evacuating.

Suction side is poor---How? high pressure or low pressure? What are your pressures?

It is 40 PSI, But it is coming to Zero.

Do you have sight glasses with moisture sensing---Filter/Dryers?

Dryer, So for 10 no. replaced,

How big is the system in tons?--5 Ton

Piston or vane compressors? Hermetically sealed and good name branded DANFOSS, USA Make

Are you getting ice on your suction accumulators or anywhere on the system?

Yes on compressor, accumulator & pipe lines.

Yes - it sounds like you don't have an adequate amount of refrigerant and you are starving your compressors.

How are these "systems" arranged? Are they each separate and independent? Does each compressor have separate coils? Are they all connected in parallel? ...............

Compressors failing that often suggests another un-diangnosed secondary issue is causing them to fail. In your arrangement check for proper oil return/supply. Are they failing mechanically or electrically?

Might I suggest that you obtain the services of a QUALIFIED refrigeration mechanic.

As pointed out in a previous post, if you are using a CFC refrigerant, the company you work for should be shut down. Whilst most countries in the Western world have banned CFCs, it appears that other countries use it without fear of retribution

It is my feeling and I repeat, my feeling, that any countries flagrantly using these types of refrigerants should face some form of trade embargo. It is entirely unnecessary to use CFCs and quite a few of the HFCs, with the refrigerants that are available in todays world.

Many of the smaller systems that use R12 can change over to LPG, or an LPG based refrigerant and this is a drop in replacement........no retro-fit required. Only 1/3 of the refrigerant is required...........R12 is a "searching" gas, it will find somewhere to leak out of the system, whereas your LPG based refrigerants are "non-searching"..........obviously the major problem with LPG is its flammability (which may not be such a bad idea with some of these older type units)..........the only thing you cannot do is use the sight glass for fault finding

I;m sorry but I just have to say this, I have been in this business about 40 years now and every day I learn something new. What amazes me is the questions asked in such simplistic terms with so little relevent information and seeming lack of knowledge in the so many reasons why a system is malfunctioning given the total lack of information we try ,almost in vain, to explain why! To really get someone to understand, we need to talk in the language of the subject matter where both of us understand, Other wise we are just spinning our wheels (GUSSING)

R22/HCFCs are still legal and widely used.

Is this a new system?

Are you chilling air or liquid?--Frosting all the way back to the compressor, are you close to a low target temperature when this happens--or are you freezing your chiller?

It would be my guess that your problem isn't the compressor, condenser or anything on the high side--I would check your chillers and how they transfer heat, or don't, and double check you settings and thermal expansion valves. Where is the regulating bulb for the expansion valve located? Where does your control system read the temperature and is it correct? What temperature differentials are you working between, and are you getting close to them?

Watch the liquid line solenoid valve when your low side pressure drops towards zero--It is probably closing and the compressor is pumping down, and then should shut off with the low pressure cut-out setting.

It's been a long time, but I have operated systems and forced them to do what they weren't designed to. I have seen all kinds of undesirable symptoms. I used to chill 210 tons of fish with 100 ton refrigerated seawater system and 6" plumbing with very few gallons of water.

Quite a few of the of the HCFCs are going to be on their way out shortly, being on the prescribed gas list.

My mail suggests that production of R22 will cease as from Jan 1^st 2010 in USA and Canada other Western world countries soon after, developing countries have until 2040 at this point in time.

I used to chill 210 tons of fish with 100 ton refrigerated seawater system

This is okay if you know what you are doing, but if you don't REALLY KNOW your "stuff" everything can go "pear shaped" very quickly causing some very expensive repair bills, particularly in large systems.

I am out of the industry now, but your information is correct, MOBI, and here is a link to what I found.

www.epa.gov/ozone/title6/phaseout/22phaseout.html

I took a course for certification as an operator in compliance with the 2004 amendment, but nothing really happened after that. It looked like(then) a certification would be required to purchase R22/R12/R502......It was required of the distributors and contract service personnel, but not us as end users. I was mildly disappointed and lost a little faith in the system--1-Either they were wrong and Freon escaping to atmosphere isn't that big of deal, or 2- This is how little concerted effort to enforce these policies--where are all the big names(that take credit for change) making sure the right thing is done and see this all the way through? Just a lot of noise. It sounded like there were going to be Freon police--I bet you that I could find an empty 50 lb.(maybe empty, maybe kinda empty) bottle or two in a dumpster in short order.

I was diligent with it though. The systems we used were RSW(refrigerated Sea Water) and designed to do just that. One big problem with the design, is that fish are not sea water and if you have a tank full of fish--there may not be ANY water to speak of. I can hear you now--DON"T PUT SO MANY FISH IN THE TANK--. Greed, want and waste, operational costs, time, quotas.........If you need 500,000 pounds for a full trip and have 20,000 too much--shovel them over? Not a chance--stuff them in. They have to make it to town or they go to waste--They have to be 32°-34° to in order to be sold. We had good insulation in our holds and if I had 6-8 hours I could chill any amount of fish down without a drop of water in the tanks. We had galvanized box chillers and it was critical not to freeze them solid. I had to baby, cheat, bypass and every control device--couldn't leave the lazerette for hours but giving periodic squirts(maybe a couple hundred gallons) of 29° water--I would eventually get their core temps from the mid 40's down to temp. 50 ton compressor(each) 6' Demming pump working on a tank with 25 tons of fish in it.

looked like(then) a certification would be required to purchase R22/R12/R502

That's exactly what has happened in Australia,I had to get a temporary licence to handle prescribed gases, its only for 2 years, until the maritime refrigeration course comes into being for fishing vessel "engineers." The stupidity of this is that I am writing and setting the course up. I am not a refrigeration mechanic, but know a little bit about it and even teach a bit of basic refrigeration.

Like you I thought the refrigeration industry was doing very well before all this certification came out. I was that pissed off with it I rang the Federal Minister for Environment and Heritage and gave him a piece of my mind.

Yep, very familiar with those by-pass valves.

One of the problems that occurred in one of the Kingfish farms was that much of the fish was being rejected due to too high a bacteria count.

When they were harvesting the fish they are put into large fish bins of iced sea water and within 6-8 hours were in the factory being processed. The problem was, too many fish/bin and the water had to be stirred regularly to ensure all the fish were chilled down to 0⁰C........this solved the problem.

The Tuna farms here in South Australia have to be extremely careful with their fish as most of it is for the Japanese Sashimi market, which is fairly lucrative.

We got rid of our controlled heat reduction valves(HRV) on the high side and used ball valve and adjusted them for head pressure--Needed them anyway for bypass when priming the condenser pumps.

AHHH YES!--

I started fishing Big eye tuna in Hawaii for that market--The entire market then(1987) was controlled by the one and only Japanese freshwater ice plant(Stan was his name). We had a saltwater ice maker and never used it, Buying ice from him went hand in hand with how the auction handled the sale of our fish. It was a little mafia style. Anyway, I think that the ice wouldn't have lasted and may have been too cold.---I wasn't really paying much attention to things that weren't in bikinis then.

The bacteria thing is also paramount in Alaska--E coli was our problem. If we got our fish down to temperature and could keep them there long enough for the Q C to sample our water and fish--For temp and bacteria--and get the plants pump on us, we were good. A lot of times we would have delays unloading and have to cycle the tanks down again--we would have to leave the bay to get clean seawater because of the bacteria concentrations in the bays. These systems were designed to be fully contained and not require adding water--But there are so many inherent problems--If your pump pushes water faster than it returns--it goes over and out. One of the solutions we came up with was a line for make-up water(sea water). With a small valve we could inject new water into the system to keep the 6" pumps from starving--It is a real fine line between adding water and not chilling it to temp and running out and having you pumps lose their prime--Possibly adding bacteria, depending on where you are at.

If I had the supreme power to change these things. I would add a reservoir for sea water and add a smaller circulation system for when the tanks were full of fish. We needed the large pumps for chilling the flooded tanks, but they are worthless with a load of fish on.

I watched a program on the blue fin tuna down there--Very interesting--Towing the catch pens slow enough for the fish and having sharks steal the tuna, what a battle--You work in refrigeration/around those operations?