Air Cooled Vs Water Cooled Chiller System

Packaged air cooled chillers are typically available in sizes ranging from 7 5 to 500 tons 25 to 1 580 kw.

Air cooled vs water cooled chiller system.

Water cooled chiller systems have a cooling tower thus they feature higher efficiency than air cooled chillers. They also can be placed outside the building and include chilled water pumps an expansion tank an air separator chemical treatment cooling towers located outside of the building condenser water pumps makeup water to accommodate evaporation of the condenser water and chemical. While upfront costs for a water cooled chiller are typically higher these systems often last longer than air based coolers resulting in a lower life cycle cost thereby offering increased roi. Factors such as water costs efficiency ratings and electricity can dramatically change the lifetime price of a chiller.

Conventional thinking has been that water cooled chillers are more efficient than air cooled chillers. The purpose of a heatsink is to dissipate heat with or without a fan attached. In other words water cooled chillers can deliver higher cooling capacity with fewer units and a smaller footprint. However using state of the art technology with centrifugal compressors and variable speed control air cooled chillers are often the better.

Typically you ll find that smaller air coolers use condensers cooled by air while larger units are almost always water cooled. A water based cooling system requires cooling towers condenser water pumps reservoirs of cooling fluid and make up pumps. However water cooled chillers allow the refrigeration system to operate at lower head pressure making them more efficient and less costly to operate than air cooled chillers. Water cooled chillers are more efficient because they condense depending on the ambient temperature bulb temperature which is lower than the ambient dry bulb temperature the lower a chiller condenses the more efficient it is.

Water cooled chiller cost comparison. Air cooled chillers are equipped with condensers that utilize ambient air to reduce refrigerant temperatures. If we only look at compressor costs this may be true. Figure 2 show that air cooled cooling systems that ranged from 17 kw to 525 kw when operated at tropical outdoor temperatures and with presence of sandy storms will have.

There are distinct differences between the condenser of an air cooled chiller and a water cooled chiller. F air cooled reciprocating water chillers that have five years old installation operating at full load covering nominal cooling capacities from 17 kw to 525 kw. A water cooled chilled water plant consists of a water cooled chiller typically located inside the building. Having a fan is usually best though as it will allow the heatsink to be directly cooled and help remove hot air from the chassis in question.

Fans are used to force the air over tubing containing refrigerant and therefore. Air cooled vs water cooled air conditioning system in las vegas.