Chiller Cleaning

Types of Chiller Cleaning Methods and Their Pros and Cons

The breakdown and inefficacy of any chiller comes from scale build-up, biological growth inside the chiller tubes and corrosion of the chiller metallic parts. Preventive maintenance and proper chiller cleaning is obviously the best way to increase efficiency in this important machine. Learn some of these cleaning methods in the next few minutes.

Rod and Brush method

This is a simple and traditional way of cleaning a chiller. It involves the use of a metal rod with a brush attached onto one end. The brush is usually wire or nylon made and should be slightly larger than the tube’s inside diameter. When using a rod and brush to clean the chiller, water is first flushed into the tube before the cleaner can brush off debris and dirt.

Although this method is cheap and requires no technical skills, its disadvantages are way too many.

Disadvantages

First, the rod and brush method is labor intensive. With today’s huge and complex chiller machines, trying to clean them by use of a rod and brush can take ages. Another disadvantage of this method is that the folded bristles of a brush tend to swab the tube without removing any meaningful amount of debris. In addition, most of the tubes dry with unwashed debris and dirt and are usually very hard to clean even by flushing more water into the tubes. This makes the process even more tedious.

Since some rods may be small in size, cleaning the whole tube becomes tricky. Sometimes, the rods have to be coupled together in order to completely clean the whole tube. This makes cleaning chillers with this method an unpleasant exercise. Actually, most cleaners avoid this job which always amount to poor cleaning services. That is why it is important that you get the right hvac cleaning services to get the job done

Chemical cleaning

With the advent of newer cleaning methods such as use of tube cleaning guns and on line systems, chemical chiller cleaning has reduced in prevalence. However, the use of chemicals in chillers helps soften mineral scales from the tubes which on the other hand enables easy brushing. Chemical cleaning also helps with the disinfection and removal of foul smells from the chiller.

Disadvantages

The main disadvantage of chemicals is that they are expensive. They are also risky to work with as they could be health hazards if used wrongly.

Tube cleaning guns

They involve the use of high pressure water to remove dirt deposits from the chiller tubes. Usually, the high pressured water is used as a tool for propelling a projectile such as a rubber bullet or metal scraper into the chiller tubes. The biggest advantage of this method is that it is lightning fast. Cleaning is done in a matter of seconds plus if done in the right way, tubes get cleaned up thoroughly.

Disadvantages

Most projectiles used in chillers tubes are capable of only removing dirt and algae while leaving scales intact. In addition, the use of high pressure makes this method expensive.

In case you feel confused as to which method to use to clean your chiller, contact Best Cleaning Guru to help you get the most reliable and cost-effective professional cleaning services for your chiller. You are sure to get the best advice for cleaning your chiller.