Keep an eye on your chillers

Phyxius · 09/19/2006, 10:35 AM

Went to fill up my top off container near my chiller and smelled that hot electronics smell . Looked around and everything was on, nothing smoking or out of the ordinary. Happened to get closer to the chiller and the case was very hot to the touch. Display was reading 80 so at first I thought it might not be it but then noticed the unit was "ON" but the fan wasnt running. Shut it down real quick and disconnected it from my system. I let it cool down a bit and took the case off to find the fan had seized up and wasn't spinning. The unit was turning on trying to work but the fan wasn't working to cool it down. It just kept building up heat every time it tried to do its job. Good thing I caught it before it did some major damage or issues with the tank.

Took the motor off and was able to put 3-1 on the shaft and work it free. Got it working again temporarily until I can get a replacement motor for the fan.

Keep an eye on your fans as you may not know they are not spinning till too late. My chiller still clicked on and off like it always did so I had no clue the fan wasn't working..I always worried about a heater or something taking out my tank but never even thought of a chiller malfunction cooking it.

spawner · 10/06/2006, 06:00 PM

Just had one start a fire and burn up a lab.

sugartooth · 10/06/2006, 06:06 PM

What brand of chiller was it and how old?

09/19/2006, 10:35 AM	#1
Phyxius Moving About Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: RTP NC Posts: 2,405	Keep an eye on your chillers Went to fill up my top off container near my chiller and smelled that hot electronics smell . Looked around and everything was on, nothing smoking or out of the ordinary. Happened to get closer to the chiller and the case was very hot to the touch. Display was reading 80 so at first I thought it might not be it but then noticed the unit was "ON" but the fan wasnt running. Shut it down real quick and disconnected it from my system. I let it cool down a bit and took the case off to find the fan had seized up and wasn't spinning. The unit was turning on trying to work but the fan wasn't working to cool it down. It just kept building up heat every time it tried to do its job. Good thing I caught it before it did some major damage or issues with the tank. Took the motor off and was able to put 3-1 on the shaft and work it free. Got it working again temporarily until I can get a replacement motor for the fan. Keep an eye on your fans as you may not know they are not spinning till too late. My chiller still clicked on and off like it always did so I had no clue the fan wasn't working..I always worried about a heater or something taking out my tank but never even thought of a chiller malfunction cooking it. __________________ -Mike I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it. W. C. Fields Current Tank Info: JUST SOLD AND TOOK DOWN ALL 11/10---210g AGA, 80g sump, Tunze Streams. Tunze ATO,RK Elite Controller, RKII,Dart, GEO Calcium& Nielsen Kalk Reactors,GEO media reactor, Kaleini Rock, 3-250 watt 14k EVC , VHO..... 34g Solana and 60g cube

10/06/2006, 06:00 PM	#2
spawner Reefer Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: FL EAST COAST Posts: 517	Just had one start a fire and burn up a lab. __________________ Andy "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" Albert Einstein

10/06/2006, 06:06 PM	#3
sugartooth Reef bully Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: IL Posts: 2,832	What brand of chiller was it and how old?