After start up and commissioning, the two large screw chillers at a indoor snow park were not meeting their designed specifications. Not performing as designed meant the park could not open to the public.

These chillers were responsible for a complex system that cooled the floor, air and pre-cooled water for snow making. To address this chiller issue, an HVAC service company would need to remove and reinstall several portions of this cooling system.

Binsky & Snyder Service was contracted to put the necessary design modifications into real-life application.

The project consisted of:

• Recovery and storage of 4,000 pounds of R-22 from each chiller
• Removal and replacement of:
• Suction accumulators
• Plate and frame refrigerant to water heat exchanger
• Refrigerant and glycol piping
• Re-welding of piping to factory specifications
• Re-charge and re-insulation to the manufacturer’s specifications after thorough testing

One major complication arose when the Binsky Service team identified the machine room floor’s active load capacity was only designed for 2,000 pounds per square foot. The weight of a fork lift or deck crane, plus the weight of the chillers, exceeded the load rating of the floor. This was overcome by designing the rigging to use chain blocks set as a trapeze, where one was raised while another was lowered.

The location of recovery cylinders and tools was constantly considered by Binsky Service team members since anything heavy had to be spaced over structural beams, due to the load rating of the floor.

The chillers were turned over, on schedule, to the manufacturer and the owner’s staff for start-up and cool down of the snow park. Upon commissioning – the second time – the chillers performed exceptionally.