Are you willing to lose thousands of dollars through cancelled appointments and lost helium? According to Kenyon Smith, president of chiller manufacturer KR Products, that’s precisely the type of risk you take if you neglect your chillers. There isn’t much hands-on contact with chillers. They’re out of sight and if constructed and sited properly, they’re not even heard most of the time. Even the way they’re acquired may be a little bit of a mystery. Chillers are the unsung heroes of the equipment world.

Chiller origins
By-and-far, chiller sales are attached as package deals with big ticket equipment. “More than 85 percent of our work is with OEM customers,” says Kim Bernard, market manager for Dimplex Thermal Solutions. “The last 15 percent might be a mix between service contractors, architectural and engineering firms, replacement work and new chiller work.”

Mark Bond, medical sales engineer at Filtrine Manufacturing, shares a similar experience. “Direct to hospitals isn’t as much as you might expect. Most of the jobs come through as a planned spec type of job where we work with an architect or engineer.” There are some exceptions, especially for smaller operations. “Of our business, about 90 percent, goes to doctor offices,” says KR Products’ Smith.

Martin King, president and CEO of Legacy Chiller Systems, Inc., says bundling the chiller with the equipment it serves seems to be dropping off a bit lately. “Since Obamacare, OEMs have been hit pretty heavily with the medical device tax. My theory is that when they include chillers in the package, they become part of that tax.”

Troubleshooting and avoiding trouble
If a chiller is properly installed, keeping it going and by extension, avoiding troubles with imaging equipment like CTs and especially MRs, is fairly straightforward. What it comes down to is regular maintenance.

“Mobile systems require a bit more maintenance since they’re subject to road wear and tear,” says Robert Bachman, president of Advanced Mobility Specialty Vehicles, a manufacturer of mobile units. “Still, with proper care, mobile chillers are built to last at least five to seven years, but really they’re lasting 10 to 12 years.”

Ronnie Taylor, president of service company SVSR Inc., says mobile systems can also bring another problem. “It’s not a bad idea for onsite staff to check the Russell Stoll connector to make sure there are no burnt pins,” he says. “If thlike a virus and it will burn the female connector everywhere they’re plugged in and that damage can cost thousands.”

However, for fixed site, most chiller OEMs interviewed recommend twice yearly preventive maintenance with the exception being King. King recommends a quarterly maintenance schedule. “Anything in the medical imaging, or what we call ‘mission critical’ world should have a minimum quarterly maintenance performed on it,” he says. According to King, 80 percent of all failures are rooted in electrical issues. The electrical issues are normally just brought about by the expansion and contraction of the wires due to heating and cooling and it’s not necessarily something a facility can control, because the culprit is often the local utility company. When there’s a heat wave for instance and the surrounding community is drawing heavily on the grid, that can create a marked drop in voltage. King says the lower voltage causes electrical connections to heat up. As day turns to evening and things cool down, the voltage returns to normal and the connections cool down. Throughout the course of a long, hot summer, this heating and cooling may occur dozens of times. If the voltage isn’t monitored and connections loosen, it can eventually cause a failure. “It normally comes in the form of a burnt fuse,” says King.

There are different devices hospitals can use to protect against power surges, like sag protectors which help to address incoming power fluctuations. “We usually put a power monitor in every one of our chillers,” says Bernard. “If there’s a spike or a drop-off of power, they will shut the chiller down to protect it and check back every 30 seconds, restarting the chiller when it’s safe to do so,” she says.
It’s not just a drain on power that can cause fluctuations. In some areas, if surrounding businesses have solar panels, they may feed excess power back to the grid causing bumps. “It’s rare, but it happens,” says Bernard.

Voltage is a good indicator of how well the chiller is running. “If it’s pulling high amps, it’s an indicator that something is out of balance in the operation of the machine,” says Bernard. With that red flag serving as an alert, it’s possible to be proactive and make repairs before having a total system breakdown. While certain maintenance and repair may require outside technicians, much of the work is readily carried out by a hospital’s own HVAC department. Monitoring the amp draw, fluid temperatures and pressure and fluid purity as well as maintaining the proper level of glycol, are all important factors in keeping any troubles to a minimum and keeping maintenance within the capabilities of in-house service techs.

Visual inspection is also easy enough and probably really the first line of defense. “Make a habit of performing a visual check on your systems once a week or so,” suggests Taylor. Taylor says the visual check doesn’t need to be incredibly involved — it can be as simple as taking a look at the chiller for a few minutes when it’s running at full load and noting any increase in noise or vibration from the previous check. But eying the chiller isn’t the only easy way to monitor performance.

“MR techs and others around the machines daily are used to hearing the machines make certain noises,” Taylor says. “If there’s a change, if the system doesn’t sound right, they can tell.” Image degradation can be another indicator that something is off kilter with your chiller. If your MR images suddenly aren’t as clear as you’re accustomed to seeing, it may be worth a look. Different areas of the country are going to have different issues to contend with when it comes to the health of their chillers, but it’s a common mistake to assume just because a chiller is sited in an area that doesn’t get freezing temperatures, or because it’s summertime, glycol isn’t needed.

“We always require at least a 30 percent glycol level in our chillers, no matter where you’re located,” says KR Products’ Smith. He says the glycol levels should be able to keep systems from freezing at 10 to 15 degrees below, but recommends closer to 40 percent glycol level. “The systems have plate seal heat exchangers which are very thin. They have refrigeration on one side of the plate and water circuits on the other side,” Smith explains. These plates have been substantially reduced in size from what was used three or four decades ago. “If those very thin plates have water freeze in them, they’ll break,” Smith says. “If they break, the water will mix with the Freon and if that Freon goes into the compressor, you’ve trashed your compressor.”

And with changes in weather patterns becoming more common, places that have rarely seen freezing temperatures may get a chilling reminder that change is in the air. “We have had some extremely cold winters and very spiky hot summers,” says Filtrine’s Bond. “So where we would normally have gone with our standard range of -20 to 95 degrees, I’m seeing the high side go maybe to 110. In areas where we would have previously gone to 110, we’re now setting up for 120. In the Northern New England states and the Midwest, we’re protecting for temperatures going down to -30,” Bond says.
However, Jerry Hoover, of HVAC Service Solutions Inc. says facilities that can go without glycol during warmer months may benefit from a chiller cooling more efficiently.

The story differs when it comes to mobile units. “Depending on where they’re situated, they’re going to have different requirements,” says Bachman. “Everything we build is built to go into any climate.” And Bachman does mean any climate. “We’re 95 percent domestic, but we’ve exported units to Israel, Korea and Canada,” he says.



Other environmental hazards
Even if a facility can benefit from running glycol-free, it should be done with caution. Glycol doesn’t just protect against freezing. It also acts as a bacteria and algae inhibitor. In the South for instance, humidity can be pretty oppressive during the warmer months. With high temperatures, and high humidity, an ideal situation is created for opportunistic algae to flourish. If there’s not something to keep it in check, it can gunk up the system. And it’s more common than you might think.

Dimplex’s Bernard recalls one service call where the customer mentioned that they didn’t put any glycol in the system since they were in a zone that doesn’t freeze. “When the chiller was inspected, water was leaking out and there was algal growth in the system. It looked like the Okefenokee Swamp,” she says. There are alternatives to glycol for preventing the growth of algae and bacteria. “We sell an anti-bacterial additive not for the cooler climates so much, but down south where relative humidity is much higher than normal,” says KR Products’ Smith.

Dimplex’s Bernard also warns that coastal regions can be a problem. “We sell a coastal package — what some call a saltwater package. If you don’t have protection on your chiller, you can literally rust away the entire frame. Bigger than that, the condenser coil can be affected. All our coastal units are made of stainless steel and we do an electronic coating.”

Earth is another potential problem — or the excessive movement of earth to be more precise. Accompanying the increase in temperature deviations off the norm, there has also been increased seismic activities with scientists predicting big events in the near future for areas of the country not prone to earthquakes. So considering units with OSHPD seismic ratings might not be too extreme an idea even\ for East Coast hospitals.

Standalone versus central systems
Many hospitals already have a good HVAC system in place and it may make sense to have the medical equipment chiller run off of it. But that’s not necessarily the best course of action. “It can save money when it comes to putting in piping and things like that, but if it’s old piping for example, and your filtration doesn’t bring water within proper purity levels, an MR could be damaged,” says Bernard. “The other thing, you may have equipment turned on and off throughout the day that impacts water pressure.”

SVRC’s Taylor agrees. “Standalone is going to be much cleaner,” he says. “I’ve seen multiple hospitals that we had to just root-out the compressors because it’s not maintained as well. Standalone is just more reliable.”

Keeping an eye on things with remote monitoring
Remote monitoring can be a simple affair, or fairly complex. It can also mean the difference between a minor service call or a major repair. It’s that difference that is causing more people to explore options.
Some systems attach externally, directly to the chillers, some provide email alerts when there’s a problem and even the level of detail they provide about problems varies greatly.

According to Taylor, an inexpensive way to monitor your chillers is to set up a monitoring system through the hospital’s security monitoring company. “If you’re going to have an alarm system on your facility or mobile unit anyway, you pay a nominal fee for temperature probes and room sensors,” he says. “In my opinion, it’s the cheapest way to go because you’re already paying for monitoring.”

Even older chillers can be hooked up to remote monitoring systems. “You can hook up a probe and set your high and low temperature ranges, if the temperature goes past a set amount, it will alert the alarm company and they’ll contact the person they have on file,” says Taylor.

“Remote monitoring is definitely becoming more popular,” says King. “I’d say five years ago we hardly ever got a request, but now half the chillers we sell have some type of communication component.”

Although some systems do have the ability to send emails, there can be problems with that if a facility isn’t careful. “You have to start worrying about HIPAA controls,” says Bernard. “You don’t want the chiller to be the weak link where patient records are compromised. Cell towers are fine as long as you have good cell service. It’s a convenience. Especially for smaller facilities with a radiology department not open 24 hours – if a chiller goes down off-hours, they may be hit with additional service costs due to damage to machines.”

“We get a lot of requests, whether it’s a standard box with just indicator lights — green meaning good to go, red basically meaning stop — to quick connect panels to monitor flow and temperature. And still other sites have remote indicator touch screens that you can scroll through to see all the functions of the chiller itself,” says Filtrine’s Bond.

What to do if a chiller fails
Whether your chiller is serviced by in-house or outside technicians, the importance of doing a proper job cannot be stressed enough .“Maintenance isn’t a repair. It’s cleaning and evaluating the system,” says Taylor. “But many companies doing PM calls aren’t really doing PM,” he says. During a proper PM, the coils need to be cleaned, connections, temperature fluid levels and purity as well as amps need to be checked, he says. Visual inspection should check for any vibration, or any wear to tubing from it rubbing together.

Yet, even the most thorough PM isn’t a 100 percent guarantee that a chiller won’t fail. In the rare case that it happens, there are steps to take while waiting for the service tech to arrive. “Read the manual!” says KR Products’ Smith. “Although I’m laughing, it’s true. The first thing you should do is read the manual. No one ever reads the manual. Instead, the first thing people do is look up the number of the manufacturer and call them. But a lot of simple problems can be solved by looking at the manual,” he says.

Poor water flow tops Smith’s list of problems. “Our systems have floats and if the water flow isn’t strong enough, the floats don’t float. If the level drops to less than half, the system shuts down as a protective measure.” Smith says water flow can be impacted by someone turning a valve elsewhere in the facility, if for example they’re working on something that has to do with the water flow.

Dimplex’s Bernard also believes troubleshooting guides should be consulted as an early step while waiting for a service tech. “Sometimes, turning it off and turning it back on again will be enough. Sometimes, clearing the fault screen, if any incoming power scenario gave it a temporary fault that’s no longer the case, could solve the problem,” she says. She hastens to warn that if the temperature or pressure is out of alignment, it deserves an immediate call to the service tech. “But if you turn it off for a few minutes to let it cool down, it may let you continue to do procedures until service arrives.”

However, Legacy Chiller Systems’ King says there’s a step you should take before trying to reset the unit by powering off. “When facility people turn the power off and back on to get the chiller going, any error message that was on the system will also be reset, making it more difficult for service personnel to figure out what happened,” he says. “The best thing to do is to look at the chiller and see if there’s an error message. If there is an error message, snap a picture of it with your phone.”

“And never, ever, go into the electrical. There’s probably nothing an onsite tech can do there on a fixed site chiller on his own,” says SVSR’s Taylor.

Necessary redundancy
There are times when a chiller may go down or need to be taken offline for repairs. Yet, for a component that keeps MRs and CTs and other equipment running, downtime is not really an option. So many hospitals and medical facilities choose to back their systems up. “I’d say it’s a personal choice and I do see it quite a bit,” says Filtrine’s Bond. “Whether it’s a second pump or a complete 100 percent independent refrigerant set — although I’d say only maybe 10 to 15 percent of the systems I run into are in the 100 percent set. The dual pump is about 60 to 70 percent.”

“If there’s at least a slight redundancy, you can limp by until you get things fixed,” says KR Products’ Smith. “I ask my customers how bad it would be if their MR was down for two days. When I hear, ‘That would be terrible!’ it’s obvious if it’s that important, we should look to split into two separate units.” Two units cost more up front says Smith, but if you need a 10 ton and instead go with two five-tons, even if one goes down, you can still do some scans and certainly keep an MR magnet cool if it’s not being used.

Redundancy can also help keep repair costs lower. If an extra day or two of running on backup won’t be a disaster, it allows for more economical shipping of parts. “With redundancy, we have very few jobs where we have to rush a 500-pound package across the country,” says Dimplex’s Bernard. “We’re able to ship most parts ground.”

Bernard says the majority of Dimplex’s systems are configured with eight fans and four compressors, allowing for substantial redundancy, but some custom-made systems go even further. And the company engineers a little extra space in case more capacity is needed. She also says chillers with multiple modules can be very beneficial because if one module goes down, the others can still soldier on, allowing a facility to perform most, if not all of their usual procedures while the out of commission module is being repaired.

Chiller choices to keep in mind
Chillers have essentially remained the same over the years, but some changes like digital options are new. Among the most exciting updates is the digital scroll system. This advancement allows for more precise cycling of chillers. Rather than just having an on/off, digital scrolls allow for a chiller servicing an idle MR for example, to ramp down to maybe 10 percent power. The savings through cutting energy costs can be quite dramatic.

Although the digital scsroll compressors may ring in with a price of about 15 to 20 percent higher than standard scroll compressors, according to KR Products’ Smith, they can pay for that difference in about a year and a half. And with chillers lasting an average of 12 to 15 years (and some still humming along after two decades) that savings can be huge over time.

Still, it’s more budget sensible to make sure you get the chiller you need, or will need without going overboard. “I’m shocked sometimes, I go out on a job I wasn’t involved in and find a chiller much larger than it needs to be,” says King. “Sometimes, being dramatically oversized can cause problems.” Taylor offers his own advice. “Quality parts and construction are key, but so is accessibility to parts. You can have the best chiller in the world, but if you can’t get the parts when you need them, it’s not going to be of use to you.”

And Taylor offers one last bit of advice to service people. “Service people need to realize, we’re not engineers. Don’t re-engineer OEM equipment. I truly believe having that understanding has kept me out of trouble and served me well all these years.”

DOTmed Registered Medical Chillers Companies

Names in boldface are Premium Listings.
Domestic
Alison Fortin, Global Inventory Management, NH
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Martin King, Legacy Chiller Systems, CA
Robert Costa, Oxford Instruments Service, FL
DOTmed Certified
DOTmed 100
Dave Baldwin, Cool Pair Plus, IL
Brian Kibbe, Haskris, IL
Michael Hardesty, Advanced Mobility Specialty Vehicles, IL
Kim Bernard, Dimplex Thermal Solutions, ML
Jeremy Fox, Direct Medical Imaging, MN
Marc Fessler, Independence Cryogenic Engineering, NJ
David Hughes, H&J Enterprises, PA
John Quigley, Tek-Temp Instruments, PA
Marshall Shannon, Image Technology Consulting, TX