Chiller Repair Myths Busted: What Facility Leaders Really Need to Know Before a Breakdown

One of the most expensive assumptions in facility management is believing that operating equipment = healthy equipment.

In reality, many systems that appear to be ‘working’ are running 20-30% longer cycles to meet demand. Chiller-specific issues like internal tube fouling, refrigerant imbalances, or early-stage compressor wear don’t cause immediate shutdowns. Instead, they silently destroy efficiency. For example, even a thin layer of scale inside heat exchanger tubes acts as an insulator, forcing the compressor to run longer and harder to achieve the same cooling load. This not only inflates energy bills but also accelerates wear on the system’s most expensive components.

The facilities that experience fewer emergencies aren’t necessarily the ones with newer equipment. They’re the ones that investigate problems while they’re still small.

This is one of the more common suggestions technicians hear during the Oklahoma summer.

While spraying water may seem like a quick way to improve performance, it often creates new problems.

Minerals left behind from hard water can build up on condenser coils, trapping dirt and reducing heat transfer over time. What seems like a temporary fix can actually decrease efficiency and increase maintenance costs.

Cleaning condenser coils isn’t just about removing dirt.

Using the wrong cleaner, excessive water pressure, or cleaning against the direction of airflow can damage coil fins or leave debris deeper inside the coil, where it continues restricting airflow.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, dirty coils can significantly increase energy consumption and reduce system efficiency, making coil cleaning one of the highest-return maintenance activities available.

Proper cleaning techniques help restore efficiency without damaging the equipment.

You’d be surprised how often our technicians encounter this one.

Every air filter is designed to operate with airflow moving in a specific direction. That’s why manufacturers place airflow arrows directly on the filter frame.

Improper filter installation restricts airflow, reduces efficiency, and can contribute to higher operating temperatures throughout the system.

It’s a simple detail that can create much larger problems over time. Sometimes the simplest issues have the biggest impact.

This is a dangerous oversimplification. The maintenance needs of an air-cooled chiller and a water-cooled chiller are fundamentally different.

While an air-cooled unit relies on cleaning condenser fins to reject heat, a water-cooled system depends on a cooling tower and requires regular water treatment to prevent scale, corrosion, and biological growth.

Neglecting water treatment can lead to fouled condenser tubes, severely restricted heat transfer, and even expensive acid cleanings. A generic maintenance plan that ignores these differences leads to critical under-servicing of one system or the other.

When troubleshooting electrical issues, the quality and accuracy of your testing equipment matter more than many people realize.

Not every meter or testing tool is built to the same standard. While online marketplaces can be convenient, they can also make it difficult to know exactly where a tool came from or whether it meets the manufacturer’s specifications. Counterfeit or poorly calibrated tools do exist, and inaccurate readings can lead to incorrect diagnoses, unnecessary part replacements, or even unsafe working conditions.

Whenever possible, purchase testing equipment from a trusted electrical supply house or reputable distributor. No matter where your tools come from, inspect and verify they are functioning properly before relying on the readings they provide.

A low-quality or inaccurate instrument can send a technician chasing problems that don’t exist while overlooking the ones that do.

That’s why professional technicians routinely verify their instruments before making critical diagnostic decisions. If the data is wrong, every decision that follows may be wrong too.

Our technicians still hear stories about electrical troubleshooting methods that belong in the past.

Besides being dangerous, they’re unreliable.

Modern chillers and HVAC systems contain sophisticated controls, sensors, safety devices, and electrical components that require proper testing equipment.

When it comes to electrical troubleshooting, guessing is never a maintenance strategy.

Proper lockout/tagout procedures and calibrated testing equipment exist for a reason.

Safety should never be based on assumptions.

This may be the most expensive myth of all.

When an alarm appears, it’s easy to think the alarm itself is the problem.

In reality, the alarm is often doing exactly what it was designed to do.

It’s warning you that something else needs attention.

Repeatedly resetting alarms without investigating the cause doesn’t solve the problem. It simply delays it. Sometimes that delay allows a relatively minor issue to become a major repair.

Is it though?  Ask yourself, how many of those same “repairs” have you had done on that same unit in the last 1-3 years?   While it can be tempting to approve another repair on an aging chiller, there’s a tipping point where it’s no longer the smart financial decision.  

If your chiller is over 15 years old and requires frequent, expensive repairs, it’s probably time to evaluate a replacement, a retrofit, or at least have a discussion about future planning. A simple rule of thumb is to compare the repair cost against the value of a new unit. If a single repair costs more than 50% of a replacement, it’s rarely a sound investment.

Furthermore, an older unit’s energy consumption can be significantly higher than a new high-efficiency model or at minimum, retrofitting components with newer versions can also be a great option.

A Chiller Annual Energy calculating discussion with our team can help quantify the long-term ROI of a new unit, often revealing that energy savings alone can offset the initial investment over a few years.  Whatever the outcome may be from the assessment, you can rest assured that we will present you with all of your options and help you determine what is BEST for your facility (short-term & long-term).  Not what is the most expensive.