EXPERIENCE: Overloaded Ice Bank System

Problem: Customer’s ice system could no longer keep up with the additional demands for chilled process water because of added process shifts. (They currently have three chillers with plans for one additional chiller to be added in the future.)

Solution: Project included adding two Chester Jensen heat exchangers to the existing system and removing the ice banks.

All of the water chilled in the Chester Jensen ammonia to water chillers are run into the insulated tanks for storage. With the larger chilled water demand and longer shifts, the ice banks did not have enough ice build time so storage tanks for chilled water were chosen instead.

All ammonia refrigeration piping and tie-ins were kept to a minimum. We were able to start-up one new chiller while we finished the piping of the second unit and the existing unit. With four chillers now in place and a 7500 gallon storage capacity, the plant has enough chilled water.

During the project we worked with the owner's personnel to add additional sensors and controls for monitoring their chilled water system.