Hello Luke,
You have already received several responses highlighting different
configurations and scenarios. If you are being pushed to
decommissioning your own chilled water loop and tying in to your
building (campus?) chilled water instead, the question you should ask is
how reliable is that going to be? Can you trust that they are going to
provide consistent, reliable chilled water? If so, then do it.Â
If not, then it isn't worth the head-ache.
Here, the spectrometers are spread across multiple labs in two different buildings. Â
And because of that, we have three cryoprobes with three different cooling
setups for the helium compressors, all of which I think have been mentioned already.
The setup I like best uses a Haskris heat-exchanger, where the closed=
loop to the compressor is cooled using campus chilled water. If you do
decide to tie in to the building chilled water, I suggest that you look
into perhaps installing the Haskris type units instead of using the
campus/building chilled water directly.
One important point that has already been mentioned is the algae and
sediment that can build up in the campus chilled water. This is a
particular problem in the spring when the buildings switch from heating
to cooling, and thus accumulated crud gets churned up and flushed into
the system. That is why you need to have a filter installed upstream
from your compressor (or Haskris heat exchanger). Our oldest system has
a standard 5-micron water filter cartridge you are probably familiar
with. Periodically, as the filter gets plugged, we need to switch to
bypass so that we can remove the clogged filter and replace it with a new one.
But on our newest install, instead of using a standard 5 micron filter
that needs to be changed periodically, we installed a JUDO filter like
the one shown here:
https://judo.eu/en-ca/produkt/judo-profi-and-profimat-manual-version-north-america/
With this system, when the JUDO filter gets clogged, you can manually flush
the filter without interfering with normal operation.  This JUDO
filter is installed upstream from the Haskris, and the Haskris is setup
to switch to city water if the campus chilled water isn't able to cool
the closed loop water.
The upside is that the cryoprobe stays cold while we clear the debris
accumulated on the JUDO filter. And, the JUDO filter serves as a
"canary in the coal mine" alerting us to check the 5-micron filter in
the lab upstairs and change it before it triggers that cryoprobe to warm-up.
Good luck,
Bob.
On 2025-07-29 12:26 p.m., Fulton, Luke via groups.io wrote:
>
> Hi all,
> I'm planning end-of-life transition for our chilled water recirculator=
> which services two helium compressor cold heads. The main unit sits in
> a hallway just outside the lab, and the building's design doesn't
> allow for putting it anywhere else.
> 1) Any recommendations for vendor or chiller type? I'm also interested
> in general quotes (feel free to message me privately with any insights
> on what we might expect).
> 2) Some in my department are pushing for integrating into the
> chemistry building's existing chilled water network. I've not heard of
> labs choosing this approach, and my impression is endless
> complications from algae and other sundry building issues. Anyone seen
> success with this? Or is it one of those 39-and-a-half-foot-pole topics?
> Kind regards,
> Luke
>
> Luke Fulton, PhD
> CHEM BLDG R003
> NMR Core Facility Director
> Unit 3060
> COR2E & Department of Chemistry
> 55 N Eagleville Road
> University of Connecticutâ
> Storrs, CT 06279
> email: fko24003_at_uconn.edu
> (alias): luke.fulton_at_uconn.edu
>
--
Dr. Bob Berno
Manager, NMR Facility
McMaster University, ABB-156
1280 Main St. West
Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1
T: 905-525-9140 x24158 or x24686
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