USA labs chiller almost killed me

Compressor exploded out of nowhere. If USA labs people are reading this, I hate you guys.

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@hashmandu Wow scary! Any photos you can post? Any ideas what lead to that happening?

Damn, I hope everyone is okay, could you share more details? Brand and model number? What was happening when it failed?

Well that’s not safe…

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chiller popped the breaker, went to turn it back on and without even engaging the PID controller to start the compressors i heard Arcing. within a few seconds sparks were flying and then a burst of oil and refrigerant. what sucks is i didn’t even want this chiller and local shop talked me into it. the dual compressor -80 celsius chiller. let me tell you those cheap chinese companies don’t care if you live or die. i ran as fast i outside to cut power to the building from a kill switch i made.

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Damn, how long was the compressor spraying oil/refrigerant?

Have you taken it apart to see where the failure occurred? I assume is was just a poorly brazed joint and not the actual compressor blowing out.

I’m wondering what in the hell the arcing you described could possibly have to do with it

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I’m unfamiliar with these units, but I have seen a residential ac compressor do the same thing. In my case one of the power leads grounded to the compressor and burnt a hole.
Dollars to donuts that’s what you’re looking at here. Pop the cap off of your leads and take a look.

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Very scary, I use 2 of these every day :scream:

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@usalab sup with this?..

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Theyre selling shitty unlisted components in their chillers/heaters.

Honestly some of the shittiest equipment you can get, equivalent to ordering from Terry direct :sweat_smile:

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Mind posting some pictures of the chiller in question?

Sounds gnarly as fuck.

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You get what you pay for! Super cheap = dangerous!

Just found this on their listing - big red flag.
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I’d recommend sourcing equipment for an ISO:9001 Manufacturer. It’s easy for a reliable Chinese Manufacturer to get, so when they don’t have it — you know something’s up.

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If anyone needs good knockoff chillers, hmu, I have the direct vetted Alibaba Wenzhou plug, can dropship to you. :sweat_smile:

Have some places running imported heaters/chillers, you just need to vette the factories build quality and components.

The ISO cert is a plus, and that is why the cheapest chinest product’s are not the best.

There are literally different grades of equipment produced there, A+, A-, B+, B-, C, etc…

Each grade has its woes.

The A grade equipment can usually be made UL compliant In a US automation/controls shop, with UL component swapouts.

The electrical components on chinese equipment are typically easy to replace with US components, on well built equipment from china.

Good luck repairing anything lower than B grade equipment, with replacement components.
Assembly is so shoddy lol.

Scary to disassemble low grade chinese equipment, you dont know if there are loose and ungrounded caps/SSR’s/MOSFETS that could still be charged and not grounded properly.

One of those popping/grounding/termitating through you, at the right time, and you can easily have a heart attack.

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Maybe just get a polyscience like a normal person that values their safety. I bet this happens often with Chinese chillers

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That nearly killed the guy…

Another one for the dagerous storries thread…

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I doubt it was actually all that dangerous, if you didn’t know what that sound was it would probably have been pretty frightening.

I’ve hit an ac unit with an ax and it just sprayed oil and refrigerant towards me and was really loud.

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I meant that a detail like you described is what can go wrong…horribly.

Thank god someone seems to be watching over us…maybe its the Virus :stuck_out_tongue:

Jokes aside, thx for sharing bee vell f4.2

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I had a rosin press from a pretty big well known company. I did a lot of presses with it that went fine. Then one day was cranking the hand pump while doing a press. Was at a pretty high psi (don’t remember it’s been years since I squished) and I guess something was not aligned properly on the machine, and 2 of the huge bolts at the top Fuckin exploded, snapped in half and went flying through the drywall like bullets. Came inches away from my face. The sound it made scared the fuck out of everyone in the room. I probably have pics of the whole unit all warped and shit. Pretty sure that bolt
Could’ve gone through someone’s skull easily.

I messaged them and they sounded terrified, and offered to replace it with any one of their units.

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Sorry to hear, sounds like phases touched and overloaded the compressor causing it to burst, the breaker essentially saved your life, you pressed the try again button haha.

Please be safe, develop in house SOP’s to check circuits for any issues when breakers trip.

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I was thinking of you when this exact thread popped up and the few times you’ve told me the chiller broke down to you needed a new compressor.

Would hate to lose you guys!!

Wenzhou is a steel city. If they are coming from there. Likely they are being bought from another company and just shipped there

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