Best method for eliminating ice built-up in evaporators

[racktech2008]

There´s this leak in this rack system which has been giving us trouble. We just cannot find it. Lately, my supervisor decided to look for it in three walk-in freezer evaporators which exhibit a lot of built-up ice: he told me that up there we could have a leak in a tube crushed by ice pressure. I got the mission of de-bury this possible leak out of its icy tomb.
I´ve spent already two days trying to clear off the thick layer of ice: first with a hand propane torch, then with a tank-type propane torch, later with a huge heat gun and today with a combination of the three tools. True, there is much less ice than before, but still a lot more to melt. Does any of you know a faster method for tackling this icy problems?

[Samarjit Sen]

Shut down the plant, the ice will melt away or tere must be a defrost system, you may operate it for a longer time.

[nike123]

Lot of hot water!

[powell]

Get a water hose, hook it up to a hot water supply and spray it down (easily).

Of course you want to shut down the system, disconnect the power and provide a secondary drain escape if it overflows the evap drain pans.

Then find the reason for the ice buildup.

1. Not enough defrost...4 per day minimun.
2. Moisture entering the box.......seal all air leaks and verify the door gaskets are good.
3. Adjust defrost termination switch, if applicable, to prevent frost buildup.

[powell]

Dang nike!....you beat me too the hot water answer by 5 minutes.:mad:

[nike123]

Dang nike!....you beat me too the hot water answer by 5 minutes.:mad:

Sorry, I will newer do that again.;):D

[Tesla]

Brainy
Your right with the hot water. Just a thought and I use this method on small leaks for chillers - Try to seal coil with a big plastic bag and tape, put it on a defrost cycle to raise the evap press, wait, then poke a hole in the bottom of bag, immediatly place probe of leak detector into bag to check for a gas leak

[Mark]

If using a hose, make sure you dont spray the floor and end up with a skating ring, and possible legal action.
Also it may not be practical in a large ish walk in due to volume of traffic through the door.(hose access)

We mainly use the large plant Sprayers (the type you manually pump up), filled with Hot water.

Mark

[750 Valve]

If using a hose, make sure you dont spray the floor and end up with a skating ring, and possible legal action.
Also it may not be practical in a large ish walk in due to volume of traffic through the door.(hose access)

We mainly use the large plant Sprayers (the type you manually pump up), filled with Hot water.

Mark

Was going to mention the skating rink... but sometimes you have to banish all staff and hose down that ice block bigtime, get the room above zero when finished, sweep all water/ice out and cover the floor in copious amounts of salt. Let room pull down again and keep squeegying that slush away from the floor. Apprentices are good for this

[Kh1971]

hi,

close the main line going to the evap, and then start defrost for 1 hour and then your well clean up your Evap very easy.

Regards and Gook luck