Did you know that water scarcity is now a major concern in almost every part of the world? That is why water-cooled chiller rentals are now a debate versus using air-cooled chiller rentals. We will take a few points of these two methods and how they are different to each other.

A chiller, vastly used in industrial facilities, is a cooling machine that eradicates heat and transfers this to the area using a refrigeration process. These could be an air-cooled chiller or a water-cooled chiller. Though the function is similar, there are a lot of differences in these two methods which we will put into details in this article.

Water-cooled chillers have longer lifespan as they are installed indoors and are not exposed to rain, snow, ice, and heat so they don't need replacement often as air-cooled chillers do.

If you need a chiller to be installed quickly, air-cooled chillers are the best option as they take less time to get up and running and are easier to operate while water-cooled chillers are more complicated because they have more parts to install.

Depending on the location that you have, if you have no large open space, you may want to choose a water-cooled chiller as they don't need fresh air to run. Air-cooled chillers are ideally installed in parking lots or rooftops and should not be installed near walls that block the air flow. Water-cooled chiller systems are installed indoors but require mechanical rooms to ensure that the chiller will function properly with its cooling tower and extra components.

If your business operation requires quiet operation such as hospitals and schools, water-cooled chillers are the best choice.

Water-cooled chillers transfer heat more efficiently. The lower a chiller condenses, the more efficient it is.

Water-cooled chillers need more to maintain as they have more parts such as cooling towers and evaporative condensers (that require water treatments), make-up water pumps, chillers and TES reservoirs. Also, water problems need to be dealt with in case of disaster, which is not a problem for air-cooled chillers.

In terms of which of these chillers are costly, water-cooled chillers have chemical costs to consider. Also, they need high water consumption, if you can waive water bills, a water-cooled chiller is the best option. However, air cooled chillers require more energy, so they have higher energy cost. If there is water scarcity or in areas that have cheap energy but costly water fees you may want to choose air-cooled chillers.

More and more businesses today are more concerned with the environment. Energy saving measures are being implemented everywhere. More energy savings are beneficial with any businesses and with the environment, so water-cooled chillers are the best option. They use water as a refrigerant instead of toxic chemicals, making them safer for people who have contact with. However, air-cooled chillers have no water wastage unlike water-cooled chillers.

If you want to know which chiller is the best, it largely depends on your business location and preferences.  If you don’t have any open space, needs high efficiency, your business requires a quiet operation and are willing to accept high water expense, water-cooled chiller is the best option for you. On the other hand, if you are situated in an open space that doesn’t mind noisy operation, in an area with cheap energy cost and wants an easy set-up and operation, you may want to choose an air-cooled chiller system.

Robert Everett is General Manager at Chiller Rentals by CTCA. Other than being on top of his game, he loves to share his knowledge on HVAC industry. On the other side of things, he is also fond of joining volunteer groups for scholarship cause.