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Quotes - Engineering - SalesOverview
Every chiller selection starts with the actual heat load, in tons or BTU/hr, coming off the process - not the horsepower of the motor, the clamp tonnage of the press, or the size of the machine sitting next to where the chiller will go. A small, high-duty-cycle process can load a chiller harder than a large machine that runs light; the only reliable number is watts or BTU/hr measured or calculated from the process itself.
Next is the required leaving fluid temperature, and it matters more than most buyers expect. A chiller's nameplate tonnage is normally rated at a moderate temperature, often 50°F leaving fluid - the same physical unit delivers meaningfully less capacity at 34°F, because pulling more heat out per pound of refrigerant at a lower evaporating temperature is harder work for the same compressor. Quoting off a nameplate tonnage without stating your actual required temperature is how undersized chillers end up on the floor.
For air-cooled units, the ambient design condition - the hottest air temperature the condenser will actually see, not the average - sets how much heat the unit can reject before capacity falls off. A chiller sized for a 95°F ambient will fall short in a mechanical room that regularly sees 105°F. Flow rate (GPM) and the pump head available at the point of use matter just as much: too little flow starves the process of cooling even when the tonnage is correct, and too much head loss in long or narrow piping runs can leave the pump unable to deliver the flow the process needs.
Finally, decide whether the loop needs glycol. If the fluid has to run below 32°F for any part of the process, or the unit sits outdoors somewhere the fluid could freeze in winter, glycol is a selection input, not an accessory - see the Glycol & Low-Temperature Guide for how percentage affects performance. Once you have these five numbers, request a quote and we'll match a standard Advantage portable, central or glycol chiller rather than working backward from a guess.
- See Portable Chillers and Central Chillers for Advantage configurations by capacity
- See Glycol Chillers if your process needs sub-freezing fluid or outdoor freeze protection
- Send us these five numbers on the Quotes page and we'll size the right standard model
| What We Need | Why It Matters |
| Heat load (tons or BTU/hr) | The actual number the chiller has to remove - not machine size or motor horsepower |
| Required leaving fluid temperature | Lower temperatures reduce a given chiller's effective tonnage |
| Ambient design condition | Sets condenser capacity for air-cooled units at the hottest expected air temperature |
| Flow rate (GPM) and available pump head | Confirms the pump can deliver adequate flow at the point of use |
| Glycol requirement, if any | Needed below 32°F fluid temperature or for outdoor freeze exposure |
ONE COMMON MISTAKE TO AVOID
Sizing Off the Wrong Number
The single most frequent selection error we see is a heat load and a required temperature quoted independently, as if either one alone were enough to pick a model. They aren't - a chiller's effective tonnage changes with leaving fluid temperature, so the same heat load number can point to two different model sizes depending on whether the process needs 50°F fluid or 34°F fluid. Send both numbers together, not one now and the other "once we confirm."
A related mistake: sizing an air-cooled unit off average ambient temperature instead of the hottest design condition. A unit that performs fine in spring will fall short during a summer heat wave if it was sized to the average rather than the peak the mechanical room or outdoor pad will actually see.
Getting It Right
- Report heat load and leaving fluid temperature together, not separately
- Use peak ambient design condition, not seasonal average
- Measure or calculate flow rate rather than assuming existing piping is adequate
- Confirm glycol requirement before, not after, a model is selected
