I have a CW-5000 chiller. The alarm is going continuously and I can’t figure out why. I checked the water level and it is completely full. The water seems to be flowing fine. Any ideas?
…my first guess would be a kink or plug in the hose…
This can be easily checked by squeezing the hose together with your fingers and feeling for a pressure increase/decrease.
Have you checked if the in and out of the tube are mounted so that no air bubble forms…?..
The last time I saw someone, here on the forum, complaining about a water problem in the chiller (I believe it was even the same model) it was a defect in the flow sensor.
Without more details I can’t help much more (despite being a chiller technician) 
I checked the lines. There are no kinks and the water seems to be flowing well (pinch test). I filled it up with water into the yellow part. Could it be that it has too much water?
…I don’t think so. I also have a fairly high water level in my cooling machine.
You could try an “open water circuit” to see if the pressure and flow look fine.
How would I go about checking if it is the flow sensor?
Not sure about what’s causing this.
cw-5000_5200_industrial_chiller_maintenance_manual.pdf.txt (1.5 MB)
CW-5000-5200-Chiller-Manual.pdf.txt (390.6 KB)
The flow sensor on my OMTech China Blue has a pressure sensor, not a flow sensor.
Maybe these manuals on the 5000 series chillers will help you locate the issue. I don’t remember what the insides really look like anymore.
This image is from the maintenance manual.
Good luck.
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…this is also helpful reading
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Interesting… Hall effect sensor isn’t located there on my machine, however downloaded … thanks.
That is very helpful. I will do these tests and let you know how it comes out.
If the alarm is going off, but there is no error code on the chiller itself, depending on the configuration and laser manufacturer, it could be a failing flow control valve in the laser machine itself, OR an obstructed hose within the chiller. Obviously, since you have already replaced the entire unit, it’s not going to do you much good to get the info now, but I’ll leave this here for the next person (or you, should you run into the error again).
First, check to make sure you have water flow when the chiller is running. Disconnect the outlet of the chiller from the inlet of the laser, and see if water is flowing from the chiller to the laser. Next, do the same thing with the laser’s outlet and the chiller’s inlet (with the other hoses properly connected and secured). If both processes have a steady, low pressure water stream, you know your pump is good in the chiller, and the water line isn’t obstructed. If the removed water line is not producing a consistent, low pressure stream of water, you have an obstruction. This isn’t recommended by the manufacturers of these units but it’s worked the few times I’ve had this issue:
- remove the cover to the chiller, and look at the inlet & outlet tubes on the inside of the chiller itself. SOME models end up with far more tubing than they need crammed into that space. If its folded over and twisted, cut that section away from the tube, and reconnect the tubing without any curls or twists. If that isn’t the case, fold the water lines (both inlet and outlet to the chiller) one at a time, allowing pressure to build up briefly, and then release. Repeat this process until the obstruction moves through the system. Even if you are using pure, distilled water & changing it regularly, due to the amount of light the waterlines let in, algae can grow in the system. As it does, it breaks off and can clog your lines at the transfer points between the laser and the chiller, and the holding tank & the inlet/outlet of the chiller.
- This problem is common with G. Weiki manufactured machines more so than other machines, BUT it does happen occasionally with other brands. If your laser came with an aviator style connecting cable that runs from chiller to the laser, the flow control sensor may be failing, and causing the alarm (but since it’s a laser issue, not a chiller issue, the chiller can’t throw a code because it doesn’t know why water isn’t flowing at the right pressure, it just knows there isn’t enough water flow…and keep in mind, this can happen chiller side when there are zero issues or alarms showing on the laser’s controller because from the laser’s perspective, there’s plenty of water flowing). Replace the sensor, problem solved.