Because of the economy, the company has seen more people interested in repairing and refurbishing their chillers, rather than going out to buy new.

Richard Lee of Total Imaging Concepts also realized that people were interested in cheaper chiller solutions and started selling pre-owned chillers after cleaning them up and making sure they worked.


"We are finding that chillers have long life in them. We don't do any refurbishing, we find those in good shape and put them back on the market," Lee says. "We have seen a lot of chillers on sites for 10 to 12 years and when hospitals upgrade, we find we can still use them. I would say 40% of the chillers we come across are in good shape."

When dealing with any used or refurbished chiller company, customers should be smart enough to ask if the chiller was refurbished by its original manufacturer, what components were replaced with new and who stands behind the refurbishment warranty.

Environmental Impact

The average MRI unit requires a 30-gallon per minute flow of water, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, all of which translates to a total of 15.7 million gallons used per year. The same flow rate is required even when the unit is at rest, between patient scans. That's why a chiller solution is so valuable.

"Not only is this a large use of natural resources, but at an average of $5 per 1,000 gallon water and sewer fee, the operating costs to the facility would be $75,000 a year," says Bernard. "We call attention to this because in most instances this cost is accounted for as simply overhead-a cost of doing business, much like a light bill or waste removal fee. However, it's powerful information for the department manager that needs to justify a capital expenditure, since the customer can see a return on their investment in approximately four months, saving the facility upwards of $50,000 a year, while helping the environment."

Using a dedicated chiller also saves on a facility's investment in the piece of medical equipment by eliminating the scale build-up that occurs with the mineral deposits and impurities found within city-water supplies.

"It is also advantageous over a central fluid cooling system in that the fluid is dedicated only to that piece of equipment, thus its temperature and flow settings are never ruled by other equipment's combined needs, allowing the medical equipment to be used full-time without the concern that over-temp alarms or low flow faults shutdowns of that machine, if the full cooling needs are not always available," Bernard says. "This too ensures that fluid impurities are not carried between multiple pieces of hospital equipment, which may have negligible effect on some pieces, while deeply impacting the operation of another."

More Industry Reports