Comparison between Water-cooling Condenser and Evaporative Condenser

In the design and manufacture of the ice machine, we will select the appropriate condenser according to the different use environment. For example, in cold areas in winter, we recommend using air-cooled or evaporative condensers to prevent frost cracking. Let’s learn about the difference between water-cooled condenser and evaporative condenser.

Water-cooled condenser

For the open cooling circulating water system, because the cooling water absorbs heat and contacts with the air, CO2 escapes into the air, and dissolved oxygen and turbidity in the water increase, causing four major problems in the cooling circulating water system: corrosion, scaling, bacteria and algae growth and sludge. Therefore, in areas with good water quality and low ambient temperature, we often use water cooling.

Through the cooling tower, the temperature of the system will be reduced after water circulation, so as to realize the normal operation of the ice making equipment. The advantage of water-cooled condenser is that the equipment cost and operation cost are slightly cheaper than evaporative cooling. And water quality is the key of water cooling cycle refrigeration equipment. If the water quality is not treated, the refrigeration equipment will be seriously damaged, the heat exchange efficiency will be greatly reduced, and the energy will be wasted.

In addition, ice making equipment and ice and snow equipment equipped with water-cooled condenser must be protected from frost cracking during winter operation. If the equipment is always in use, this situation rarely occurs. However, if it is not used, the water in the condenser and cooling tower shall be drained according to the regulations.

Evaporative Condenser 

After repeated tests, during the production and operation of the ice maker, the evaporative condenser is relatively friendly to the operating performance feedback of the compressor system, and is usually suitable for larger ice making systems.

Compared with air-cooled and water-cooled condensers, evaporative condensers save about 1/2 of power consumption, and the circulating water volume only accounts for 1/8 of water-cooled condensers. In addition, the evaporative condenser has better heat dissipation performance than the water-cooled condenser, and has the lowest cooling capacity cost and the best performance. The manufacturing cost of evaporative condenser for the whole machine is a little expensive for water cooling, but it can save at least 3% energy.

Conclusion: Evaporative cooling is applicable to large refrigeration units, especially screw compressor units, while water cooling is applicable to small and medium-sized piston compressor units. In fact, any evaporative condenser does not rely entirely on evaporation. It has both evaporation and water-cooling mixed flow effect. According to our manufacturing and user experience, evaporative condenser is recommended for ice machine equipment or ice and snow equipment with more than 10 tons. After preliminary calculation, the extra cost will be recovered in about half a year of operation (price difference between evaporative cooling and water cooling)