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Chilled Water Coil
Chilled Water Coil Manufacturer in China
You have an HVAC system, don’t you? Big building, small office, fancy data centre — it’s all the same to us. If it’s in the cooling business, odds are a Chilled Water Coil is on the job. But what is such a thing, really? And why should you care?
Simple. It’s the part that does the work of cooling the air. Imagine your chiller as the heart, which pumps out cold water. So Your Chilled Water Coil is like your AHU’s or FCU’s lungs and its job is to take that nice cold water and use it to suck all that heat that the room now contains right back out of the room. No magic, just smart engineering. Get it wrong and you’re facing a summer in sweaty offices, sky-high energy bills and a system that’s little more than an expensive paperweight. Get it right? You’re king of the castle.
So, What’s The Deal With a Chilled Water Coil Anyways? No PhD Required.
“Heat exchanger.” Sounds fancy, eh? All that really happens is that heat is moved from one place (your warm, stuffy air) to another (the chilled water). Here’s the cheat sheet:
- Cold Water In: Your chiller – that big boy you usually feed to a corner – cools water down to somewhere around 6-7°C (which is around 42-45°F if you’re buddies with Percy over there).
- Pump It Up: A pump pushes this cold water through a series of pipes to your Chilled Water Coil, residing happily within your AHU or FCU.
- The Coil Itself: Think a car radiator, but for air. A load of tiny tubes (typically made of copper) with a load of tiny metal sheets with the catchy name of fins (usually made out of aluminium) stuck to them. The cooled water circulates through the tubes.
- Air Hits Cold: A fan moves the warm air from your building over these cold fins and tubes.
- The Magic Moment (aka Physics): The heat in the air jumps ship. It passes into the cold fins, on into the cold tubes, and into the chilled water. The heat is passed around like a hot potato.
- Cooled Air Out: So obviously the cooler air, which is often a bit drier (huh?!) (cold air can’t hold as much moisture) , is blown back into your rooms. Ah, sweet relief.
- Warmer Water Comes Back: The water, now holding a lot of absorbed heat, comes back as slightly warmer. It is recycled back to the chiller for re-chilling, and the process repeats.
It’s a continuous loop. Simple. Effective. And when it’s done properly, bloody efficient. The gameplay is all about maximising that surface area for heat transfer – add more fins, add more tubes, make better contact. That’s where the engineering ninjas separate from the engineers.
The Anatomy of a Beast: What Makes Up a Chilled Water Coil
You wouldn’t purchase a car without seeing under the bonnet, right? Same deal here. Understanding the guts of a Chilled Water Coil will help you understand performance, longevity and what to specify.
Tubes:
- The Workhorses: This is where the cold water runs.
- Material: Copper is most common — highest heat transfer, fairly durable. For harsher environments or special fluids you might find cupronickel (copper-nickel alloy, good against corrosion, especially and most notoriously with salty air) or even stainless steel (the daddy of hardcore corrosion, but more expensive, and not such a good heat conductor as copper).
- Size: Tube diameter and wall thickness affect the rate of flow, pressure drop, and the effect of abuse.
Fins:
- Surface Area Kings: These highly-extend the surface area that contacts the air, resulting in a large heat transfer increase. You can’t be finless, because if you were, the barrel you’d need to be riding on right now would have to be ridiculous.
- Materials: Often aluminium – it’s lightweight, transfers heat well, and is relatively cheap. Copper fins and copper tubes are occasionally used instead for certain applications, or if you’re feeling fancy and want max thermal conductivity (and less of a bank account).
- Fin Types & Density (FPI): The fins may be flat, corrugated or louvered (resembling miniature Venetian blinds). Fins Per Inch (FPI) is a biggie — higher FPI generally means more heat transfer, but also more resistance to airflow (air pressure drop), so there’s a trade off. Too many fins and you starve the air, too few and you cool too little.
- Here’s a way to think about this: It’s difficult to walk through a dense forest (high air resistance) and yet there can be a lot of shade (heat transfer). “And it’s easier walking here too, once you’re in a more sparse wood.””Entering a sparse wood is an easy job to walk through, and it doth not shade so much.
Headers/Manifolds:
- The Traffic Directors: These are larger pipes at either end of the bundle which distribute the chilled water across the tubes and then collect it after it has done its job. Material will generally be same as tubes, or heavy gauge steel.
Casing/Frame:
- The Bodyguard: Everything holds together. Galvanised steel as standard for good service, or stainless steel if it’s going to live in a harsh atmosphere or you just want it to last for ever.
Connections:
- Plugging In: How the coil connects to your building’s pipework. May be screwed (tapered threaded) or flanged (bolted) or sweat (soldered – common for copper).
Circuiting:
- The Water’s Course: How the water is fed through the tubes – full circuit (all tubes fed from one end), half circuit (with half the tubes fed from one end, the other half from another, etc. This alters water speed and pressure loss. The engineers determine this according to your GPM (Gallons Per Minute as preferred) and performance standard. It’s not random, trust me.
Here’s a quick rundown of common material combos:
| Component | Common Material 1 | Common Material 2 | Why it Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tubes | Copper | Cupronickel | Heat transfer, corrosion resistance, cost |
| Fins | Aluminium | Copper | Surface area, heat transfer, cost, weight |
| Casing | Galvanised Steel | Stainless Steel | Structural support, corrosion resistance |
| Headers | Copper/Brass | Steel | Water distribution, pressure handling, corrosion |
Understanding these bits helps you talk sense with suppliers and technicians. Don’t just nod along; know what you’re getting!
All Chilled Water Coils Are Not Created Equal: Types of Coils You Will Experience
A coil is a coil, right? Wrong. As with everything, there are flavours.
- Standard Coils: Off-the-shelf sizes, common configurations. Good for quick replacements if your needs are typical.
- Custom-Built Coils: The Savile Row suit of the coil world. Custom cut to your specifications – dimensions, materials, performance. If you have weird space limitations or highly particular cooling needs, this is your Huckleberry. This is where a guru like us at Telawell bring in the expertise.
- OEM Replacement coils: Meant to be a direct replacement for a coil that was manufactured by a particular Original Equipment Manufacturer (e.g. – if you have a Trane unit, don’t get a Carrier coil) The idea is that it plugs in.
- Booster Coils: Small coils employed downstream of the main cooling coil to warm the air (and thus control humidity) or adjust temperature for a particular zone.
- Fluid Coils (General): Not dissimilar to our Chilled Water Coils, Fluid Coils can be used for chilled water or hot water/glycol in whatever configuration your system operates. Modular, but be sure it is rated for chilled water applications.
The “type” usually winds up being: “Is this a standard size that I can pick up, or do I need something specific?” For big, important systems, custom is often simply the road to peak performance and fit.
Where the Magic Happens: Uses for Chilled Water Coils
These bad boys are ubiquitous, silently making things cool. You notice a big vent, there’s likely a Chilled Water Coil that is discharging the air to atmosphere up the line.
- Air Handling Units (AHUs): The big boys of A/C. These are big boxes that contain fans, filters, and -you guessed it- Chilled Water Coils (and often Re-heat coils). They are all-purpose devices that are good for large spaces, even entire buildings.
- Fan Coil Units (FCUs): Smaller more localised units, often found in a single room and in hotels, offices or apartments. They also have a Chilled Water Coil and little fan. Think of them as mini-AHUs.
- Rooftop Units (RTUs): Typical in commercial buildings such as retail stores or restaurants. These are standalone HVAC units on the roof, with essentially every larger one using chilled water systems with coils.
- Process Cooling: Factories and industrial facilities frequently require specific cooling for machinery or to accommodate the manufacturing process. Its the Chilled Water Coils that are important here.
- Commercial properties: Offices, shopping malls, airports – when it’s large and needs to be air conditioned, it’s usually served by chilled water.
- Institutions: Hospitals (essential for theatres and patient’s comfort), schools, universities.
- Data Centers: They are HELL without good cooling. Servers produce insane amounts of heat. Can’t allow all of those expensive computers to overheat, now can we? Chilled Water Coils are known to be the best solution.
Essentially, anywhere you require major, effective cooling on a medium-to-large-sized scale, that’s where you’re going to find these coils.
So What’s the Big Deal with Chilled Water Systems and Coils? The Perks of the Setup
Okay, so they cool stuff. But what’s the point of a chilled water system over, for instance, a bunch of small direct expansion (DX) units? There are some solid wins:
- Energy Efficiency (particularly at scale): Big chillers are typically more efficient producers of cooling than any number of small standalone compressors. For large buildings, it’s a huge energy (and money) saver. And it’s rather like having one giant, incredibly efficient engine rather than 50 small, thirsty ones.
- Accurate Temperature & Humidity Control: Chill Water systems enable better air conditioning. That perfect environment, you can really dial it in.
- Scalability: Need more cooling? You can often add another chiller or upgrade the central plant without tearing out every coil in the building. It’s easier to grow.
- Centralised Plant Advantages: Concentrating main cooling generation (the chiller) in one place simplifies maintenance and moves it away from occupied spaces.
- Ability to select your own refrigerant: The chiller is a refrigerant system, however the coil section only sees water (or water/glycol). This can be an advantage with the new refrigerant laws. You’re not locked into a refrigerant at every single cooling mode.
- Heat Recovery Potential: In many cases, you’re able to make use of waste heat from your chiller for heating water or other applications. Smart.
It’s not always the best choice for every itty-bitty application, but for large cooling loads, advantages add up rapidly.
Don’t Screw Up: Choose The Right Chilled Water Coil
Selecting a Chilled Water Coil is not something that can be done off the rack as if we’re choosing a new tie. Get it wrong and your whole system is underpowered, maybe not even functional. Here’s what the pros (including me) watch. Here’s what you need to know or get from your engineer:
Performance Requirements – Crunching the Numbers:
- Cooling Capacity (BTU/hr or Tons): How much heat must it remove? This is the headline figure.
- Air Flow (CFM – Cubic Feet/Minute): How many cubic feet of air are you having it move?
- Entering Water Temperature (EWT): What is the temperature of the water entering the chiller?
- Leaving Water Temperature (LWT): Once the water has gained heat, how hot is it? (The delta between EWT vs lwt incondsnwtinf, multiplied sp that by your flowrate and it’s the about cooling you did).
- Entering Air Temperatures (EAT – Dry Bulb/Wet Bulb): What shape is the air in that is contacting the coil? Wet bulb is key for humidity.
- Leaving Air Temperature (LAT – DB/WB): Desired air at the coils?
- Water flow rate (GPM or LPM in the UK): How many gallons or liters of water are flowing through the coil?
Physical Constraints – Will it Fit?
- Size (Height, Width, Depth/Rows): Goes without saying, but it’s key. It needs to be able to fit physically in the AHU or the duct. “Rows deep” is how many rows of tubes the air flows over — more rows typically equates to higher cooling capacity.
- Sizes of Connections: How Big and Where? Are they the right size?
Properties of Fluids – Water is No Longer Just Water:
- Water vs. Glycol Solutions: If there’s a chance of freezing (outdoor AHUs in the winter, for example) you’ll need a water/glycol mixture. Glycol can impact heat transfer as well as cause viscosity, figure out which coil is right for you. It’s also not as good at transferring heat as plain water is, so you might need a little more coil.
Pressure Drop – The Resistance:
- Airside Pressure Drop: The amount of opposition presented to airflow by the coil. Too low, and your fan zips too fast, using up spare energy.
- Waterside Pressure Drop: The amount of resistance the coil presents to the flow of water. Too high, and your pump is working too hard.
Material Compatibility: Just be sure the coil materials (tubes, fins, casing) are able to resist the fluid inside and the conditions outside without becoming a rusty factory.
Certifications (The Stamp of Approval):
- AHRI Certification (in the US/North America at least): This means the coil has been tested in the field and verified to do what it is claimed it does that it is based on. That’s huge for peace of mind. In the UK and Europe, comparable Eurovent certifications or manufacturer data supported with EN standards can be sought.
Coil Performance Charts/Software Awareness: There are generally softwares or detailed charts which help in selecting the exact type of coil after considering all these parameters; most manufacturers do give out! If you are not an engineer, be sure your supplier is using this correctly!
If you eyeball this, it’s like doing surgery with a butter knife. Either obtain the data, use the devices or hire someone willing to. Seriously. This is where custom coil providers earn their salt – they consume all this data and engineer a fit that’s just right for you.
Chilled Water Coil vs. DX (Direct Expansion) Coil: The Main Event
This is a common point of confusion. They both cool air, but they’re different animals.
| Feature | Chilled Water Coil | DX (Direct Expansion) Coil |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling Medium | Chilled water (or water/glycol mix) | Refrigerant (e.g., R410A, R134a) directly |
| How it Works | Water absorbs heat from air, returns to chiller | Refrigerant evaporates inside the coil, absorbing heat |
| System Size | Better for medium to large, centralised systems | Common in smaller, unitary systems (like your home AC or smaller commercial units) |
| Efficiency | Can be very high in large, well-designed systems | Good for smaller loads, but less scalable for massive cooling |
| Complexity | More components (chiller, pumps, extensive piping) | Simpler system, fewer major components per cooling zone |
| Control | Excellent, precise temperature & humidity control | Good, but fine-tuning can be less granular than chilled water |
| Refrigerant | Contained within the chiller (mostly) | Refrigerant runs to each DX coil |
| Example | Large office building AHU, hospital system | Split AC in a shop, residential central air |
The Short Version:
- Chilled Water Coil: system as a whole. Water is the intermediary, transporting the “cold” from a central chiller. Perfect for large tasks and small hands.
- DX Coil: The coil where the refrigerant cools directly. Simpler for smaller, standalone units. So it’s like the coil is the evaporator for a fridge circuit.
Neither is “better” overall. It’s a question of the right tool for the job. You don’t use a sledgehammer to mount a picture frame, do you?
Maintaining a Happy Chilled Water Coil: Tips on Maintenance, Troubleshooting and Coil Life
Your Chilled Water Coil is not a set and forget device. Ignore it, and it’ll bite you in the butt with performance that sucks and premature failure.
The Usual Suspects (Common Issues):
- Fouling (Dirty Fins): Dust, dirt, grease, and gook builds up on the fins, insulating them and restricting airflow. This KILLS efficiency. It’s like trying to breathe through a sock you’ve been wearing for a month.
- Scaling (Blocked Tubes): When water is not treated correctly – minerals such as limescale can accumulate in the tubes of the collector, constricting the flow of water and insulation from the transfer of heat. Double whammy.
- Corrosion: The tubes and fins can be corroded by the incorrect water chemistry, or by a challenging environment. Game over.
- Leaks: Leaks are most often at joints, connections or due to corrosion or freeze breakdown. A no good coil is a leaking coil.
- Freeze-up: If the entering air temperature is too low or if water flow ceases while the chiller is still running full bore, the water in the coil may freeze, expand and rupture tubing. Expensive oops. Most units will have freeze stats (safety thermostat) to prevent this.
Preventative Maintenance – The Best Ally You Got:
- Regular Cleaning (Fins): Keep those fins clean, I mean, really. Use a good coil cleaner and fin comb as needed if the fins get bent. How often? Depends on how dirty the air is, but once a year at least, perhaps more.
- Tube Cleaning (Scaling): Might need some chemical descaling if it goes bad. Better to prevent it with…
- Water Treatment: This is HUGE. The right chemistry plan for your chilled water loop prevents scale, corrosion, and biological fouling. Don’t skimp on this. It’s the lifeblood of your system.
- Look for Leaks: Always look for wet areas or drips.
- Air Filter (Upstream) Maintenance: Clean filters before the coil keep a lot of dirt from ever getting to it. This is the easiest win.
- Check Control Functions: Verify sensors, valves and freeze stats functioning.
A properly maintained Chilled Water Coil will last 15-20 years + if not longer. A neglected one? You’d be lucky to receive half that, and it will run like a three-legged dog for the majority of its brief lifespan.
The Inevitable: Chilled Water Coil Change Out
The fact is that all good things must end. So – when is the right time to hit the plunger on a new Chilled Water Coil?
Red Flags (Time for a Change).
- Leaks That Linger: Fixing leaks is just a temporary solution. If it just keeps springing new leaks, it’s finished.
- Heavy Corrosion/Damage: If it looks like something blasted from the Titanic, it probably performs like it as well.
- Unrecoverable Scaling/ fouling: The deposit is so heavy that cleaning is impossible or not cost-effective.
- Poor Performance: If it seems to be running as it should, but you’re not getting the cooling you’re used to, it’s lost its heat transfer capacity, despite your maintenance routine.
- End of Life / Upgraded System: It’s often a part of a larger system upgrade to improve efficiency.
Collecting Intel (How to Find a Replacement):
- All of the performance data we had previously discussed (CFM, GPM, tepms…).
- Physical size: Height, Width, Fin length, Depth (number of rows).
- Sizes, types and positions of the connections (left hand / right hand handedness).
- Casing details.
- Tube and fin material.
- If it’s an OEM replacement you are set and the model and serial number of the AHU/FCU is gold.
Custom vs. OEM:
- OEM is faster most of the time if it’s a standard unit.
- Custom offers the opportunity to optimize the design for improved performance, different materials or to better fit a slightly modified space. The benefit of the skincare, as well as styling perks which extend beyond the beach, are an added bonus as well as the body confidence a tan gives me when I fight cellulite is worth every penny.’ If the original coil wasn’t great, go for a new one.
Professional Installation is Everything: This isn’t a DIY job for your mate Dave unless Dave just happens to be an HVAC tech. Correct installation, termination, and commissioning is essential.
A coil isn’t a cheap purchase, so make sure you’re not taking the word of the wrong person or buying the wrong thing.
Bottom Line: Chilled Water Coils That Are High Quality Are Not An Expense…They’re an Investment
Listen, a Chilled Water Coil may not be the sexiest part of your building, BUT it’s a hardworking one. It’s essential to maintaining your space, running your operations and keeping your energy bills in line.
The false economy is to skimp on quality or design here. You will pay for it later in poor performance, inflated running costs and early replacement. Spending a little extra money on a Chilled Water Coil with the correct design, in the right size from reliable source (who is able to actually know what they are talking about) is going to save you money in the long run over building your company’s purchasing department lowest cost producer application. This is not just a case of buying a coil, it’s a case of buying a solution.
So, the next time anyone is talking to you about a Chilled Water Coil, you’ll know what’s up. You’ll understand the questions to ask, the mistakes to sidestep and why this unsung part is the unsung hero in cooling you never heard about. And if you need a new one, well, you know who to call.
Telawell: Your Custom Heat Transfer Solution Provider
Let’s be frank. Finding the exact heat transfer product you need, especially when “off-the-shelf” just won’t cut it, can be a monumental pain in the arse. That’s where we, Foshan Telawell, come in. We don’t just sell coils; we engineer solutions.
We specialise in designing, manufacturing, and rigorously testing custom heat transfer products that actually solve your specific problem. Whether you’re in the HVAC game, running a power plant, or have unique industrial cooling needs, we’re the OEM partner you wish you found years ago.
Our Arsenal – What We Bring to the Fight:
- True Customisation: We’re not talking about picking from a slightly longer list. We mean genuinely tailored solutions. You tell us the challenge; we build the answer. This includes your perfect Chilled Water Coil.
- Broad Product Range: Finned tube coils (like your Chilled Water Coils and hot water coils), plate heat exchangers, spiral fin tube coils, robust stainless steel coils, condensers, evaporators – if it exchanges heat, we’re likely involved.
- Industry Heavyweights: We’re not scared of a challenge. We’ve delivered for fossil fuel and nuclear power, heavy industry, automotive, petrochemical, and of course, countless HVAC applications. We’ve seen it all.
- Cutting-Edge Manufacturing: Our workshop isn’t some dusty shed. We use state-of-the-art kit to ensure every product is built with precision and to the highest quality standards.
- Brainy Engineering Team: Our engineers aren’t just order-takers. They live and breathe heat exchange. They’ll help you select the optimal design and materials for your application, ensuring it performs flawlessly.
- Quality Isn’t a Buzzword, It’s Our Religion: Customer satisfaction, standardised management practices, and a relentless drive for continuous improvement are baked into everything we do.
Telawell is where serious technical expertise meets no-nonsense customer service and competitive pricing. We aim to make the whole process, from your first enquiry to final delivery, smooth and hassle-free. Our mission is simple: to provide you with highly efficient, economically sound heat transfer solutions that don’t just meet your expectations but knock them out of the park.
Stop wrestling with subpar or ill-fitting equipment. Talk to Telawell. We build the Chilled Water Coil (and other heat exchangers) that work for you.
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Chilled Water Coil FAQs
Got more questions? Good. Skepticism is healthy. Here are some of the more common ones I hear:
What is the difference between chilled water coil and dx coil?
- Chilled Water Coil: A chilled water coil is designed to use water that has already been cooled (by a chiller) and is pumped through the coil to cool the air passing through and over it. A component of a larger, frequently centralized system.
- DX (Direct Expansion) Coil: Is where the refrigerant expands directly within it’s tubes, collecting heat from the air. Acts as the evaporator in a packaged refrigeration system. Less complex, at times for the smaller, more localised units.
Hot Water Coil vs Chilled Water Coil What is a hot water coil?
In terms of function, they’re actually both fin tube heat exchangers. The difference is the media and the motive. 3) Chilled Water Coil: Provides cooling using cold water. The hot water coil heats the air with hot water (from a boiler or heat pump). Construction is different (materials, fin spacing might be optimised differently), but it still a heat transfer between water and air. Many “fluid coils” can actually be designed to accommodate both.
What does a water coil do?
A “water coil” is a generic name for a heat exchanger in which water is used to distribute either heat or? cool the air (or a different liquid). So, A chilled water coil is no different, it’s just that it is a water coil designed for cooling ( as in chilled). There is something similar to this called a hot water coil, which is a type of water coil used for heating.
What is a cold water cooling coil scheme?
That is the difference between the air leaving the coil and the coolant entering the coil. A “close approach” is one where the leaving air temperature is very close to the entering water temperature – this is indicative of a very efficient coil (or one too large for the load). It’s a measure of heating performance. Typically, a lower approach temperature (ie 2-3ºC) is preferable, however may necessitate having larger coil surface area (extra rows or increased fin density).
What is a chilled water coil?
It’s a heat exchanger, usually comprised of copper tubes and aluminium fins, that cools and often dehumidifies the air passing through by circulating cold water through the tubes. Air is passed over the fins where its heat is absorbed by the cold water. It’s a principal ingredient in many air conditioning systems for commercial and industrial applications.
How much difference in temperature from one chilled water coil to the other?
This is often in the form of ΔT of the water (the difference between the EWT and LWT). One common value would be 5-6°C ΔT (eg, water coming in at 7°C and leaving at 12°C). That ΔT also defines the flow rate of water and, therefore, the rate at which heat is absorbed. With air, you would also consider the dry bulb verses wet bulb differential across the coil.
What Are The Different Types Of Refrigerator Coils?
In a traditional refrigeration system (for example, your refrigerator at home and DX AC unit) you basically have two kinds of coils:
- Evaporator Coil: This is where the cold refrigerant is used to cool the air, either inside the refrigerated space (AC) or in the air handler (heat pump). Refrigerant evaporates here, absorbing heat. For air conditioning using a water secondary medium, however, the term is different: Evaporator is the DX Chilled Water Coil terminology.
- Condenser Coil: This is the coil on the do and is used to reject heat. Refrigerant comes back down to a liquid here, giving off the heat it absorbed in the evaporator.
What is the difference between cool water and cold water?
“Handsome Cola (t)” is an aggregate word. “Chilled water” in HVAC generally refers to water that has been cooled by a chiller (to somewhere between say 4 and 10°C / 40-50 °F) for air conditioning use specifically. It’s designed to operate at a certain low temperature, so that the heat-exchanging is efficient.
Is there some reason to include the coil?
The main function of any heat transfer coil (and a Chilled Water Coil is no exception) is to transfer thermal energy (in the form of heat) between two fluids, without the fluids mixing between the two, which in this instance are the air and water. For a Chilled Water Coil, they are designed to extract heat from air in order to cool the air and in many cases dehumidify the air.
Why does a cold water cooling coil have more rows of coils than a hot water heating coil?
- Most of the time, it’s because cooling usually requires the removal of both sensible heat (dropping the temperature) and latent heat (condensing moisture over dehumidifying). Humidity removal needs the air to be cooled under its dew point, which is very energy and surface area intensive. Sensible heat is usually added to a coil in a hot water heating coil.
- To meet the heat removal (sensible + latent) required and still allow the air discharge temperature to be low enough for dehumidification on the second pass, Chilled Water Coils typically require more surface area and get this by either adding more rows of tubes (thereby, making the coil deeper in the direction of airflow) and/or higher fin density. It’s actually about giving enough contact time and surface for all of that heat transfer and condensation to happen.
Another question about the Chilled Water Coil? Fire away. But fingers crossed, you’re a lot smarter now about this important piece of kit.