Almost every electrical component in a chiller plant generates heat, but we’re going to focus on the major offenders. When dealing with electricity, nothing is 100% efficient. The energy losses associated with this inefficiency in most cases manifest itself as waste heat.
The single largest heat–generating component in chiller plants is often the chiller compressor motor. There are two types of chiller compressor motors, hermetic and nonhermetic. In a hermetically sealed chiller, the motor and compressor are both located within a common housing and are cooled by the refrigerant circuit within the chiller.