Chiller circuit leak isolated without a shutdown

Background

An automotive factory depends on several cooling circuits to support production. The system is a closed loop, yet it keeps taking in more make-up water than expected. The facility team can see the overall demand, but the total leaves them with several possible places to start looking.

The problem

The incoming make-up figure combines the circuits. A change in that total says something needs attention without showing which loop is responsible. Investigating the whole system takes the team away from the specific fault, and stopping production to search would add another problem to the water loss.

How we found it

We put the comparison at circuit level, using submeters on each make-up line. The dashboard follows the readings together so the team can see where demand diverges. Threshold alerts draw attention to an increasing make-up rate. A circuit that continues taking water stands out against the others, giving maintenance a defined loop to investigate.

What changed

The leaking circuit can be named and isolated while the production line remains in operation. The repair then fits into a planned outage. Instead of working through every possible circuit from an aggregate reading, the team has a specific location and a trace showing why it needs attention.

The lesson

We use submetering to make the next maintenance check more focused. The value here is knowing which circuit accounts for the unexpected water demand and being able to plan the work around production. Keeping the separate traces visible also gives the team a way to check the make-up pattern after the repair and watch for another change.