Prevent Hackers from Destroying Chillers

Abstract

Chillers are not as dangerous as steam boilers or pressure vessels, but a hacker can wreak havoc with your chillers if he knows what he’s doing. The old absorption chillers generated hydrogen gas naturally as a result of the reaction of lithium bromide with the steel surfaces of chiller, but they are not very common anymore. A hacker attempting to disrupt the chilled water system will generally mess with the refrigerant flow or the condenser water temperature. If a hacker can cause the pressure differential (lift) to exceed the capacity of the compressor, the backward pressure flow causes the chiller to surge. Conversely, if the hacker can cause the pressure in the evaporator to drop, that can also cause the compressor to surge. If the compressor surges, you’ll know because it is very noisy.