Welding Tips and Tricks

What water coolers do you guys run???


HTP Arctic chill 5460 $439


Miller CoolMate 3 $769

I have the HTP cooler. I have only had it since October, but it works well and I am pleased so far.

We have the coolmate with the Dynasty. It's given issues a few times. Looked down and noticed the little flow indicator wasn't spinning and some gunk had clogged up the filter and sometimes the flow indicator sticks for no reason at all.

Bernard coolers on the other hand, I have used for many years without an issue. They are less sensitive to water quality, it seems.

We have a couple coolers on old Air Products welders at work that are at least 40 or 50 years old and I've never known them to have a single problem in the 17 years I've been there. Believe it or not we use recycled antifreeze from the trucks and always have. To my knowledge it's never ruined a torch either. Now I'll admit that we don't weld all day everyday either, but they have done a fair amount of welding in that amount of time.

We also have a Syncrowave 350 in the plant's maintenance shop that has a Miller cooler that came with it, not sure of the model though. I have no idea what kind of coolant is in it, but I've never heard of them having a problem either.

I'm looking to get my son a Everlast welder and cooler here before too long and haven't heard one way or the other about the quality of theirs.

I personally have an old giant Miller cooler in my crawl space that holds almost 100 gal that they were going to scrap at work. It used to have four Syncrowave 700 welders hooked to it. I don't think it ever had them all running at the same time but I'm sure it would have done a fair job keeping up, that's a lot of coolant.

Len

I've been looking at the HTP cooler and it looks like a solid performer....
Anybody out there had any complaints on it???
Thanks, John

TamJeff wrote:We have the coolmate with the Dynasty. It's given issues a few times. Looked down and noticed the little flow indicator wasn't spinning and some gunk had clogged up the filter and sometimes the flow indicator sticks for no reason at all.

Bernard coolers on the other hand, I have used for many years without an issue. They are less sensitive to water quality, it seems.

Have 3 of them. But kinda wish they also had a flow indicator like the one on my two TB 302's do. I like that warm "blue" fuzzy I get when I see the spinner spinning!

Hey Otto, what water cooler do you use ???
John

John, all our TIG machines at work are Miller 250DX with water-cooler package. The older units are built-in, and hard to service (as well as monitor... No flow indicator, just an error code for insufficient flow [but that code shuts the welder down]). The newer units have a separate cooler assembly that slides out for service, and has a "whirleygig" flow indicator for confidence, but NO code/shutdown for a no-flow situation.

I have smoked torches on both the 350DX and Lincoln PrecisionTIG 375 using tap-water and auto-antifreeze, but I was welding aluminum pipe all day every day, HFAC all the time, in reference to Braehill's post.

Steve S

We use Bernard stainless coolers on our older Lincoln 255's and they are bulletproof and have been used daily for years.

Most of our coolers at work are Bernard ones. Good as gold but noisey.
Mick.

Any comments on the HTP unit
$439 right to my door is kinda hard to beat....

John

Looks like HTP gets the cooler from these from Nu-Tec....according to this they are the replacement for Bernard coolers...

http://weldingdirect.com/ntwaco2ga.html

It is nice having the flow alarm...and it works! iIf I step on the hoses and cut the flow it alarms right away LOUD!

I did have to call HTP tech because the flow alarm would alarm constantly with my 25' torch setup... he had me plug off the water presure reducer line...now it works fine with no alarm...

My only complaint is the fan is LOUD...I am thinking about converting to a electric fan instead of the mechanical to reduce nosie

So I have the HTP cooler and 25 foot torch. I am also having intermittent alarms for no reason.

I am curious if HTP told you to block that little blue line to raise the flow through the sensor?


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SmartDave wrote:So I have the HTP cooler and 25 foot torch. I am also having intermittent alarms for no reason.

I am curious if HTP told you to block that little blue line to raise the flow through the sensor?


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Yes sir that is exactly what they told me to do just pull the small blue hose out of the tank ...fold it over and zip tie it and your problems will be over

Never had any issues with mine. The distilled water turns orange-ish, have absolutely no idea why, thought perhaps it is a by-product of the algae eliminator. Everything flows freely and works properly.

I personally don't think it' all that loud. At least that way you know it's running if it's heard in the background.

Don't get me wrong here guys, I am VERY glad I bought this welder, it is Thousands less than a comparable blue or red machine..

When I bought my Miller 140 Autoset MIG last year it had "Made in Taiwan" stickers on the flow gauge, the ground clamp, the stinger etc... guess where the internals where probably made!

THe HTP 221 is made in Italy and the torch and foot pedal are made in USA!

adrynalinjunkie wrote:Looks like HTP gets the cooler from these from Nu-Tec....according to this they are the replacement for Bernard coolers...

http://weldingdirect.com/ntwaco2ga.html

Wrong. They all buy from the same place though

This is what I use, it's a little loud with the two 60hp pumps, but your torch never gets hot.

Len


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This is a nice one it even had a fancy cup holder and everything

I have one of these and it is pretty nice http://weldingsupplies.dynaflux.com/ite ... /item-1270?

Honestly though, now that I see the simplicity of what is in one of these, I kind of wish I had just bought an old carbonator and built one of my own. There's not much to these procon based units. A motor, pump, reservoir, and a radiator. Buy something like this for $89 on ebay and you are more than half way there. add a tank and a radiator, and maybe a 4 inch computer fan and you are done. http://www.ebay.com/itm/CORNELIUS-INTEL ... 1648707855

I too have the HTP and use 25' torch and have no problems. I am surprised at how quiet this thing is. I highy recommend

I too have the Htp cooler. I only have two complaints. First is how loud it is, second is that while it works great with my 25' ck torch, if I hook up my weldcraft it immediately trips the alarm, which really sucks as I really like the feel of the weld craft. Using the weld craft on the miller cooler, or the Lincoln equivalent, or a Bernard the toe h is fine.

I built my own using a Shurflow pump. I didn't bother with the radiator or fan but relied on a large reservoir (5 gal), to keep things cool. Just wondering if that would be adequate for heavy welding or would the water eventually get too hot? So far I haven't done any welding that would put it to the test.