Shirron Plate Chiller Failure

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ObsidianJester

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I'm wondering if anyone has seen a Shirron Plate Chiller weld fail.

Back story was I moved a few years ago and got out of home brewing due to equipment spread everywhere. I had before I moved used a Shirron Plate chiller a few times (Less than a dozen) and had no issues. Cleaned it religiously every time to back flush it, and ensure it was clean and drained dry. I tossed it in a dry storage unit in the twin cities and about a year and a half ago brought it back with me to home in Wyoming. The first time I started brewing again I some how ended up with more wort and a lower gravity but could not figure out why, I chalked it up to I was rusty having not brewed in about 5 plus years. Today I was trialing a new pump to make my life easier and started the water flow on the plate chiller after having sanitized and drained it. I noticed before I started the pump that there was water running in to my sanitized fermenting bucket. I paused, drained it again and noticed the smell was of the city water, not of StarSan water. Sure enough with out any wort or pressure going in to the pump/plate that it was filling with water. Perfect. Somewhere in the baffles inside there's a pinhole leak or broken weld. Anyone else seen this with these plate chillers? The thing has been stored in the driest of conditions and totally cleaned after each and every use.
 
This is the first time I have read of any brand plate chiller clearly showing an internal leak.
Not much one can do about it than toss it and move on.
Sorry...
 
Nope. I have a Blichmann plate chiller that I used a lot, no leaks. Loved the thing, lightning-quick chilling, but for IPAs it would slow down due to hop residue clogging the plates. I've been using a coaxial counterflow chiller for several years now.

I'd give that blichmann to you if you were closer.
 
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