aLIGO LHO Logbook

H1 PSL (PSL)

richard.savage@LIGO.ORG - posted 12:13, Tuesday 01 July 2014 - last comment - 13:29, Tuesday 01 July 2014(12569)

Water hose burst inside PSL High Power Oscillator box

PeterK, MattH, ChrisM, RickS

This morning, Peter found that the Crystal Chiller would not restart (apparently the laser has been down since last Friday).

He went to the Laser Area Enclosure and found a puddle on the floor near the High Power Oscillator.

Removing the HPO covers revealed that a small (~3/16" ID) hose had separated and was leaking.

Hose was replaced, water mopped up, chiller restarted, water level topped off.

More details and photos to follow.

Comments related to this report

peter.king@LIGO.ORG - 13:29, Tuesday 01 July 2014 (12571)PSL

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Just prior to the 08:15 meeting I noticed that the laser was off.  I pulled up the laser status screen and the "NPRO running", "Flow error (WD)" and "Frontend flow" indicators were red.  I went into the chiller room to find the crystal chiller indicating a flow error and that the water level was close to minimum.  I restarted the chiller from the diode room.  No sooner than I had reached the door the crystal chiller stopped indicating a flow problem.  This time the water level was below minimum, so I added enough water to bring it back to the maximum level.  I restarted the chiller and after a few seconds the chiller stopped and the water level was back below minimum.  Either we had a leak somewhere or we were getting rid of air bubbles in the plumbing.

I went into the H1 Enclosure to check up on the high power oscillator and noticed a couple of large puddles on the floor, a few droplets on the side of the table.  Putting the laser into service mode, enabled me to remove the cover of the laser.  It was then that I noticed there were some small puddles inside the laser and the burst section of tubing.

The tubing was replaced.  The flow sensor was removed and examined.  No blockages or debris was found in the flow sensor.
The system was re-assembled and the crystal chiller restarted.  After topping up the water, the crystal chiller seems to be okay.

The lid of the high power oscillator will be left off for a few hours to let the laser dry out.

Images attached to this comment