Capacity Impact?

[RyanHughes]

Theoretical situation:

If a 10 SEER straight cool condenser was placed with a new 13 SEER coil with a TXV, would its capacity go up or down? Without a TXV (fixed orifice, same tonnage but 13 SEER), would it go up or down? Is there any way to make a general statement as to how the capacity would be affected, or is it impossible to tell?

With this happening everyday, I'm curious to know the results.

[MidlandsHVAC]

Capacity may vary a little but the 13 SEER is based of power usage ect. the capacity is not gonna be a noticeable change since it may only be a few hundred BTU's. That would be based on Mfr. You would probably not notice.

[sparksandfan]

Soda straw effect.

Which component has the most drag on the whole system? If already limited by compressor or evaporator, then improving the condenser will not have a noticeable effect.

TXV is less sensitive to overcharging or undercharging than a fixed orifice.

The match on compressor, condenser, evaporator, valve by manufacturer is to try to get the soda straws the same size.

[t527ed]

coils have no seer........:rolleyes:


many of the coils used today for 13 seer units are the same ones we were using with the 10 seer units a few years ago.;)

[RyanHughes]

coils have no seer........:rolleyes:


many of the coils used today for 13 seer units are the same ones we were using with the 10 seer units a few years ago.;)

Thanks for the info thus far everyone. I was expecting something along the lines of mismatching would cause the capacity to go down. I thought I've heard that the SEER/capacity can actually go down due to mismatching. I guess mismatching isn't as bad as I thought it could be for performance, especially if many of the current coils are the same/very similar to the ones of the 10 SEER days (I thought the "13 SEER" coils were notably larger in surface area). I guess that means the metering hasn't changed much either, if the previous statement holds to be true.

[beenthere]

Using a old coil designed for 10SEER with a 13 SEER condenser, the SEER will go down.
Using a coil designed for 13SEER with a 10 SEER condenser, the The condensers SEER may go up slightly.

[MidlandsHVAC]

the question was about capacity guys not efficiency. all of you commented on seer. he wanted to know about capacity.

[super_tech_1]

efficency not capacity is what your wondering and you gotta say mismatched first cause these guys all thought you were talking about matching equipment.

[RyanHughes]

I'm wondering if the BTU's will be affected when people commonly install 13 SEER coils on 10 SEER condensers if the indoor coil starts leaking. Also wondering if TXV improves capacity yield from system.

[beenthere]

Capacity may go up 200 to 2000 BTU's.
No way to guess th right answer for every match up.

TXV will help maintain a some what even temp across the coil.
TXVs do not increase capacity in many situations.