York ys chiller steel tubing pinholes

[bradysmill]

Have been servicing the ys York chillers (screws)since they came out and have noticed pinholes developing in the steel oil lines from the cooler that are insulated. The copper ones (on the smaller size chillers are fine).....am thinking that York may have screwed up by insulating these steel lines that are cooler than dewpoint, which will cause rusting inside the insulation because the insulation is not sealed 100%.(steel is really pock marked from rusting)
I am in the middle of a Screw compressor rebuild and am posting this to see if any other techs are seeing the same thing and what methods were used other than brazing over the pinholes (since this causes other pinholes to show up)
I can see taking off the valves from the cooler and running new lines (why did York use steel in the first place?) to the filters but then the filters are the ones that have the flat ends with gaskets into the block.

Any sugestions.....

[chiller mekanik]

I asked the same question while talking to tech support once & they told me they use the steel because of vibration.
However, prior to that I had replaced a few lines with copper & they are still in service after 6-8 years in three seperate cases that I can recall.
Since then I've only come across holes in the pipe once & I ordered replacement piping from York, it was a small fortune.
If I'm faced with it again I'm not 100% sure how I will handle it but, I have no reason to think the copper is inferior.
The only bad thing about the copper is having to change out the different fittings.
I was also never given an answer as to why the holes form in the first place.
But I was assured that all three of my incidents were isolated.

[rob10]

Suck. They all rust and form holes. Particulary ones that are exposed to a great amount of moisture.

[absrbrtek]

I usually just buy the steel tubing from McMaster Carr and bend it myself. With the proper bender it is as easy as bending copper. It flares pretty easily also.

[RichardL]

Since these same compressors are also used with other refrigerants, such as R-717, and others, steel was the "preferred" choice over copper or any copper alloy.
Titanium & some platinum alloys were tried....But you know how them sales guys are...They actually wanted to be able to sell these puppies....The nerve of them bean counters...
Hey Craig...Mc-Carr is my choice of supply too on the tubing...
I Luv's them people...

[bradysmill]

Originally posted by absrbrtek
It flares pretty easily also.

Vibation would be my guess as to why steel also because on the smaller ys chillers, all of the lines are copper, except the one to the bearing on the compressor and that is the one that pinholes on these. (You can use regular copper tubing and flare driers on the filter lines and steel tubing and compression fittings on the bearing line.)
But on the larger tonage ys chillers all 4 of the lines are steel and the filters are screw on, flat ended with gaskets both on the tubing side and the block that the filter screws into.
Will probably still replace with steel tubing and leave it uninsulated. Can you get the compression nuts and ferrules (standard or special?)along with the screw on fittings to the drier? (you have to use the screw on filters because of the block)
I didn't see them on the parts list.
Running new tubing would be easy if I could get these fittings.

[bradysmill]

Stoppped and got a rotolock fitting from United refrigeration (goes to drier)I thought they would have been special size or something.
Am going to run new steel pipe to valve and leave uninsulated.
Thanks for th input guys.

[tommyfrigeguy]

I too replaced an oil line with copper. It was on a 400 ton chiller. It's been ok since. About 3 years now.

[steelesti]

Hi,
Flitch beams are created by layering wood beams with steel plates or plywood in order to form a wider, lighter structural beam.

[CaptJackSparrow]

Trane had same problem on RTHC steel lines. I was told these High pressure macines had the steel lines due to shipping the machines with the refigerant in the machines. I dont remember all of the details but it was a shipping issue that made them select the steel tubing. We had to retrofit all of those to copper.

Dont know for sure but this could relate to the Yorks.

[steelest12]

Sorry, not allowed on this site without paying for ad space.

[socal13]

steel tubing is cheaper ! If you have that much vibration with your equipment during transportation to site or during operation of equipment then you have a problem.

[the007]

i would have a weld-o-let put on and run all the lines in copper. got at least a dozen of these machines and all but 3 are copper. well, they will be eventually. just run the lines slightly larger than the steel and all should be good!!