surge tanks

[frostedfingers101]

hello new to this, hope to get some helpful info

was working on hill phoenix rack, r404, head pressure at 180# operating in desired range set for, suction in desired range, dont recall pressures,temps are good and no alarms. surge tank shows 2 balls bouncing but glass not full, sight glass 3/4, thouhgt it was low on charge but after 100# still doing the same

any help much appriciated

[markettech]

Had the same problem on Hussmann rack this summer. 95% receiver and last 2 circuits on rack starving. Turns out the auto surge valve was not operating properly.

Does the rack have a "natures cooling" receiver bypass?

[frostedfingers101]

not sure exactly kind of new to racks i know theres a bypass from discharge to top of it which was not open, s.v in line

[gerryboy00]

95% receiver is this enuff?


what is natures cooling?

[smilies]

Condenseddave explained it pretty well here, several posts down.

[frostedfingers101]

thanks mark,gerry and smiles, i think i need too look and figure this out, sounds like maybe vale not opening to keep pressure in tank to force full sight glass

much appriciated thank yuou

[thegoodhumorman]

TWO balls bouncing?

Have seen HP racks with vert receiver bouncing balls while empty before- inlet on top was splashing directly on balls so it looked like they were in washing machine but was only due to the flow from inlet- this also was a surghe receiver that it was decided to change to direct piping- flow thru-
for rcvr. if you have lower pressure in recvr it will stay there- thats why HP uses an "ATTRON" - basically an electronic sightglass to sense vapor in liq line and cause discharge gas to enter top of recvr to force liquid out-

i think of the splashing since you have two bouncing at same time presumably- it really did look as though the level was up that high...

[frostedfingers101]

thanks goodhumor. even thuogh 2 were bouncing i could see it was actully not full of liquid is this due to bypass not letting diischarg in top, i dont recall line being hot, also did not know to check pressure diff

[condenseddave]

Remember (and I need to keep reminding my guys about this) that the sightglass on this type of rack WILL flash if the filter-drier is fouled.

Aside from that, the receiver pressure regulator valve could very well be over-feeding.

Atrons are alive and well, BTW. I made another post on the other thread.

Originally posted by frostedfingers101
sounds like maybe vale not opening to keep pressure in tank to force full sight glass

More likely than that are the two things I mentioned above. If the receiver is in bypass (inlet and outlet) you will likely not need the receiver pressure regulator in the circuit, unless you're in a low-load condition, such as with a hot gas defrost. If it's in "normal" (surge) operation, you'll need to be pressurizing the top of the receiver more frequently to keep the solid column of liquid. BUT, the kicker here is that if you're in surge, and are feeding too much hot gas into the top of the tank, due to whatever reason, (Most often an ill-advised application of a crescent wrench to an A9 valve...) you can actually push the hot gas right into the liquid line while maintaining a "level". This will, of course, result in starved TEVs.