Charging walk in coolers and freezers

[koolkahuna]

I gotta say I'm impressed with your patience and restraint JP.

From reading this thread from start to finish I was sure that someone was pulling your chain but when I got to the point where they both stated that they were drinking I almost fell off my chair I was laughing so hard.

[VTP99]

Plus this thread is almost four years old.

[jpsmith1cm]

Plus this thread is almost four years old.

I was far more restrained 4 years ago...

[cthegreat1]

I have a Bailey walk-in freezer.... How would I calculate the amount of refrigerant needed for this system?

[cthegreat1]

the link http://sporlan.jandrewschoen.com has expired....

[Poodle Head Mikey]

You could measure all the tubing in the system piping and both coils and calculate the internal volume. Then work out where there would be various vapor volumes at the various pressures. And so forth.

Or you could look up the total receiver volume for the system refrigerant and then use 75% of that as the charge. If you have to bid the job - use 100%. <g>

I have worked on systems which could not be pumped down - but not very many.

PHM
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I have a Bailey walk-in freezer.... How would I calculate the amount of refrigerant needed for this system?

[Poodle Head Mikey]

No it's not. I just posted so it's a current thread. Perhaps you meant to say that this thread had it's genesis almost four years ago? <g>

PHM
------

Plus this thread is almost four years old.

[jpsmith1cm]

the link http://sporlan.jandrewschoen.com has expired....

http://sporlanonline.com/90-30-1_072012.pdf

Try that one.

[VTP99]

No it's not. I just posted so it's a current thread. Perhaps you meant to say that this thread had it's genesis almost four years ago? <g>

PHM
------

Ahhhh. No I'm sticking with the fact that this thread is almost four years old. Now the POSTING are recently current but the thread at it's genesis is approaching four years of age.

[lexscripta]

This is what I do. Seemed like common sense at the time. First charge as much liquid as you can through the liquid side, and then throttle it in with the gauges at 5-10 psi over the system suction pressure to top it off.

Always worked like a charm.

Oh, and BTW - I never use a digital gauge. Just seems to make me lose touch with whats goin' on. I dont even use a digital vacuum gauge - but instead I collect (yes, I have 4) of the Thermal Engineering vacuum gauges. They are ridiculously cheap if you can find them.

Maybe I am just too much of an ole codger

BTW - looks like ALL of those Sporland links are ded.

One of the best kept secrets in the HVAC/R business must be that all refrigerant gets charged as a liquid. <g>

Who the hell has the time to warm the cylinder repeatedly and then wait for pounds and pounds of refrigerant to boil off? Don't your service managers scream over all the time you are taking?

There are little vaporizing widgets you can charge through but why not just crack the suction side gauge handle and let it boil/vaporize in through the crack? If you are very curious (as I was <g>) use two 1/4" flare MxF sight glasses. Put one before the suction hose - screw it onto the left bottom side of your gauge set - and put the other one onto the suction access flare on the unit. Then crack the suction gauge manifold handle a little and see what the refrigerant looks like in the sight glasses.

With the manifold gauge cracked - tell me what you see.

And also note the suction pressure increase on your gauge (valve open versus valve cracked) initially 'set' it for 5-10 lbs over running suction pressure. Use an analog gauge and watch the needle flutter. If the needle is steady the gauge valve is either open too far or closed too much. <g>

PHM
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[lexscripta]

One of the best kept secrets in the HVAC/R business must be that all refrigerant gets charged as a liquid. <g>

Except its not really a secret. Some folks just dont read

[jpsmith1cm]

BTW - looks like ALL of those Sporland links are ded.

Yeah, I've realized that.

http://sporlanonline.com/literature-...lating-valves/

Look there for more Sporlan info