Cap Tube Replacement

[HuNGRYTeCH]

I have a Whalen Company 2 ton water source heat pump that is in a high rise condo. The unit is sunk in the wall and unservicable. I took the unit to the shop and created a simulated enviroment to service the unit. I came to the conclusion that there was a restriction in my strainer or in a cap tube. I have never done a cap tube replacement. I contacted the manufacturer and they told me the unit has 3 32" .060" cap tubes but the parts houses only carry 5 sizes, the closest being .064". This tubing came with a sizing chart that sizes the tube off of the hp of the conpressor. They recommend putting in 81" of .064" cap to replace my 32" of .060". This seems like a major increase to me. I understand that I have to go longer due to the bigger diameter but I feel that 50" more is excessive. The thing that troubles me is that they only size the tube off of hp and no other factors so I am a little hesitant to put that much more cap tube in there. I am curious as to other experiences that people have had replacing cap tubes with another size.

[Herb1025]

I have used the hp replacement chart and in some systems have had to adjust the cap tube to get the right td on the evap and make sure the compressor gets some cooling but not to much. When I started we used to clean cap tube's with subco and just change the strainer drier but with labor cost we now just replace parts. I have not used my cap tube cleaning tool in 20 years.

[supertek65]

i did the pi r sq x length using both cap tubes

i came up with this

the 81" cap is 2.6" capacity

the 32" is 2.88"





2.6 and 2.88

seems close enough????????????

[itsiceman]

The Bozo Puter gave me 42.5" of .064 for each tube

[supertek65]

oops i am tired now i keep coming up with .0904 on the 32"

i better go to bed





.0904

i did the pi r sq x length using both cap tubes

i came up with this

the 81" cap is 2.6" capacity

the 32" is 2.88"





2.6 and 2.88

seems close enough????????????

[HuNGRYTeCH]

I ended up using 48" on each tube. I split at 12' coil into three cause thats all the part house had. It worked out. I got my target superheat and subcooling and everything seems to operated correctly.