Thinking back on my attempt as a young man to charge my car’s air conditioner, I was stunned to see a commercial on TV the other day for A/C PRO, a do-it-yourself a/c recharge kit for cars and trucks. I went to the website and, sure enough, they’re selling recharging canisters of R-134a for do-it-yourselfers.
John Tomczyk, Professor of HVACR at Ferris State University and co-author of Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology, discusses refrigerant undercharge.
Bob and Tim have been tuning up a system with an orifice metering device for the correct evaporator charge, when Bob said, “There is another verse to tuning up a system, and it’s called subcooling.”
Those small-diameter coils — with names like MicroGroove, microchannel, and micro-multichannel — have gained a beachhead in residential heating and air conditioning, and are advancing in commercial HVAC, with refrigeration on the horizon.
Designed for air conditioners, the R-410A recharge kit’s disposable, 1.8-pound R-410A cylinder is composed of a reusable gauge, ¼-SAE outlet, and shutoff valve/adapter 5⁄16 inch.
Reducing refrigerant in direct expansion (DX) HVAC system designs is a trend both contractors and consulting engineers are using to distance themselves from the competition. While refrigerant reduction has been fairly common in conventional air conditioning, it’s only now emerging in the category of indoor pool (natatorium) dehumidification.
Added to the Compute-A-Charge® brand is a wireless RF scale. With accuracy of 0.05 percent of reading, it is calibrated to strict NIST Standards at the factory. Compatible with high pressure R-410A, the unit is temperature-compensated over the entire operating temperature range to maintain charging accuracy.
The TrilliumSeries™ refrigeration system condenser uses a patented Dry-Coil Adiabatic™ design that provides up to 18 percent peak energy reduction, uses up to 60 percent less refrigerant charge, and lowers operating costs with a smaller refrigeration system, said the company.
The VaporVue is a visible vapor charging device that absorbs heat naturally and flashes the liquid refrigerant from the cylinder and charges into the system as a vapor.
The patent-pending VaporVue is a visible vapor charging device that absorbs heat naturally and flashes the liquid refrigerant from the cylinder and charges into the system as a vapor.