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colsy
10-10-2009, 10:41 AM
I saw a component on the refrigerant pipework on a chiller and was told it was an Auto Air Vent, I dont know if thats right, also why would one be necessary if the circuit had been evacuated before gas charge?
Also I think the circuit has a leak in the heat exchanger, what is the best way to be sure? putting a dye in the circuit to see if it goes into the water?

nike123
10-10-2009, 11:39 AM
Auto air vent is on water pipes and not on refrigerant pipes.
There is no way for valve to distinguish refrigerant gas from air. One who told you that is telling you rubbish, or I am lost something in translation.
You probably saw something like this (http://www.castel.it/pdf/catalogo_en/03_Safety_devices.pdf).

DEVITG
10-10-2009, 01:22 PM
Auto air vent is on water pipes and not on refrigerant pipes.


Far far away , there where centrifugal R11 chiller , working on Vacuum , so it have AUTO AIR VENT.

colsy
10-10-2009, 03:39 PM
Thanks for that

colsy
10-10-2009, 03:40 PM
What about knowing if a leak is in a heat exchanger?

goshen
10-10-2009, 05:31 PM
Far far away , there where centrifugal R11 chiller , working on Vacuum , so it have AUTO AIR VENT.

not so far away and they are called purge units
still used on r-123 units!!!:)

Peter_1
11-10-2009, 03:19 PM
What about knowing if a leak is in a heat exchanger?

Remove refrigerant, pressurizing system with nitrogen and see if pressure drops and pressure increase on evaporator.
What gas is in it? If you have R22, you can take some water from the evaporator, boil it and put your leak detector (or halid torch) in the fumes. R22 dissolves in the water.
What sort of heat exchanger do you have?

colsy
12-10-2009, 12:06 PM
Thanks for that tip, I like the idea of boiling the water. The chiller is a Carrier with R407c gas, I was thinking to cut the pipework and pressure test the heat exchanger and the rest of the circuit seperately, but surely there are easier methods.

nike123
12-10-2009, 12:26 PM
Thanks for that tip, I like the idea of boiling the water. The chiller is a Carrier with R407c gas, I was thinking to cut the pipework and pressure test the heat exchanger and the rest of the circuit seperately, but surely there are easier methods.

That is second easiest method.
First is lucky find.:D

icecube51
12-10-2009, 09:17 PM
maybe if you close al the automatic vents,or air-separators on the water circuit,and see if the pressure is rising.

Ice

Gibbo
12-10-2009, 11:02 PM
What is the model number of your carrier chiller