Unknown Refrigerant

[shauns]

Hi

Is there anyway to determine the refrigerant in a system if the unit has no markings at all?

thanks
Shaun

[Fri3Oil System]

Hi Shaun,

in the markets there is already a device that analyses and/or identifies several gases. The amount of identified gases depends on the model (price). Very accurate, specially for pure products. "Ntron Analyzer"
www.ntron.com
Another thing to do is to take a sample and send it to a lab for a "chromatographic" inspection. (maybe this is not the correct expression, would appreciate your corrections)

Regards,

Nando.

[paul_h]

It's complicated these days with drop ins and retrofits.
In the old days, you just looked at the TX valve label. :)

I suppose you could shut off the condenser and/or receiver section, run the condenser fan, check pressure, compare to ambient temp and look at charts?
For a small system, just take it all out and start fresh is the best if you don't know.
If hermetic compressor, expect oil hasn't been changed, so find out oil type from manufacturer to narrow down what refrigerant could be in it from the refrigerant pressure and what is compatible.

For large systems where a refrigerant and oil change would be costly, then fri3Oils suggestion would be the way to go, but that wouldn't be cheap either.

[martinw58]

use a pt chart if the system still has liquid in it .check the model of the compressor

[Covi]

You can send the gas to a lab, they use a refractometer to measure the composition of the refigirant.

[texas64]

The easiest way is to check the TXV and see what refrigerant it says. You can also see what the compressor is designed to use by checking literature on the compressor using the model number. You can narrow it down that way. If you really want to get scientific, vacuum out a recovery cylinder, recovering some of the liquid refrigerant into the cylinder then check ambient temp using a pres/temp chart to identify.

[mmack1993]

That was really helpful. Thank you so much for sharing this information.
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[joe magee]

how about hooking up a gauge where its saturated and looking at a pt chart.