monitoring refrigerant loss

[Phase Loss]

Are any of you guys doing anything to monitor your refrigerant levels in your supermarkets to help in detecting loss of refrigerant before cases start to run warm?


Other than Hansen rods, Rochester gauges, receiver floats, leak detection systems, manually leak checking and torching receiver levels whenever on sight.


Is anyone doing something else that could detect a loss of refrigerant BEFORE cases are affected?

[Coorsman777]

Tyler used to use a "Check It" sensor in the liquid line. It is a heated sensor that when the liquid line was full the liquid would absorb the heat and the sensor would read about 10 to 15 degrees higher than the liquid temp. When the liquid line flashes the "Check It" sensors will read considerably higher. Have had fairly good luck with this.

[rdabs54]

I have been experimenting with using a thermal imager to detect the refrigerant level in the receiver. It isn't (yet) and easy way, but it is a way. It requires closing the liquid valve on the receiver and performing a pump down. After a few minutes, or less if you spray a little water on the receiver, the thermal imager will show a definite line at the level of the liquid refrigerant. I mark it, and then can return to recheck whenever to re-check. It requires an imager with at least 50mK sensitivity, and some familiarity with how to adjust the imager for optimal results. So far, I haven't used this method on a regular basis, just on suspect systems, and a couple of times for charging a multi-evaporator rack system. The method is useable, but not as quick as I would like. Also consider that on-the-fly levels in a receiver tank will change with ambients, loads, etc, so even if you could measure accurately the level, you wouldn't really know if a level drop was due to normal system variance or a leak. Something to work on though...

[THE DUDE]

I record the reciever level, split,fans and ambient in the log book, i also keep track of the drop leg temp and subcooling on a surge reciever system.