Lubrication Oil

[pushkar sharma]

Hello.......

I Work in a Block Ice Factory, making ice can of 150kg in India. I use Ammonia as a refrigerant and Reciprocating Compressor.
i used 2 diffrant brand of oil for my compressor in which one is Hydrolice oil. please tell me..

1). The effect of using to diffrant Type of oil in system
2). The effect of using Hydrollic oil in system.
3) Diffrent between Hydrolic oil and Refrigeration oil.

[Grizzly]

Pushkar.
It is obvious from your question you are not trained in refrigeration!
Refrigeration oil is designed to lubricate at low pressures and temperatures.
of which there are 3 main types (Of what they consist of chemically)
Mineral, semi synthetic and synthetic.
Some you can mix together with varying degrees of success.
When using the incorrect version of oil to refrigerant you run the risk of creating issues with, flocking, cooling, lubrication, the oils pour and floc point and contamination etc.

Each manufacturer has listed what oils are suitable with which refrigerant for each of their compressors.

To use an oil which does not have at least the same properties is downright stupid!

Hydraulic oil is used in high pressure and much higher temperature environments its properties could not be more different from refrigerant oil.
what mixing the 2 would do, I can only guess as it spells disaster?
As I have never met or until now talked to anyone so stupid as to contemplate using hydraulic in a refrigeration application.

I hope your bosses are reading your post, and if you are the boss shame on you!
Grizzly

[aramis]

Hi, welcome to RE forums.

Please next time post these questions in the Industrial/NH3 forum.

Your question is very specific and you should consult your oil supplier that must also be a refrigeration wholesaler, other suppliers may not be aware of the requirements of lubrication in refrigeration applications.

You must also indicate the brand and type of oil you are using.

In general the refrigeration oils are much more refined than Hydraulic oils and they should not be mixed.

This depends on the actual type of oil you are using but I would expect your oil doesn’t have the correct flocculation point.

This means your oil should separate wax or other colloids at the working temperature which may plug filter dryers and may deposit in suction tubes and the evaporator

It also may not have the correct temperature index, this means that it could not lubricate well at the needed temperatures.

[NH3LVR]

Interestingly I have ran it this before.
I was running the maintenance department in a meat packing plant. All our rooms were medium temp with NH3 and Vilter piston machines.
The refrigeration operator went on vacation, so I went to the engine room every day to check on things.
One day a compressor needed oil. But the container in the engine room was empty.
I went up to the oil storage and looked at the names on the Shell drums. Names like Tellus.
Since I had no clue as to which was the refrigeration oil, I called the distributer.
It turned out we had been running hydraulic oil for years in the Vilters!
I am sure if we were running low temp or ***** the results would have been not so successful.

[aramis]

Ammonia is more forgiving with contamination at the cost of increasing pressure drops and reducing efficiency.

[D.D.KORANNE]

Check with compressor manufacturer he can give you better input on its effect ...... The manufacturer might even ask you to forget about warranty if the compressor is recent purchase ................... And will disown any resultant liability ;product or otherwise