R22 retrofit flooded Industrial plant

[RANGER1]

Has anyone changed refrigerant in a flooded R22 plant with good results?

Have a plant with approx 700kg of R22 with a flooded shell & tube heat exchanger.
Refrigerant on tube, side single stage economized plant with screw compressor.

-40 C sst mineral oil used.

Have had R434A recommended, any other suggestions etc

Thanks

[superslim007]

First off, using a refrigerant with glide in a flooded system is not the preferred option, however R-434A has minimal glide, similar to R-404A. The pressure of R-434A is approximately 25% higher than R-22, so it will require modification of the system to account for the different properties of the refrigerant. The cost to retrofit from R-22 to R-434A may be substantial.


If you are going to put a lot of money into the system, it may be better to go with a more mainstream refrigerant with minimal glide like R-507 or R-404A. The availability and cost should be much more attractive in the long term than with a limited availability refrigerant like R-434A.

[RANGER1]

First off, using a refrigerant with glide in a flooded system is not the preferred option, however R-434A has minimal glide, similar to R-404A. The pressure of R-434A is approximately 25% higher than R-22, so it will require modification of the system to account for the different properties of the refrigerant. The cost to retrofit from R-22 to R-434A may be substantial.


If you are going to put a lot of money into the system, it may be better to go with a more mainstream refrigerant with minimal glide like R-507 or R-404A. The availability and cost should be much more attractive in the long term than with a limited availability refrigerant like R-434A.

At the moment everything shows for easy replacement, no oil change, no real pressure change, same capacity, similar price to R22 in Australia!

[night_marios]

i ve replaced r 22 with r 422 that has similar characteristic with the old but you need to change the oil with polyester oil!

[night_marios]

www2.dupont.com/Refrigerants/en_GB/products/isceon29.html