Using pump down cylinders more than once.
Hi,
We are discussing the best practices when it comes to using pump down cylinders. For years we have used pump down cylinder to reuse refrigerant in the case where it is still clean within a system. For example a liquid line solenoid needs replacing. We will fit a 1/4 drier in line with the recovery unit to pick up and debris.
My question is, is it ok to use the same pump down cylinder from job to job so long as you follow ensure it is only for the same clean refrigerant type?
What is your pump down cylinder practice?
Thanks.
Re: Using pump down cylinders more than once.
Provided that you have pulled a deep vacuum on the cylinder to remove any remaining dregs of the previous refrigerant, it should be alright, but can you guarantee that there is not any traces of oil left in the cylinder. The vacuum process might not remove oil residue as the refriergant will boil off but not necessarily the oil.
Re: Using pump down cylinders more than once.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
WCEbloke
Hi,
We are discussing the best practices when it comes to using pump down cylinders. For years we have used pump down cylinder to reuse refrigerant in the case where it is still clean within a system. For example a liquid line solenoid needs replacing. We will fit a 1/4 drier in line with the recovery unit to pick up and debris.
My question is, is it ok to use the same pump down cylinder from job to job so long as you follow ensure it is only for the same clean refrigerant type?
What is your pump down cylinder practice?
Thanks.
We deal with larger amounts of refrigerant, in which we would ask supplier for "clean" refrigerant pump down cylinders.
That way we have a cleaned decontaminated cylinder where we can reuse it's contents confidently.
Oil type could be taken into account with it's comparability, but probably wound not reuse on hermetic or semi hermetic compressors, would use new refrigerant depending.
Re: Using pump down cylinders more than once.
we have to be careful about non pure refrigerant (Blends) because when any unit got leakage from high side then refrigerant change its chemical composition so when you will recover this refrigerant then it will not the same refrigerant as some one charge at the time of start up . so recovering and recharging of Blend refrigerant can create worries even after adopting careful procedures to pump down....
Re: Using pump down cylinders more than once.
.
In principle the practice would/should be ok, taking into consideration
oil and other stuffs that would be with the oil but you do run the risk
of cross contamination.
Your process sounds fine with the method you use and the filter, if I
was to do it then I would use the same process but ultimately you
might build up a residue inside the cylinder, so swapping it out with
a newly cleaned one might be an option.
in practice I don't think there would be catastrophic consequences to
what you are doing.
Rob
.
Re: Using pump down cylinders more than once.
have two 40 kg bottles for recovery, one for units with POE oil and the other for units with mineral oil.
I use one filter before the recovery machine, one before the bottle and another one when refilling.
