Upside down condenser ?

[frank14]

Hi there, hope the bright sparks can clear something up for me.

Was looking at a unit the other day and noticed that the liquid line left the condenser from the top of the unit.

What effect would that have, if any ?

The unit was not running at the time, but customer did not seem to have problem with the cooling.

Thanks

Frank

[multisync]

Just thinking aloud here...
Poor condensing control is a possiblity. Condensing relies on the contraction of the gas to form a liquid. (forced by the removal of heat) However the liquid relies on two things
a, The natural refrigeration cycle
b Gravity of the liquid falling towards the bottom and out

If the gravity is gone and indeed reversed into a lift then there will be losses involved. The refrigerant would have to be "suspended" in the top of the condenser by the incoming gas at the bottom.
There may also be an increased possibility of flash gas at the top exit. In a similar way of a long vertical liquid line..

On the whole though I would suspect little or no visable difference..

Multisync
London

[Brian_UK]

Is this 'liquid' line coming from the top of the condensing unit box or is it from the top of the condensing coil ?

[frank14]

Hi there

The discharge line goes into a header about midway. The tubes from the coil go into a header, the liquid line exists from the top of the coil.

Frank

[GXMPLX]

It really depends on condenser design.

A one circuit condenser with small diameter pipes could work fine with slightly higher pressure. But you have to be carefull what happend with the liquid when the system stops.

Condensers witl collectors should work really bad for the would need to almos flood to get some liquid out.

[750 Valve]

IMO under low ambient conditions it would log additional amounts of liquid in there and decrease the available surface area for rejection and increase the subcooling - this likely would not have adverse affects due to the decrease in ambient temp. Under high ambients it will also hold additional refrigerant and may contribute to a slightly higher head pressure as additional volume is taken up with the liquid refrigerant.

I have never been a fan of this and usually see this ending up as a result of poor installation techniques, sort of like having a condenser below the height of a liquid receiver. There's nothing like a good condenser drain.