How do i successful clean R22 thats contaminated with water?

[Lodiev]

One of our vessels refrigerant haze been contaminated with water. the reason i want to clean it is that it is 4 tons of gas and a lot of money and if it can be reused it will be my bit to help the environment. We pumped the gas into two big remote receivers on the key side and i wondered that if i pump it back to the plant as a gas and not as a liquid from the receivers all the oils and water will stay behind in the receivers. is this the way or should i dump the gas and go for new gas?

[james10]

new gas unless you can find a specialist company to come to site and clean the refrigerant i've heard of this being done before not sure who did it though ask in your local trade counter or gas supplier

[Lodiev]

After investigating some gas cleaners and purgers that purge air and remove water as like the Hansen purgers i am more convinced that by sub-cooling the liquid to about -10'c and then evaporating it with a stand alone unit and condensing it back to a liquid form will clean the gas. The only thing i am not sure about is the chemical structure of the R22, did it change and chemically bonded with the water in such a manner that the water will evaporate with the gas at -10'c or will the water particulars freeze and stay behind in the receiver.?

[nike123]

http://www.fri3oilsystem.com/ingles/...onamiento.html

[Lodiev]

http://www.fri3oilsystem.com/ingles/...onamiento.html

Hi nike123
The link u posted do not open. Can u assist me with your endless knowledge here or either via e-mail?

[NoNickName]

I would go for new refrigerant, and trying to reduce the charge, by reducing the size of liquid receivers. Sometimes it's possible to reduce the charge by as much as 50% with more modern design concepts.
It could also be a good time for upgrading the refrigerant to a more environmental friendly one.

[RANGER1]

After investigating some gas cleaners and purgers that purge air and remove water as like the Hansen purgers i am more convinced that by sub-cooling the liquid to about -10'c and then evaporating it with a stand alone unit and condensing it back to a liquid form will clean the gas. The only thing i am not sure about is the chemical structure of the R22, did it change and chemically bonded with the water in such a manner that the water will evaporate with the gas at -10'c or will the water particulars freeze and stay behind in the receiver.?

I have reclaimed water contaminated R22 with a similar method with no problems .

If you vent it back into the system SLOWLY can't see a problem as you are distilling it by doing this .

Use a large filter drier in gas vent line with a high water capacity for final clean .

Maybe change plant filter driers more often for awhile & monitor .

Don't see any composition break down occuring unlike the newer blends .
Whats left in recievers can be drained & disposed properly in relation to your laws .

[nike123]

Hi nike123
The link u posted do not open. Can u assist me with your endless knowledge here or either via e-mail?

To me link is perfectly OK.
If you are unable to open that link you should try Mozilla Firefox browser and if that doesn't work for you, than your ISP is blocking some traffic.
Solution is to use TOR system.
http://www.torproject.org/

[mikeref]

I had a 23KW chiller on R22 that became contaminated for events beyond my control. Took me 3 months of oil/suction/liquid driers to make it reliable again.

[Lodiev]

Thanks nike123 i got a hold of Nando there and thins are looking up for me. Apparently there was a problem on there side but its sorted now.
We are considering it strongly to perches one of these systems from them.
But still i am interested in knowing how it works and if the chemical form of the gas has been compromised?

[Lodiev]

I have reclaimed water contaminated R22 with a similar method with no problems .

If you vent it back into the system SLOWLY can't see a problem as you are distilling it by doing this .

Use a large filter drier in gas vent line with a high water capacity for final clean .

Maybe change plant filter driers more often for awhile & monitor .

Don't see any composition break down occuring unlike the newer blends .
Whats left in recievers can be drained & disposed properly in relation to your laws .

Exactly what my small brain calculated RANGER1
But are there any brainiack that can confirm this method of cleaning as to be 100% guaranteed?

[Tesla]

I have distilled r11 and r123 - don't see why r22 couldn't be distilled. The distiller had a very large vessel with an open drive comp on it and a condenser. At the outlet we used a drier. In your case you can either put it through a still or use lots of big high capacity driers. But don't throw it away it costs a lot of money. If their is air in the system it can be purged into a large empty cylinder. You can check with a press/temp chart, gauge and refrigerant temp. Check for acidity before putting back into system.

[yorkman_gr]

Connect a recovery unit on your liquid side use a high water capacity filter drier and discharge your liquid back in to your system, u can do that even if your system still operational,and maybe in additional use in series a cool trap, and let the little dude do his thing,change your filter regular.
Just a cheap suggestion

[RANGER1]

Exactly what my small brain calculated RANGER1
But are there any brainiack that can confirm this method of cleaning as to be 100% guaranteed?

Its still running after 10 yrs .
You don't have to be a brainiac as all that is left is water & all R22 gone after transfer .

It is not a blend like newer refrigerants.

What type of compressors & throttling device is used in system ie TX Valves or other?

[Lodiev]

Its still running after 10 yrs .

What type of compressors & throttling device is used in system ie TX Valves or other?

There are 4 Frick screw compressors with economizer ports running the first stage cooling -10'c and a central accumulator for the -40'c expansion side.
3 by liquid pumps and no TX valves at all, every thing is flooded coils. 2 x Blast freezers 1 very big IQF freezer and 3 by plate freezers. The water blocked in the liquid pump strainers with the oil. tests on the oil showed almost .5% of water per volume. I also installed a WDO unit from york to remove all un-purities from the system wile running now.

[RANGER1]

So what will you do now with system etc .
I'd imagine lenthy clean up with number of oil changes , filter driers .
Acid may occur if copper pipework .

How did water get into system in the first place.

[Lodiev]

We flushed the whole plant peace by peace with R141b and gave it a 3day vacuum.we recharged with new gas and now its for filters and oil change until the oil check states that no water and contamination are left.
One of the fresh water heat exchangers froze up and damaged the piping inside.
I then installed a WDO unit from York to get rid of all the old oil in the system wiles the vessel is on sea.
The plant are performing satisfactory at present and the WDO unit removed about 10lts of black old oil.
The problem is that i do not have the hard to dump 3.5 tons of R22 and i am struggling to convince my boss that we can reuse the recovered gas if we distill it.

[DeadEye]

If your ship travels to the states,the agent should be able to get a reclaimer to buy the used gas, with that amount of r22 any reclaim operation should be happy to send trucks to the dock.

[RANGER1]

To me the biggest danger is not in distilled R22 but the existing contamination in the rest of the system .
This requires a lot of attention .
You could buy new R22 but have same problems anyway , then what apart from changing oil,filter driers etc .

[Lodiev]

To me the biggest danger is not in distilled R22 but the existing contamination in the rest of the system .
This requires a lot of attention ..

Yes Ranger1 thats the headache, but i am very happy with the process we followed in cleaning the system.
Are u familiar with the WDO unit of York?
This system actually distill the cold liquid in the plant as it operates and separate the water as well as contaminated oil.

[Lodiev]

If your ship travels to the states,the agent should be able to get a reclaimer to buy the used gas, with that amount of r22 any reclaim operation should be happy to send trucks to the dock.

Have u ever been to SA? this is the kind of services that do not exist here. Thats why if u want something done here u better learn it yourself or just blow it into the atmosphere witch is a big no no for me.

[RANGER1]

Yes Ranger1 thats the headache, but i am very happy with the process we followed in cleaning the system.
Are u familiar with the WDO unit of York?
This system actually distill the cold liquid in the plant as it operates and separate the water as well as contaminated oil.

Can you give anymore details as I have not heard of this WDO .

[Lodiev]

Can you give anymore details as I have not heard of this WDO .

I will try to send u the Booklet via private mail.
It is actually designed for ammonia but the principle is the same for ***** and it works just as well.