Ive just started a rebuilding of a recip chiller. The heat exchanger has burst its banks and flooded the entire system. This was probably due to poor commissioning which we'll investigate later.
However today we drained all the water out of the condenser coil with the help of nitrogen and then got the vaccuum pump ready.
Here is where my arguement starts.
I was talking to the old man who im working with about the vaccuum process. I was willing to take the torr gauge down to 4 mbars even if it takes all week but...
He claims if we take the vaccuum too deep then any moisture in the system will freeze and wont come out???
I always thought the whole process was based on the fact that if we lower the pressure in the system then the boiling point of water lowers and thus turns into a vapour state and is removed by the pump. Hence at atmospheric pressure i bar water has to be 100c before vapourising and at 2 mbar approx it can boil at -6c. He thinks that by decreasing the vaccuum to a deep level that we will lower the water temperature and freeze it??
He is adamant that hes right. I didnt want to argue with the guy too much as hes a lot older than me so i must be respectful but whose right??
Am i barking up the wrong tree?