Novema Kulde
02-09-2013, 01:52 PM
Hi, we have a big chiller/heatpump. strange things happened in the sightglass. oil analasys proved glycol in the refr circuit. shell and tube exch. was the culprit. this is now replaced. oil analasis did also prove some humidity of course, but no acid or other substances that indicated compressor trouble. compressor was still running when we decided to stop the plant. After replacing exch. we are pulling vacuum.. then!!! the vacuum oil starts getting almost white, after numerous vacuum pump oil replacements i sent a sample for analasys. it shows 690ppm glycol and 11000ppm water.....!!! way more than the oil sample from compressor... to think that the compressor (big bitzer screw) have circulated oil throughout the system for quite a while i'm afraid.... clearly we're getting more stuff out via vacuuming. Oil is getting slightly better, but i doubt we can remove remains this way.
Q: what can we do other than vacuuming until a sufficient level of vacuum is obtained? is there a cleaning possibility here? prohibited refrigerants we can rule out (R11 he he) maybe use the old R134a charge as a cleaning solution? idk the status of this refrigerant after being subjected to glycol. anyone who has gone through something like this? The unit is big, 2 compressors, 2 circuits and heating power of 800KW so to replace it would be very costly..... and it does not get any better that this is under warranty..... this is recipe of nightmare warranty.....
Q: what can we do other than vacuuming until a sufficient level of vacuum is obtained? is there a cleaning possibility here? prohibited refrigerants we can rule out (R11 he he) maybe use the old R134a charge as a cleaning solution? idk the status of this refrigerant after being subjected to glycol. anyone who has gone through something like this? The unit is big, 2 compressors, 2 circuits and heating power of 800KW so to replace it would be very costly..... and it does not get any better that this is under warranty..... this is recipe of nightmare warranty.....