Hygroscopic POE oil

[kay86]

Sorry for opening another thread, hopefully you won't hate me but I still have plenty to learn in this journey.
Unfortunately I misplaced a cap on my compressor (1/3 HP R290 freezer compressor) and realized some days after as the inlet was completely open. I'm afraid that the POE oil mighy have been contaminated now, so I was wondering what I should do. I've tried pulling a vacuum to 800 micron, and it didnt seem to be rising a lot after that, but I've read that POE oil is very difficult to remove humidity out of, so a vacuum might not be enough. Should I swap it for new oil? Also, I realized I have a normal nitrogen tank, not a "dry nitrogen" one. Should I be afraid to reintroduce the same problem once I'll pressure test the system?
Thank you!

[kay86]

Oh, thinking about it, if I added a sight glass, would it show as "wet" if the oil was still contaminated after the final vacuum?

[RANGER1]

kay86,
If open to atmosphere, no good.
Change oil with new oil that has never been opened.
Change filter drier, if not already.
Check with your supplier about the nitrogen quality.

[kay86]

Thank you!

[kay86]

Hey, little follow up question. I've emptied out the compressor but I've only managed to recover 130ml, while the specifications say 180ml. I also flushed with nitrogen to make sure most of it would come out. Should I put back 130ml or the whole 180ml now?
Compressor was never installed so it's impossible it got lost somewhere in the system. Thank you

[seanf]

Hi kay86,

It might take a bit longer to get a good reply from the other forum members, theres a lot of posts by spam bots clogging up the "Whats New?" page. Which I think is the page most forum members check for new posts.

For me, I would probably put in what I took out. So the 130ml. And then once the system is running, keep an eye on comp temps and noise. 50ml difference seems relatively large amount to go missing?

Cheers

[kay86]

Thank you Sean, I will keep monitored both amperage and themperature of the compressor.