Installation manual
Page 18 / IM 178
Piping recommendations
1. Use type K or L clean copper tubing. All joints should be
thoroughly cleaned or brazed with high temperature solder.
2. Piping sizes should be based on temperature/pressure
limitations as recommended in the following paragraphs.
Under no circumstances should pipe size be based strictly
upon coil or condensing unit piping connection size.
3. Suction line piping pressure drop should not exceed the
pressure equivalent of 2°F (1°C), 3 psi (20.7 kPa) per 100
feet (30.5 m) of equivalent pipe length. After the suction
line size has been determined, the vertical suction risers
should be checked to verify that oil will be carried up the
riser and back to the compressor. The suction line(s)
should be pitched in the direction of refrigerant flow and
adequately supported. Lines should be free draining and
fully insulated between the evaporator and the compressor.
4. Vertical suction risers should be checked using Table 4 to
determine the minimum tonnage required to carry oil up
suction risers of various sizes.
5. The liquid line should be sized for a pressure drop not to
exceed the pressure equivalent of 2°F (1°C), 6 psi (41.4
kPa) saturated temperature. The RDS unit includes a
factory installed filter-drier, solenoid valve, and sightglass
in each liquid line, upstream of the thermostatic expan-
sion valve.
Table 4. Minimum tonnage (R-22) to carry oil up suction
riser at 40
°
F saturated suction
LINE SIZE
O.D.
1
1
⁄8"1
3
⁄8"1
5
⁄8"2
1
⁄8"2
5
⁄8"3
1
⁄8"3
5
⁄8"4
1
⁄8"
MINIMUM
TONS
1.50 2.50 3.80 7.60 13.10 20.4 29.7 41.3
Note: When compressor minimum tonnage is less than shown in the above
table for a given line size, double suction risers will be required.
Leak testing
The field piping system should be checked for leaks prior to
charging. Leak testing must be performed to current EPA
standards and regulations. After making any necessary re-
pair, the system should be evacuated as described in the
following paragraphs.
Do not use oxygen to build up pressure.
A serious explosion could result from using oxygen to
build up pressure, resulting in severe personal injury or
death.
Evacuation
After it has been determined that the unit is tight and there are
no refrigerant leaks, the system should be evacuated. The
use of a vacuum pump with a pumping capacity of approxi-
mately 3 cu.ft./min. and the ability to reduce the vacuum in
the unit to at least 1 millimeter (1000 microns) is recom-
mended.
1. A mercury manometer or an electronic or other type of
micron gauge should be connected to the unit at a point
remote from the vacuum pump. For readings below 1
millimeter, an electronic or other micron gauge should be
used.
2. The triple evacuation method is recommended and is
particularly helpful if the vacuum pump is unable to obtain
the desired 1 millimeter of vacuum. The system is first
evacuated to approximately 29" (740 mm) of mercury.
Enough refrigerant vapor is then added to the system to
bring the pressure up to 0 pounds (0 microns).
3. Then the system is once again evacuated to 29" (740 mm)
of vacuum. This procedure is repeated three times. This
method can be most effective by holding system pressure
at 0 pounds (0 microns) for a minimum of 1 hour between
evacuations. The first pulldown will remove about 90% of
the noncondensables, the second about 90% of that
remaining from the first pulldown, after the third, only 1/10
of 1% of noncondensables will remain.
Table 5 below shows the relationship between pressure,
microns, atmospheres, and the boiling point of water.
Table 5. Pressure-vacuum equivalents
ABSOLUTE PRESSURE ABOVE ZERO VACUUM BELOW 1 ATMOSPHERE
APPROXIMATE BOILING POINT
MERCURY MERCURY
FRACTION OF OF H
2
O AT EACH
MICRONS PSIA
(MM) (IN.)
1 ATMOSPHERE PRESSURE (
°F)
0 0 760.00 29.921 — —
50 0.001 759.95 29.920 1/15,200 –50
100 0.002 759.90 29.920 1/7,600 –40
150 0.003 759.85 29.920 1/5,100 –33
200 0.004 759.80 29.910 1/3,800 –28
300 0.006 759.70 29.910 1/2,500 –21
500 0.009 759.50 29.900 1/1,520 –12
1,000 0.019 759.00 29.880 1/760 1
2,000 0.039 758.00 29.840 1/380 15
4,000 0.078 756.00 29.760 1/189 29
6,000 0.117 754.00 29.690 1/127 39
8,000 0.156 752.00 29.600 1/95 46
10,000 0.193 750.00 29.530 1/76 52
15,000 0.290 745.00 29.330 1/50 63
20,000 0.387 740.00 29.130 1/38 72
30,000 0.580 730.00 28.740 1/25 84
50,000 0.967 710.00 27.950 1/15 101
100,000 1.930 660.00 25.980 2/15 125
200,000 3.870 560.00 22.050 1/4 152
500,000 9.670 260.00 10.240 2/3 192
760,000 14.697 0 0 1 Atmosphere 212
!
WARNING