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How It Works
How does oil-fouling affect an air conditioning or refrigeration operating system?
In virtually all air conditioning and refrigeration systems, 1/2% to 8% of the compressor’s lubricating oil circulates with the refrigerant, this oil attaches to the inner walls of the refrigeration tubing and acts as an effective insulator to heat exchange.
Contaminating oil films are deposited throughout the system and it is these oil deposits that ultimately cause blocked heat transfer and reduce system efficiency as reported by ASHRAE.
Effects on the System
As the compressor oil and refrigerant normally circulate through the system, the compressor oil is deposited on the walls of the refrigerant tubing and forms an oil-fouling layer that blocks heat transfer from the refrigerant to the metal tubing walls.
The result of oil-fouling is frequently noticed at the expansion device. Debris from wear or manufacturing are carried by compressor oil and may precipitate at the lower temperature in the expansion device, resulting in restricted or plugged capillary tubes or sticky expansion valves. A few milligrams of these contaminants can render a system completely inoperative. Any migrating oil in any refrigeration or air conditioning system is costly, both in kWh consumption and money and lost time spent on maintenance and repairs.
Equipment suppliers may state that in a particular system, migrating oil concentration has been reduced to only one percent. The one percent being referred to is one percent of the total oil volume. If a compressor holds four quarts, or 128 ounces of oil, then at one percent, 1.28 ounces is flowing through the system at any given time. Since a capillary tube, oil pressure switch, or expansion valve can be fouled with a few milligrams of oil, when one percent of any oil charge is flowing constantly through the system, the system will become oil-fouled.
Effects on Heat Transfer
Oil-fouling of the heat transfer surfaces of air conditioning and refrigeration systems will cause a loss of about 7% efficiency the first year, 5% the second year, and 2% per year the following years. This loss will continue to accumulate until equilibrium is reached between flow force and adhesion. At this point the oil boundary layer formed has achieved its maximum thickness, producing maximum loss of efficiency. Usually, the efficiency degradation will peak somewhere between 20% and 30%. Published ASHRAE information states these observations. According to ASHRAE, performance is degraded by as much as 30% due to the build-up of lubricants on internal surfaces. Higher percentages have been observed in systems 20 years old or older.
Managing The Problem
The oil that finds its way into the refrigeration circulation system must somehow be managed. The obvious question then becomes how to manage this troublesome oil fouling. Some of the techniques used by manufacturers to control migrating oil include the use of mechanical devices such as separators, skimmers, drums, heat sources, suction risers, traps and pumps. According to ASHRAE’s Handbook, these high-tech designs are not efficient enough to remove all of the unwanted oil.
Coalescing separators are far better than separators using only mist pads or baffles; however, even they are not 100% effective; and so oil fouling forms anyway. Although the mechanical solutions may reduce the problems of restricted or plugged capillary tubes or sticky expansion valves, they do not resolve the boundary layer oil fouling over time.
The Solution
The heat transfer efficiency loss due to oil-fouling is restored to near new equipment levels by using IceCOLD’s synthetic catalyst to break the Vander Waals (surface tension) forces between the oil globules and the walls of the refrigeration tubing. The absence of oil-fouling restores the lost 20% to 30% heat transfer efficiency. An added benefit is that the capillary tubes, expansion valves and heat pump “4 way valves” are also cleaned and will not oil-foul again.
Conclusion
Add on electrical devices such as “surge protectors” and “high tech” (non-ASHRAE approved) lubricants (the most popular one is actually soap according to MACS) yield efficiency improvements in the two-to-four percent range, with a financial payback period of four to ten years.
The IceCOLD® synthetic catalyst, with a financial payback period of under twelve months and a Return On Investment (ROI) of up to 500%+ according to ASHRAE’s average equipment life expectancy, presents a radical shift from “how we’ve always done it since 1930.” This technology is gaining acceptance due to the INERTEK laboratory certification and ASHRAE’s published information on oil-fouling stating the potential for up to 20% to 30% AC / refrigeration electricity savings and ASHRAE’s funding of numerous oil-fouling research projects.