COMPRESSOR
This is the absolute most important part of your system all other parts
of your cooler revolve around this part!. The compressor will determine
how fast the refrigerant can move how large of piping you can use, what
kind of vacuum you can achieve on your low side. This is the heart and
soul of the cooler if you get cheep here your only making it harder
on youre self. In our systems the compressor needs to run long
cycles, carry a decent heat load, and be reasonable with power consumption.
With that in mind you can use anything from a 1/12hp compressor up though
making it all the way to 1hp is probably largely overkill. On average
you will not need a compressor larger than 1/4hp and anything 1/6hp
or better is above average. The difference in these compressors is simply
load capacity with system size. Where a 1/4hp compressor with a small
system can do an equal load to say a 1/12hp with twice as large of a
system. This is accomplished by higher refrigerant speeds. With the
weaker compressor it is designed to run a small cycle of probably about
40W of heat so the refrigerant wont need to be at its coldest and can
cycle at a moderate speed, so in order to get this small compressor
you need to increase the size of the tubing so that you can have more
refrigerant in your cooler to compensate for its low flow rate. With
your larger compressor the refrigerant is moving at high speed and the
compressor still has room to keep the
low side pressure in a vacuum state, which results in a phenomenally
lower boiling point. What your compressor can do is all determined by
your budget and availability of parts. For most of us cheep is the goal
now the way to do that is to try to find something someone is throwing
out or at a garage sale. If you happen to see a refrigerator on the
side of the road its got a possibility that it still works or has some
silly thing wrong with it. So it is in our budgets best interest to
knock it over and rip the compressor out and test it. Now you can get
a refrigeration compressor for any number of devices. a short list of
these are as follows:
01) full size refrigerator: compressor probably about 1/8 - 1/6hp
02) full size refrigerator freezer combo: compressor typically 1/6 -
1/3hp
03) chest freezer: compressor typically 1/4 - 1/2hp
04) full size freezer: compressor typically 1/5 - 1/3hp
05) mini fridge: compressor range 1/20 - 1/8hp
06) mini freezer: compressor range 1/10 - 1-6hp
07) dehumidifier: compressor range from 1/8 - 1/4hp
08) window ac unit: compressor range 1/6 - 3/4 hp
As you can plainly see they are common use. Now for those of us whom
dont have a job yet or just dont have allot of spare cash
finding one of these at a garage sale for $10 or on the side of the
road can make or break the project. Now for those of us with a big wallet
can purchase a compressor part. The compressor part starting at about
1/12hp typical cant be found for under 75 dollars, for a compressor
with a rating of 1/4hp you are looking at closer to 175 dollars. The
biggest confusion is that a compressor is made for one particular refrigerant
and CAN NOT be used for anything else. This is a myth it can be with
a bit of care and effort. Something you will need to do is find out
what refrigerant the compressor
was filled with originally, this information leads us to know what oil
it contained this is very important. If the compressor was charged with
anything other than R134a the first time then its 99% accurate to assume
that it contained mineral oil this is no a huge deal. However if your
compressor was originally filled with R134a this can be a problem as
it contains ester oil. The reason this is a problem is if you wish to
use any other freon to charge your system other than R134a it will need
to be cleaned thoroughly to attempt to get all traces of oil out. If
you were planing on using R290 or any other refrigerant that doesnt
come bottled with oil it doesnt matter whats in the compressor.
Now if your compressor was R12 and used mineral oil and you want to
move to R134a that is ok because you can purchase R134a that doesnt
contain oil for the porpoise of replacing R12/R22 systems. So as the
compressor is the absolute most important part of your chillier I suggest
you make sure that you have this first make sure it runs and has sufficient
power for what you wish to do with it, as a small compressor requires
to you to take further steps to insure it can handle the heat load.

_______________________________________________________________________________
Table Of Contents:
I: MISSION STATEMENT
1: MATERIALS
2: CONDENSER
3: EVAPORATOR/RESERVOIR
4: COMPRESSOR
5: FINAL ASSEMBLY
6: REFRIGERANTS
7: CHARGING
8: MODS
|