Unit installation

IOMM ACZ/AGZ 13
Refrigerant Piping
Introduction
Proper refrigerant piping can represent the difference between a reliable, trouble free system and
months or years of inefficient, problematic performance.
System concerns related to piping are:
1. Refrigerant pressure drop
2. Solid liquid feed to the expansion valve(s)
3. Continuous oil return
Of the three listed, the most important and least understood is number 3. “Continuous oil return”.
The failure of oil to return at or close to the rate of displacement from the compressor can result in
oil trapping and ultimate compressor failure.
On the other hand, the instantaneous return of a large volume of compressor oil, as a slug, can be
equally damaging to a compressor.
All compressors displace some oil during operation. Reciprocating compressors displace more than
centrifugals, scroll and McQuay screw compressors since oil is carried into compressor cylinders
with suction gas; and oil present on cylinder walls is entrained by that same gas as it is being
compressed. The sum of the two is then pumped into the discharge piping.
Also more oil is displaced at start-up of a compressor than occurs during a normal running period.
Thus, if a compressor experiences excessive starts because of recycling pumpdown control, the
larger quantity of oil pumped out is trapped in the condenser with the refrigerant charge, and may
not return regardless of the adequacy of the piping system.
A similar problem to a lesser extent occurs when the equipment is oversized for the available
cooling load.
n short, extreme care should be exercised to assure that both piping and controls are suitable for the
application such that displaced oil is returned to the compressor moderately. Note, too, that oil loss
to the system can be due to a hang up in the evaporator, as well as in the piping.
Suction Lines
McQuay recommends the use of ASHRAE for guidelines in sizing and routing piping with one
exception. See the 1998 ASHRAE Handbook Refrigeration Edition, Chapter 2 for tables and
guidelines. The single exception is to the piping of direct expansion cooling coils located above the
compressors. In all cases, regardless of whether the equipment has pumpdown control or not, a trap
in the suction line equal to the height of the coil section is recommended. In its absence, upon a
power failure, all of the liquid in the coil will fall by gravity to the compressor below.
Suction line gas velocities may range between 900 and 4000 feet per minute. Consideration should
be given to the possibility of objectionable noise in or adjacent to occupied space. Where this is a
concern, gas velocities on the low side are recommended.
Routing must also take into account the requirement established in the latest ANSI/ASHRAE 15.
To size the suction line, determine:
a. The maximum tons for the circuit
b. The actual length in feet
c. The equivalent length contributed by elbows, fittings, valves or other refrigerant specialties.
ASHRAE Tables 2-10, 11 & 12