500 word Essay on 2 Articles

ONLINE AT WWW.ACHRNEWS.COM ■ June 27, 2011 23

By B. Checket-Hanks Of The NEWS Staff

H istory, t hey s ay, re peats itself. T he H VACR i n- dustry i s not i mmune to t he t ruth o f t his

saying. A go od c ase i n p oint w as the introduction of R-410A ear- lier t his ce ntury, co mpared t o t he introduction of R-22 in the 1930s.

According to H VACR h isto- rian Bernard Nagengast, R-22 was introduced in 1936. H owever, “ it was l ittle u sed u ntil a fter W WII.” Its f irst u se w as i n i ndustrial a nd large c ommercial l ow-tempera- ture refrigeration systems.

“In t he 1 950s i t w as u sed i n household f reezers w ith hermetic compressors,” he s aid. “H owever, that u se w as s hort l ived d ue to high compressor failure rates (due to h igh d ischarge tem peratures when used at high compression ratios — high discharge temps kill off hermetic compressors fast).”

The f irst u se o f R -22 i n a ir conditioning w as i n t he l ater 1950s, ma inly a s a r eplacement for R -12 b ecause it p ermitted the u se o f sm aller c ompressors and piping. “Yes, there was some fear in the service area about the higher p ressures,” N agengast said. “I he ard t hat f rom a n old - time service manager when I was doing some of that work.”

According to Ste ve Bro wn, trainer, E ducational S ervices, Emerson C limate T echnologies, the s ame f ears w ere e xpressed during t he pe riod wh en 22 wa s being p hased o ut, a nd 410A wa s moving in (roughly 2001).

“We h ave pr ovided t raining primarily on C opeland c om- pressors si nce t he l ate 1940s a nd have b een add ressing t he E PA refrigerant i ssues si nce t he m id 1980s,” Bro wn s aid. “As t he E PA

Refrigerant Handling Guidelines evolved i n t he 1 990s , w e i ncor- porated t hat t raining i nto o ur classes w ith e mphasis o n r etro- fitting f rom C FC ref rigerants to H CFC ref rigerants, a nd h ave continued that practice into all of our current training programs.”

R-410A TRAINING Several years ago, Brown told

his r efrigerant-handling c lasses about what happened when R-22 was j ust beco ming po pular f or air conditioning.

“The service mechanics of those days w ere c omparing t he p res-

Old vs. New: R-22 vs. R-410A

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Steve Brown, trainer, Educational Services, Emerson Climate Technologies, pointed out the similarities between R-22 and R-410A during the period when 22 was being phased out, and 410A was moving in.

“There was some fear in the service area about the higher

pressures. I heard that from an old-time service manager when I was doing some of that work.”

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AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING & REFRIGERATION NEWS ■ June 27, 201124

sure d ifference b etween R-12 a nd the h igher p ressure o f R -22, a nd were c oncerned a bout t he h igher pressures with regard to handling systems with the h igher pressure R-22. I stated that we have history repeating it self w ith t he t ransi- tion from R-22 to R-410A, as some service me chanics, e specially t he older o nes, w ere s aying t hat t hey didn’t want anything to do with the ne w R -410A b ecause o f i ts much higher pressures” — 60-70 percent higher than R-22.

Primary r eplacements f or HCFCs i n i nstalled s ystems i n- clude R-507, -404A, and -134a, all of w hich u se P OE o ils. F or te ch- nicians, t hat re placement job includes f lushing t he s ystem to clear it of all mineral oil.

Dave M etcalf, ma rketing ma n- ager, H oneywell, s poke to ref rig-

erant te chnicians at t he G arden State-RSES ( Refrigeration S ervice Engineers Society) Service Seminar held in Morristown, N.J., at H oney- well’s world headquarters in 2001.

R-410A had arrived; at the time there we re more t han 2 50,0 00 systems w ith R -410A, M etcalf pointed o ut, s o c ontractors a nd technicians ne eded to le arn h ow to service them. However, he said there w as s till “ misinformation and c onfusion” a mong a ir c on- ditioning c ontractors c oncern-

ing t his ref rigerant a nd t hose he mentioned as replacements.

“R-410A i s a lready u sed i n new u nitary e quipment,” M et- calf s aid at t he t ime. “R -407C i s being used in Europe, but it’s less efficient t han 41 0A.” R -410A is 5 percent mo re ef ficient t han 2 2, he said, a nd 10 percent more ef fi- cient t han 4 07C a nd 134a. T hese higher p ressures a llow f or mo re compact de sign, w ith sm aller scrolls and rotors.

As for s afety, “H igh pressures are not t hat d angerous,” he s aid.

“It’s good to a sk questions at f irst. [R-410A’s] pressure jump is the same a s f rom 1 2 to 2 2,” a 65 -75 percent pressure increase.

Manufacturers d id s tress t he importance o f o nly u sing ne w gauges app ropriate to t he ne w refrigerant, si nce u sing t he old ones could blow apart under that

increased p ressure. T his c ould lead to f reeze-burns a nd i njury from flying metal.

Service p ractices c hanged i n response to t he ne w ref rigerant, to prevent t he i ncursion o f mo is- ture a nd no ncondensibles i nto the system. The advice included:

• Upon i nstalling o r se rvicing a u nit w ith p olyolester ( POE) o il, make sure that a new R-410A-com- patible f ilter-drier i s i nstalled a ny- time the system is opened.

• Remember, a v acuum a lone

will not remove moisture. • Brazed-in o r s weat-style f il-

ter-driers m ust b e c ut o ut o f t he system, to avoid recontamination.

• Never s tart a c ompressor under a system vacuum.

“As time moves on, OEMs have been m arketing ne w a /c s ystems with R-410A, some of the old-tim- ers h ave re tired, a nd u ltimately, service mechanics have taken t he EPA Ref rigerant Ha ndling Gu ide- lines in stride,” said Brown.

“Most o f t he older e quipment has bee n r eplaced w ith n ew a nd better de signed s ystems o ffering higher EER ratings,” he said.

“Service p eople a cross t he country are better educated about refrigerants a nd t hrough t he efforts o f E merson E ducational Services, o ur i n-warranty c om- pressor re turns h ave d ropped dramatically.” ■

“As the EPA Refrigerant Handling Guidelines evolved in the 1990s, we incorporated that training into our classes with emphasis on retrofitting from CFC refrigerants to HCFC

refrigerants, and have continued that practice into all of our current training programs.”

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