If you experience unexpected or unrealistic data it is important to methodically check data and possible sources of error. All analysing of performance will regardless of method depend on both the accuracy of input and the use of proper calculations. The calculations is in the case of ClimaCheck defined by the used template and there are different templates for different applications. With ClimaCheck you can use the following troubleshooting method if you experience a deviation from expected or references values.

1. Check measurement by measurement that each value is realistic. The best way to do this is obviously with a second meter if you have a specific issue but there are several means of identifying issues by looking at the measurements.
2. Pressure sensors are typically quite linear with the most common error affecting offset. This means that it is often enough to checked versus atmosphere pressure but comparing with a traceable reference is always best.
3. At stand still the pressure normally equalise if there is no solenoid. If both pressure sensors show the same you can almost be certain the measurements are good as it is a low likelihood two sensors with different ranges should show the same. You can also run pump/fans and stop compressor pressure should then equalise with the temperature of incoming air/water.
4. It is normally also know what pressure is expected at a given exiting air/water temp of evaporator/condenser. Small deviations of pressure measurements has a low impact on performance and large should be identified by strange pressure readings.
5. Temperature sensors/measurements with ClimaCheck is done with high accuracy Pt1000 class A sensors these can best be checked versus a known traceable reference.
6. If you run the system with some flash gas at the sight glass the sub cool should be near zero.
7. Power measurement most often creating “problems”. There are many computations with 3-phase power measurements and it is more seldom alternative measurement equipment with high accuracy is available.
8. The easiest way to check is to compare power with compressor manufacturer data (the leading manufacturers often have softwares with reliable data whereas some offer less reliable data. It is important if you want to have high accuracy to be aware of that inaccuracy increase if you are below 20% of range of current transformers.
9. You can check the power with a multimeter Volt/Amp measurement together with an assumption of 0.8-0.85 as normal power factor if you do not have detailed info. But this is more of an estimate.
10. The only assumption the ClimaCheck method use is the energy balance over the compressor and the 93% will be a good assumption for heat losses for hermetic and semi hermetic compressors (the maximum identified in a survey was 10% and minimum 3% e.g. the error will be maximum 3-4% at extreme cases). This is only true if there is no additional cooling e.g. heat exchange with ambient air in a cabinet/room or external cooling through special devices such as oil or water cooling. External cooling can be:
11. Liquid carry over from evaporator. This will give a warning for low superheat but also give a fictive high compressor efficiency (also gives warning) and fictive high COP/Capacity. Very few if any compressor manufacturers accept liquid carry over as this will drastically affect compressor lubrication as the liquid carry over will increase the refrigerant content of the oil which decrease the viscosity that result in increased wear and shortened lifetime expectance. Liquid carry over is a common problem on air to air and air to water heat pumps that are often originally designed for.
12. Air cooling; if forced air is blown over the compressor the heat losses will increase in particular if the air is cold. This can be the case on condensing and low temperature semi hermetic compressors with fans to cool cylinder head. This can be handled:
13. By shielding the compressor from the forced air flow if the pressure ratio is not so high that extra cooling is required or by shutting of the fan if the conditions allow this e.g. if the discharge is monitored to stay within allowable limits. Shielding is often easily done with a sheet of insulation or cardboard or similar. There is no requirement to make it tight just to remove the forced air as this increase the heat losses drastically.
14. By adjusting the heat losses in the constant sheet. To identify what heat loss to use there are several means either experience can be used or comparison with the what is the measurement if the system can be monitored under known condition without fan.
15. Oil/water cooling. This is common on larger compressor in particular in the industry and require additional measurements and special templates for calculations see special information on this.
16. Liquid injection. To inject liquid injection can extend envelope of a compressor but as it decrease efficiency to inject liquid refrigerant it should only be used when necessary e.g. extreme conditions. This is often controlled by discharge or motor temperature. These systems require special calculations and accuracy can be significantly affected if effect of liquid injection is not known and taken into account.

Go to www.climacheck.com and go to ”Flowcharts and Templates”. Here you will find required equipment for most different units. In the case of a sub-cooler, you will need a template, 8 temperature sensors, 2 pressure transmitters and a power meter.

No, not unless you are interested in the hot gas heat exchanger capacity separately. Standard measurement with temperature measurements on hot gas pipe and after the condenser will give the total rejected heat with accurate COP. If measured with a separate sensor between the hot gas heat exchanger and condenser connected to the variable TT_Cond_in, software will show condenser capacity plus hot gas heat exchanger capacity. If you add water temperatures in and out from the heat exchanger you must use an optional module for four temperatures (RTD04) available for both field – and fixed measurement.

Normally, you measure joint hot gas temperature and power input to both the compressors when there is only one refrigerant circuit. Compressor efficiency is obtained for both compressors. By using a temperature sensor (normally TT_8) on one of the compressors it is easy to check that both of the compressors have the same temperature.

If the compressor efficiency is unreasonably high, it is because errors in the measurement or if the compressor has an active cooling. Active cooling can be a fan, water or oil cooling or liquid injection. It may also be a result of liquid refrigerant in the suction line of which boils and cools the compressor. For stable operation and without cooling, compressor efficiency for the most efficient compressors have a compressor efficiency of appr. 75%.

No, the ClimaCheck method gives COP, heating – and cooling capacity, Compressor Efficiency etc without any flow measurement. By using the temperature and pressure measurements, most cooling processes using thermodynamic data for refrigerants and energy laws are analysed.

In principle, any system can be measured but for complex systems this normally requires additional sensors and specialized information. As standard you can measure a lot of different plants. For example, a circuit with the condenser, heat exchanger or suction gas heat exchanger changer. PC-templates for these units are included as standard ClimaCheck portable devices but sent upon request to ensure that the correct model is used for different systems. Units with two circuits require more sensors. To see what accessories you need for a given circuit, go to ”Templates & Flowcharts”.

Absolutely. We have extensive experience in measuring transcritical units and supplies for new construction and field measurements in particular the retail market since 2009. The measurements are of great help in such commissioning and troubleshooting. Contact us for more information.

Manuals are installed together with the software during a special help and libraries, and many can be downloaded on the website. Before the start of measurement, it is important that you have the correct template and the right equipment. Many can be downloaded from the website under “Documentation and FAQs”.

With ClimaCheck online you can from any Internet browser to go in and analyse your plant. ClimaCheck sends data over the Internet to our server where the analysis is done. Therefore, no software is required. In ClimaCheck Online, energy statistics and reports are included. Here, the plant owners can easily see how much energy the plant uses and there are also features that reflects historical energy consumption which gives a good indication of how the system is optimized.

The current clamps supplied with portable equipment have a measurement error of up to 3% in the range 20-100 A. Below 20 A, the accuracy is poor, and we recommend to use fixed current transformers instead. With an input power of 3 kW electrical output of the measurement error can be above 10%, which affects the cooling- and heating capacity with the same error, while the COP value is not affected.

Each ClimaCheck central unit “PA Pro” has 8 pressures and 8 temperatures on board and can be expanded with additional modules most common is the RTD04 with 4 temp. These are connected to the central unit with a “telephone cable” so they are easy to extend to get x*4 temp at some distance. This said wiring is expensive so distances put some limits on cost effectiveness. If you have two chillers close to each other it is clear you normally would connect these to one PA Pro. If they would be 50-100 m apart you would typically use 2 PA Pro. If you look at the pricing you will see that the PA Pro central unit is quite cost effective versus the expansion units. Then when it comes to communication over modem there are two ways either RS232 modems for single PA Pros or Router modems for LAN with multiple PA Pros there is an added cost to the Router modem but for several PA Pros it is clearly much cheaper. The result is that there can be a cost effectiveness to expand the first PA Pro but if you move to two PA Pros then there is less cost advantage. Each PA Pro can handle maximum 100 analogue “channels” where maximum 50 can be on bus communication. Both the ClimaCheck software and ClimaCheck Online can be set up to take data from one Source and split and present it to several analyses.

Fri₃Oil System can recover and recycle on site all halocarbon refrigerants: CFC’s, HCFC’s y HFC’s.

Refrigerants, once recovered and recycled, have a minimum quantity of impurities: less than 600ppm in the worst of cases. This quality makes them ideal for their reuse, with a total  security that they will not damage the equipment in which they are introduced.

The cleaning of water is one of the most difficult(I´d rather say complex) practices we can do with Fri₃Oil System, due to the problems of ice blockages that can be created in key points like: the dryer at the entrance of the main machine, or in the expansion valve.

However, and through a proccess which is perfectly explained in our training DVD, it is possible to extract until the last drop of water from any plant, saving this way these equipments that, otherwise would be disposed.

As we mentioned, it is a cleaning system for refrigerated circuits, that can also recover and recycle any halocarbon refrigerant at the samen time.

This means that, once we have recovered all the HCFC refrigerant from a plant, we will have reclyced it all and separated it from the MO that used to contain.

Therefore, if we proceed to the cleaning of the interior of the circuit,  we will assure the total extraction of the installation MO content, avoiding this way, a phase separation by an excess of MO and its mixure with POE. The HCFC would be kept and recycled, bieng idela for maintenance services until end of 2014.

YES, of course, and not only it can be recycled and reused without problems, but also that cylinder that stores the gas can be cleaned as well.

The REA is an 7,1ltr capacity External Oil Recipient, that mainly has 3 funcitons:

1. Permanent REA: It is connected to the main machine on each cleaning. Its mission is to house all the dirt from the circuit interior: Oliz, acids, water, etc.
2. Intermediate REA: This REA is placed between the Fri₃Oil System main machine and a circuit in which, predictably/likely there is water. Its objective is to receive the major part of this water, in order to avoid it entering the machine and create obstruction problems. For further information, please consult our Training DVD.
3. POE oils Handling: One of the principal uses of the REA by our clients is the handling of POE oils. It is used to store the spare oil. Once in the REA, it is pressurized by  the refrigerant we cose, in order to sep it untl it use, avoiding its damage by air exposition. For further information, please read the  Artícle 15, The REA, uses and applications.

Fri₃Oil System is valid for ALL installations containing halocarbon refrigerants, independently of its size.

For Information about special installations cleaning due to their big size, please consult clients/users FAQ´s section in our website, or our Training DVD.

All this dirt is sent in a non-hermetically-sealed recipient to a waste dealer, like any oil coming from a recovery. The waste dealer will incinerate these products.

The System has been tested many times in lab and it always achieved a less than 200ppm result of impurities in the recycled refrigerant, in the worst of the cases.

There are no fixed regulations about it, except ARI720 which affects to virgin product, and not recycled one.

Regarding the blends, there are only some doubts concerning those high glide products, like R-407C, that should be analized in case of doubt. In the practice, what professionals do is to recover this refrigerant in quantities of 1tn in a recipient, which is later sent to the waste dealer. The waste dealer, with the authorisation of the “patenter” will “re-compose” the product.

For the rest of the blends with low glide, no comprobation is needed. The performance of the product, and its vapur tension is very similar to the original one.

The Fri3Oil System main machine does not self-evacuate. It is necessary” an ordinary recovery machine, by communicating the high-low pressure, opnening the by-pass valve asd through the oil take, and valve 10 it is possible to extract all the oil remaining in the unit, except a few ppm that can remain inside the oil in the main mahcine compressor carter.

Eventhough, inside the controller program, it is possible to find these refrigerants, and, technically it is viable, we decided to remove them, as they would not pass an explosion proof.

It is not posible to do more of what physically the liquid separator does.

Nevertheless, there are little particles that pass with the refrigerant vapour to the compressor carter. For this reason, we recomend, not only to replace the oil when needed, but also to change it each 200working hours, as a preventitive measure, in order to get a better lubricity of the oil and compressor.

The REA must be cleaned with the same principles that we use for any equipment, and that can be learned in the training course.

In the practice, refrigerant is injected through the liquid valve, sucking by the vapour one, and having placed the REA upside down. For the final recovery of the remaining refrigerant which there is from the vapour valve to the bottom, the REA must be tilted, in order to leave in the lowest point the vapour valve.

This question is answered in question no. 8