Quote:
Originally Posted by MN Renovator
I've tried spraying my condenser down(it had been running for over an hour already) with a hose once before and came inside and noticed my discharge temperature actually went up until the water evaporated. It wasn't what I expected so I did it again on a different occasion but with less water and the result was similar. The amp draw went down but it didn't seem to be cooling as well, I assume because the pressure going to the evaporator wasn't high enough for the refrigeration cycle or something.
My system uses a fixed orifice, an standard A coil, fixed airflow, and a reciprocating Bristol compressor.
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Whats happening is the high side pressure is dropping because its being cooled. Then on a fixed orifice system the amount of liquid being forced through it drops. At the same time liquid is starting to accumulate in the condenser coils. Hence less cooling due to less liquid refrigerant going into the evap coil.
Now on a system with an expansion valve the valve will self meter and it isn't an issue. That said TXVs arent the fastest to react. They do lag some to keep the system stable.
So that said any additional cooling on a condenser on a fixed orifice system will not have a benefit. Its also why on cooler days the ac runs longer to cool as it cant build the high side pressure as easily. A system with a TXV "should" see an improvement but i would like to see some real data to back it up as it seems that no entities are interested in that testing.
IMO anything that results in better cooling and lower pressures and lower amp draw is a good thing to try. The high pressures are still taking their toll on evap coils on brands like rheem/rudd in the effect of leaks... I like their very quiet condenser fans and compressors but their evap coils leak like a sieve.
On a similar area... In cars with fixed orifice tubes.... There used to be allot of problems with cooling going away temporarily then coming back. What was happening was when the car is traveling at a steady speed or accelerating it works fine. But as soon as you would just lift on the gas the cooling would go away.
The airflow over the condenser would drop as would the cfm of the compressor and then the pressure in the condenser would quickly raise. Then the liquid in the condenser was quickly forced through the orifice tube into the evap flooding it. So now you have an evap coil that isnt working as well and you have a condenser that is having a hard time trying to rebuild the liquid in the bottom.
Many things like electric fans and different metering devices finally remedied the issue then 134 came out and the problems were multiplied until they finally worked out those issues. IE serpentine and headered condensers and higher cfm compressors.