Quote:
Originally Posted by r290r600
...I have gone and bought an R22 unit off eBay...does R22 use mineral oil like old car R12 sytems?
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James,
First of all, I would like to thank you for reporting back about your experience in trying to convert a R410a system to R290. The fact that it was not a successful swap is very important information, because there has been a blizzard of speculation that it should work. Your experience that it did not work is useful to all of us here... hopefully it will stop the blizzard of B.S.
If your intention is to take an R22 system and switch it to R290, it is one of the easiest transitions possible.
R22 systems use mineral oil, in a hermetically sealed environment.
If your unit will work, and if it gets properly cold, it is still hermetically sealed.
R22 systems use mineral oil. R290 is perfectly compatible with mineral oil.
Your comment about gunk in the system does not apply to a hermetically sealed system, because there will not be any water or oxygen to contaminate the internal fluids. It is not at all like a car engine, so worries about gunk do not apply.
I wouldn't advise using anything other than mineral oil in your system. Mineral oil is great stuff, it's not as likely to aggressively absorb moisture like POE, and if it has been left open to atmosphere, you stand a possibility of being able to remove moisture by creating a long, deep vacuum with a good vacuum pump.
When you open your system, use a piercing valve and open it very, very slowly (be prepared to take a half hour or more... yes,
THAT slow) and you stand a good chance of retaining all of your oil... it will be the right kind of oil, and it will be the right amount of oil, unless your hack radically changes the internal volume of your system.
I put two Brazed Plate heat exchangers on a dehumidifier and they replaced two smallish air coils. So I certainly changed the volume of my system, but I experienced no adverse effects. It ran just fine.
BradC, a fellow countryman of yours, had a lot of first rate experience with hacking heat pumps. It would be worth your time to search out his posts on this forum. He is very knowledgeable in these issues. Haven't heard from him in a while, but he definitely knows.
Let us know how it goes for you.
Take lots of photos!
Best,
-AC_Hacker