After noticing water in the bilge of our new boat I tracked it back to a section of ununsulated coper pipe comming through a bulkhead from the freezer. Which was iced up and melting each time the compressor stopped. It was icing up near the foam insulation. Thinking I would solve the problem by adding another .5 meter of foam insulation to the copper pipe I have found the icing has moved to the next section of uninsulated pipe which is about .4 meter from the compressor. If I cover the remaining pipe with foam will it have adverse effects on the operation of the compressor. Any suggestions. Al.
Freezer compressor pipes icing up
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Insulating the pipe from the compressor to the evaporation coils is standard practice. The fact that it is icing outside the box is a posible sign of low levels of gas in the system. You might check to see if you have the correct pressures.
Insulate as much as possible. I agree with Ross on the pressure, as that can cause this problem. Also, check and clean your coils (heat exchanger / radiator looking thingy) If they are loaded with dust / dirt and don't get proper air flow these also cause issues.
Nik
Nik
I met a couple with a brand new 42 footer that had the same issue. As I recall, they were walking to the boat with insulation for the pipe when I heard about it. Poor workmanship (in a few minor details anyway) from Catalina on an expensive new boat. They ordered the boat absolutely loaded. They also got a surprise on the shakedown as they were running the autopilot, pushed the button for a port tack and she went to starboard! That could have been the dealer's fault though. Depends who did the install.
Interesting.. It would be good to know if it is the compressor suction or the liquid line from the condenser or after the expansion valve or capillary.. If the larger diameter compressor suction, there may be a bit too much refrigerant in the system .. if the liquid line from the condenser, probably too little refrigerant in the system.. Either way, more insulation is probably OK.. but do get a set of gauges on the system and check it out ..
Small refrigeration systems like this are based on a capillary tube system. They require an exact amount of refrigerant to work properly. Adding insulation may help keep your boat dry, but will not fix the problem. Unless a PO messed with the refrigerant charge, you can't have to much, which means you have a leak. A common place for a leak is the evaporator, from using a knife or ice pick to speed defrost. The only way to fix the problem is to find the leak, reclaim the refrigerant, fix the leak, evacuate the system (to make sure there is no moisture) and refill with the EXACT charge. The charge should be stamped somewhere on the unit, usually on the plate that tells the refrigerant type. The charge will be in weight, (oz or grams).
My 110volt refer is a seafrost. The refer tech communicated directly with seafrost to make sure the system had the right amount of refrigerant. I still got frost on some of the copper tubing. I talked with Seafrost and they said to insulate the tubes. that has helped.
Adding insulation might be a mistake
When frost appears on return line there is an excessive refrigerant flow problem so adding additional insulation may case compressor to receive liquid instead of gas and fail. The corrective action is to adjust refrigeration effect to occur inside evaporator instead of in return line. How this simple adjustment is made will depend on the type system you have. If this system has a capillary tube system it is probably overcharged and wasting a lot of energy.
When frost appears on return line there is an excessive refrigerant flow problem so adding additional insulation may case compressor to receive liquid instead of gas and fail. The corrective action is to adjust refrigeration effect to occur inside evaporator instead of in return line. How this simple adjustment is made will depend on the type system you have. If this system has a capillary tube system it is probably overcharged and wasting a lot of energy.
Re: Adding insulation might be a mistake
Thanks for the info. The difference with this compressor is that there is only one pipe. I guess the other one is internal to the larger one as I can see a smaller pipe soldered into the larger.
Thanks for the info. The difference with this compressor is that there is only one pipe. I guess the other one is internal to the larger one as I can see a smaller pipe soldered into the larger.
Only one tube at evaporator would indicate a standard aluminum evaporator with a capillary tube expansion device but still will not help identify which refrigeration system you have or who made it. On small systems the high pressure liquid line is either wrapped around return gas line or is run inside gas line to supper cool liquid refrigerant. Frost on return line of a capillary tube system would normally indicate too much refrigerant for this type system. Before tampering with refrigerant the overcharge of refrigerant needs to be confirmed by either excessive amperage to operate system or having a technician test unit. The problem with overcharged new systems is common because now condensing units are no longer sold as a matched set. This frosting problem should have been detected and corrected by person installing it. Total suction line of less than one meter is not normal from the companies I am familiar with so the installer my have shortened line and recharged it with too much refrigerant.
Thanks for your input Sailboat Owners
Thanks to the replies to our freezer issue I have cleared the matter up.
Slightly overcharged system
Too much refrigerant in the system will result in liquid still evaporating back to a gas past the end of the evaporator & inside the tubing going back to the compressor. This means that there is still some of the refrigeration process going on inside the tubing, & there will be a build-up of frost or ice on the exposed section. If additional insulation has been added, it may be concealing this symptom & should be removed. The evaporator may appear & sound normal, but will be at a higher temperature than desired, resulting in longer than expected run times.
Thanks to the replies to our freezer issue I have cleared the matter up.
Slightly overcharged system
Too much refrigerant in the system will result in liquid still evaporating back to a gas past the end of the evaporator & inside the tubing going back to the compressor. This means that there is still some of the refrigeration process going on inside the tubing, & there will be a build-up of frost or ice on the exposed section. If additional insulation has been added, it may be concealing this symptom & should be removed. The evaporator may appear & sound normal, but will be at a higher temperature than desired, resulting in longer than expected run times.
As per frigoboat assistance: Removed the additional insulation I had well meaningly added and manually and (carefully) released about 4 seconds of gas from the compressor. Solved. Cheers.
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