Hello Everyone, long time, first time here.
Please let me know if this isn't appropriate for this forum.
I've come across an interesting piece of lab equipment on a surplus sale: a single stage VLT cold trap running R13b1. Its an oddity I'm playing with for entertainment value only.
It's an old unit: capillary tube metering and no external tstats, it just runs until the compressor trips its thermal overload, somewhere around 115C (240 F).
So here's what I know:
Compressor is pulling exactly one amp above its run rating: 4.5A instead of 3.5A.
Condenser is clean, fan is working fine.
I've run it with no load (empty trap) and with load (room temperature isopropyl alcohol), no difference.
Trap reaches temp of -20C and holds there after about an hour when it should be hitting around -50C. I can see the return line from the evaporator covered in frost at that point.
Condenser input temp: 74.3 F
Condenser output temp: 66.3 F
Evaporator is a sealed unit, can't pull any readings there.
Next step is piercing the lines and taking a manifold reading, at which point I'd be bottling up the r13b1 and considering replacements...
I was wondering if anyone here would have any thoughts on the matter (or know what lubricant is used for halon refrigerants)?
Cheers!
Please let me know if this isn't appropriate for this forum.
I've come across an interesting piece of lab equipment on a surplus sale: a single stage VLT cold trap running R13b1. Its an oddity I'm playing with for entertainment value only.
It's an old unit: capillary tube metering and no external tstats, it just runs until the compressor trips its thermal overload, somewhere around 115C (240 F).
So here's what I know:
Compressor is pulling exactly one amp above its run rating: 4.5A instead of 3.5A.
Condenser is clean, fan is working fine.
I've run it with no load (empty trap) and with load (room temperature isopropyl alcohol), no difference.
Trap reaches temp of -20C and holds there after about an hour when it should be hitting around -50C. I can see the return line from the evaporator covered in frost at that point.
Condenser input temp: 74.3 F
Condenser output temp: 66.3 F
Evaporator is a sealed unit, can't pull any readings there.
Next step is piercing the lines and taking a manifold reading, at which point I'd be bottling up the r13b1 and considering replacements...
I was wondering if anyone here would have any thoughts on the matter (or know what lubricant is used for halon refrigerants)?
Cheers!