2023 RETA Breeze Jan-Feb

SERVICE

The Shade Tree Mechanic volume XLVI

Emergency condensing Part 2

pump, higher inlet pressure makes it easier to get more movement. So hows we gonna git higher inlet pressure. We decided to “stuff the box”. We used to call it stuffing the pump when we used a transfer vessel to create higher inlet pressure to a transfer pump. So why not do that to our condens er. We sit big fans all around the air inlet to the condenser and we pushed as much air in as we could. Hopefully that would create a little more airflow or at least make what air flow we were getting a little easier on the fan. So back into the shop for more beer, also it was getting dark, so a fire seemed like a good idea. A few old boxes and boards in the driveway and then I hit them with the acetylene torch. Best darn lighter ever! But ya know, the best way to help the condenser was to get rid of the load. Sure, it ain’t the easiest thing to do sometimes. We talked about all the basics. Keep the doors closed. Level out the production loads. Stage processing. Instead of starting 9 lines at 6 AM, maybe we start 3 at 5 AM, 3 at 5:30 AM, and the last 3 at 6:30 AM. We move our schedules all the time for them processing boys, it was time for them to return the favor, especially if they still wanted all 9 lines runnin at noon. Minimize temperature differentials at the evaporators. This is a good idea, all the time. But when you’re struggling it’s more important than ever. Along with that is keeping evaporator coils clean. Ok, that’s all the bullets I had in my “air”gun.

have extra condensing capacity (for my buddy that was anytime he could get under 185 PSIG). If we can get the spiral down an extra 5 degrees before we start running, that’s just a few BTU’s that we would not need to take out later. Any areas that were not on the same system as the condenser should take as much of the load as possible. In my buddy’s case he had two systems on site. So, I suggested he load the other system as much as he could. A couple of degrees in the holding room saved a couple of degrees in the spiral freezer. Simple load movement stuff. So that was it, about a dozen things to try. Hopefully, that would be enough to get him by until the new condenser arrived. The whole thing got me ta thinkin though. This could have been prevented if someone had put more forethought into keep things up or getting them replaced earlier. All equipment has a life span. We can extend it, but not forever. Sometimes, it’s just over. You gotta realize it and move on. Too much depends on our refrigeration systems, we must keep them running, and running efficiently. Well now that I’m thinkin about it, I gotta an old compressor that could use a little rebuild. Time to get to workin. The shade tree grows outside of the little town of Broughton, Ohio. Where everyone is always welcome, the beer is always cold, and something is always needin fixin.

So’s when I let off my story, we waz sittin around the shade tree drinking a few, talking about my buddies condenser. His condenser is a real piece of cat snot. We were trying to find a way to keep produc tion running till his new condenser arrives. When attacking condensing, there are three areas to go after. 1. Water 2. Air 3. load We had already discussed water, so we started discuss’n air. Air is our friend. Quantity and temperature. We eliminated the idea of fan control. We would turn the fan on and drive the condensing temperature as low as we can get it. There was no way to get low enough to cause issues. There was no reason to ever allow the fan to shut down or change speeds. Given the condition of the condenser, changing fan speeds could develop vibration and make the situation worse. Now in all honesty the fans aren’t going to cycle off anyway, there is no way to get the condensing pressure low enough. But he doesn’t want the operators to change the speed of the fan. There ain’t no way I was cleanin the coil. We discussed that last time. But clean mist eliminators would help. So, the mist eliminators were scheduled for cleaning. Sincin’ we were limited on fan speed, we started looking at what air movement is. I know this ain’t “book right”, but to me, fans create air pressure differential. Kinda like a

Cheat. Run temperature lower when you

RETA.com 13