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Post by turbokinetic on Jul 18, 2019 12:19:27 GMT
It's alive! Yay!  You can really hear the difference when the oil is pumping properly; as well as the oil mist drifting away from the unit. Reminds me of a vacuum pump running with an open inlet.
I always feel dumb repeating myself in two places, but I want to repeat this here for discussion purposes. I wonder how much oil is discharged from the compressor dome into the condenser via that misting effect?
I bet your HVAC business is going like mad with the hot weather! I had to go into a supply place this week and could barely find a parking space! They were packed with service guys getting stuff for their calls.
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Post by ckfan on Jul 18, 2019 19:39:30 GMT
I’m so happy to see progress being made on this. Very nice.
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Post by coldspaces on Jul 19, 2019 2:31:44 GMT
The misting was sure was noticeable. That must be the main way oil makes it out of the dome. So cool too watch it pump.
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Post by coldspaces on Jul 21, 2019 14:03:34 GMT
BTW the watts were at 210 during the test runs.
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Post by coldspaces on Aug 10, 2019 13:48:31 GMT
I finally got this all back together a little over a week ago. I then had trouble getting it to hold vacuum. After I discovered that my newer micron gauge it's self was leaking I still had a leak. The service valve I was using held nitrogen pressure but was leaking under vacuum. Switched valves and copper washers. Got it to hold then. Made the suction line loop much smaller than it had been increased too in the past. 
I do not own a cabinet for a DR3. I added legs to Garrett's transportation crate to make a stand. It was strapped down good but a bit top heavy. 
While on the stand it got its second running. youtu.be/-v73O8SQckMLast night I shortened the stand and made it more stable. Then started closing it in. The bottom of the rolling cart it is on has 4 layers of cardboard. The rest is all 3/4" foam board.  Just need to weather strip 3 sides of the doors now.  |
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 10, 2019 14:05:35 GMT
Awesome! I love the homemade test cabinet!
That's a bummer about the leaking micron gauge and fittings - but that's just how it goes with equipment.
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Post by coldspaces on Aug 11, 2019 17:17:10 GMT
Ckfan told me I now have a camping frig. after he saw the cabinet I made. It does have wheels. Here is a video from last night. youtu.be/Y2ymOOzFVmUThe DR3 has been on since 7:30 am yesterday. I seem to be getting some very inconsistent run and off times. The control may be binding some after setting in storage for over a year.Frost line is showing it will need some more R124  |
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Post by turbokinetic on Aug 11, 2019 22:03:05 GMT
Ckfan told me I now have a camping frig. after he saw the cabinet I made. It does have wheels. Here is a video from last night. youtu.be/Y2ymOOzFVmUThe DR3 has been on since 7:30 am yesterday. I seem to be getting some very inconsistent run and off times. The control may be binding some after setting in storage for over a year.Frost line is showing it will need some more R124 That's wonderful news! So happy to see frost on it after all this work! As for the inconsistent frost line, it is very likely the control sticking. My D2 always gets inconsistent when re-started after sitting. I place a dab of chain and cable lube oil on the pivot points and it seems to really help it. I'm really not familiar with the control sensing line on this one; so this may be totally off base. Could the low frost line be causing the control to be inconsistent because the sensing tube is "just at the edge of the frost line?" |
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Post by coldspaces on Aug 11, 2019 23:12:14 GMT
I may be the fit of the sensing tube to the pig. It had thermal paste put in there in the past.
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Post by birkie on Aug 18, 2019 13:49:44 GMT
I'm glad to catch up on this thread. Nice work! Loved the video of the bare compressor and the oil mist. It has got to be quite hazy inside the dome of a hard-working DR!
It seems significantly quieter during pulldown than Travis's unit on R134a from the brief video (which seemed to have a noisy pulldown, but was actually rather quiet once stabilized). Has that been the case overall? So far, are you happy with how the DR3s handle R124?
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Post by coldspaces on Sept 5, 2019 3:44:22 GMT
This refrigerating machine has been plugging away on the test cabinet. I have not been happy with the sound. It was hard to hear good in the two videos I posted (my camera had a background noise to it?) but it had more than the normal DR rattle. It was rattling most all the time it was on. Since we know that 124 and mineral oil will mix easier than so2 and mineral oil I wasn't too surprised. I am not sure the 20 watt heater was really enough for so2, there is so much metal to heat on one of these. I wanted to try more heat but not spend big $ having heaters made. First I ground down the handle of a $4 30 watt soldering iron. This made a very noticeable difference. The rattle was still there but much softer. 
Next I ordered a $10 40 watt heater from Amazon. It was only 1/4" dia. so I made a sleeve of three sizes of copper soldered together. The smaller tube was crimped some after the heater went in. This was to allow me to pull it out by the wire and be sure the sleeve came with it. This heater went in last night and the compressor sounds great. A bit of rattle at start up and the normal soft rattle of a DR at the latter part of the cycle. I have another video but gotta wait on Google to process it bore I can get it from my phone.  |
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Post by turbokinetic on Sept 5, 2019 12:52:01 GMT
This refrigerating machine has been plugging away on the test cabinet. I have not been happy with the sound. It was hard to hear good in the two videos I posted (my camera had a background noise to it?) but it had more than the normal DR rattle. It was rattling most all the time it was on. Since we know that 124 and mineral oil will mix easier than so2 and mineral oil I wasn't too surprised. I am not sure the 20 watt heater was really enough for so2, there is so much metal to heat on one of these. I wanted to try more heat but not spend big $ having heaters made. First I ground down the handle of a $4 30 watt soldering iron. This made a very noticeable difference. The rattle was still there but much softer. Next I ordered a $10 40 watt heater from Amazon. It was only 1/4" dia. so I made a sleeve of three sizes of copper soldered together. The smaller tube was crimped some after the heater went in. This was to allow me to pull it out by the wire and be sure the sleeve came with it. This heater went in last night and the compressor sounds great. A bit of rattle at start up and the normal soft rattle of a DR at the latter part of the cycle. I have another video but gotta wait on Google to process it bore I can get it from my phone. Thanks for the update! Glad to hear that it's been running and doing its job in the test-cabinet. I have a feeling you're well on the right track with the heater. I remember that AJ put a miscible refrigerant in his CA and ran into the same issue. If I remember, in his case, a 50W heater resulted in the quietest operation. Sincerely, David |
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Post by birkie on Sept 5, 2019 13:56:12 GMT
Our DRA2 is our most rattly machine (had to jack up one side to keep it from rattling to bad during pulldown when it was still on SO2), and the R124 made it a bit rattlier. It also made it quieter overall, especially in higher-ambient temperatures. I almost wonder if the quietness served to enhance the perception of the rattle as well (i.e. made it stand out more).
I also noticed that in evenings, it was buttery smooth with no trace of rattle at all, while in the mornings there was a persistent slight rattle during the entire on cycle. It seemed particularly sensitive to temperature change. I'm thinking that at night the sump was a few degrees warmer than the morning. Warm sump + cooling air == less likely to condense in sump, cool sump + warming air == more likely. It had a puny 13W heater. I never got around to replacing it before the summer got away from me, but I was convinced by the evidence that R124 in that DR was a little more biased toward condensing in the sump, and it needed a bit more heat. Was going to try 20W.
Glad to see its progress!
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Post by coldspaces on Sept 6, 2019 4:22:31 GMT
I gave up on Googles BS processing my video. Got it from the phone to You Tube tonight. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0n9Pc5N4vY I apologize that mother nature is still butting in. I walk around some just to make the crickets stop. I start with it off and the doors hanging open to get it to start. You will notice that I upgraded my test cabinet with a latching system after adding weather strip to the doors. It should be safe for all to use if they don't snap themselves with the rubber bands. You can hear some rattle at the very start and at about 6 mins 30 sec you will hear the start of the "normal DR rattle". It never gets very bad but you can hear it. The 40 watt heater is definitely doing some good. When The 30 watt iron was in the well the compressor sounded much better but not like now. |
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Post by coldspaces on Sept 18, 2019 23:21:44 GMT
Two Saturdays ago I pulled the top and defrosted it. Here is what it had for frost lines after running for weeks with 10.5 lbs of R124 in her.   I redid the sensing tube to evap and made it fit much tighter to the evap. After putting the top back on the test cabinet it was cycling even shorter cycles. I checked and the cabinet was running at 47F. I cranked the control down and added 1.5 lbs r124, total of 13 lbs the factory recommended so2 amount. After getting the control set for around 37-38F and adding the extra gas it is running much more normal cycles. Hard to stay close enough to time it but it runs for 35-45 mins and off aprox the same. Not bad for the cabinet its on. And it just nicely hums along now, drawing right at around 200 watts, give or take 5. That is including the 40 watt oil heater. Almost never rattles but the garage has been warmer again. Here is the frost line with a 13 lb charge.   A few days ago I bumped the charge to 14 lbs and have the best frost lines yet. Gonna soon put the 20 watt oil heater back in and see if she starts to rattle and what the watts draw is. Interestingly when I bumped the heater from 30 watts to 40 watts the total watt draw was about the same. The compressor draw evidently went down. Here are pics with 14 lb charge.   |
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You can really hear the difference when the oil is pumping properly; as well as the oil mist drifting away from the unit. Reminds me of a vacuum pump running with an open inlet. 
