Post by birkie on Feb 13, 2014 2:54:49 GMT
An update:
I chickened out, and ended up getting a 1935 CK2-B16 in great shape that just needs a cleanup and seals evaluated & replaced. That being said, the unit with the CK2-E16 top is still available, with the owner willing to deal down to $150. Part of me wants to go ahead and get it as a fun project. The other part of me says that I have too many projects as it is right now. I have worked on automotive A/C systems before, own a vacuum pump (salvaged from a research lab) that can pull a vacuum to 0.5 microns, and have brazed metal before (cast iron, not copper tubing). Would I be insane not to take the chance?,
I like the idea of replacing the evaporator with a stainless steel one from an earlier CK if one can ever be found. I don't know if the E16 I looked at was low on refrigerant (slow leak from the corrosion), or had a clogged orifice, or what - but the evaporator on the older CK definitely got colder much faster and emitted a very noticeable vigorous boiling sound. Reading the recent thread that contains the CK evaporator patent, the porcelain evaporator looks like has none of those features (serial section, mini-header, jet passages, induced flow direction). It simply looks like two headers on either end with a parallel set of passages directly connecting them.
By the way, this is the whole unit:
I chickened out, and ended up getting a 1935 CK2-B16 in great shape that just needs a cleanup and seals evaluated & replaced. That being said, the unit with the CK2-E16 top is still available, with the owner willing to deal down to $150. Part of me wants to go ahead and get it as a fun project. The other part of me says that I have too many projects as it is right now. I have worked on automotive A/C systems before, own a vacuum pump (salvaged from a research lab) that can pull a vacuum to 0.5 microns, and have brazed metal before (cast iron, not copper tubing). Would I be insane not to take the chance?,
I like the idea of replacing the evaporator with a stainless steel one from an earlier CK if one can ever be found. I don't know if the E16 I looked at was low on refrigerant (slow leak from the corrosion), or had a clogged orifice, or what - but the evaporator on the older CK definitely got colder much faster and emitted a very noticeable vigorous boiling sound. Reading the recent thread that contains the CK evaporator patent, the porcelain evaporator looks like has none of those features (serial section, mini-header, jet passages, induced flow direction). It simply looks like two headers on either end with a parallel set of passages directly connecting them.
By the way, this is the whole unit:
