Accumulator - HVAC Online Training and Courses 

They do not need to be insulated. accumulators will sometimes have the liquid line going through them to boil the liquid in the accumulator. Remember we want the liquid in the accumulator to evaporate. Insulation will keep the liquid from evaporating, unless there is a heater attached to the accumulator.

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Thank you for joining our group. Hope all our videos are very helpful. We will be hosting a free webinar on March 27th at 11 am EST. Here is the link: events.genndi.com/register/818182175026330270/72d81d0437

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They (The manufacturer) have developed hem so here is no pressure drop across them. The pressure should be the same from one side to the other. Thank you for watching and the question!!!

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excuse me sir I have a question, as video said there will be more and more liquid refrigerant in accumulator how to handle it, and whether the oil will get into the AC system or just in compressor

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Remember one thing. Refrigerators or refrigeration systems will typically use a different type of refrigerant than air conditioning systems. Because of that they will use different oils, sometimes, so you need to make sure that you order or you get the correct compressor for that application. so I guess you could say that there is, or that there are some differences in them. I hope this answers you question. And thank you for watching!

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@@AirConAcademy sama2 pak

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To make the answer short let me say that 410 A is a blend and it needs to be added as a liquid so that the percentages are correct. If we add 410 as a gas the percentages will be wrong and the unit will not operate properly. That is why we have to be very careful when charging a system with 410 A because we do not want liquid to get to the compressor. I hope this explains it. Thank you!!!

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Remember, the accumulator is like a safety device for the compressor. It is not there to help you charge a system faster with liquid. To do that you need to throttle the refrigerant into the system so it flashes off long before it gets to the compressor. I have a video that talks about that, you could look for that. Accumulators are typically used on heat pumps because they run under very low temperatures. Be careful when you charge system with a new refrigerant.

@@AirConAcademy thanks sir for your answer

The liquid refrigerant that is in the accumulator will boil off. Accumulators should not be insulated because we need the heat to get to the refrigerant to make it boil. The compressors are insulated specially when they have a crank case heater, and they are in heat pumps since they run in the winter time. But the accumulator should never be insulated. I hope this answers your question. And thank you for watching!

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lol these comments make wonder how I can improve my videos and how what I say and do may be seen differently by others!!! thanks for your comment!!! and thank you for watching !!!!

Correct! Typically when that missed goes into the compressor it is first, going to come in contact or come close to the motor and the heat from the electric motor that is running the compressor , this hat will instantly evaporate the mist! If you have too much liquid coming in because you don't have an accumulator then you're going to wipe the bearings, they're going to be clean, and they will not have any lubricant so your compressor will fail! I hope this makes sense, thank you for your message and thank you for watching!

Thank you for sending the question in. The liquid refrigerant, and the oil will go back to the compressor through that small port at the bottom of the U tube. It's designed that way to make sure oil always comes back to the compressor. Oil always travels with the refrigerant, so there will be oil traveling through the system every time the unit is running. I hope this answers your question! And thank you for watching!

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Yes, most of the time manufacturers will not install accumulators unless it is a heat pump. Typical air conditioning units will not need accumulators because one other things that we do is make sure that we have superheat. Because of the superheat we should not need accumulators in air conditioning units. A heat pump needs an accumulator because of it operating in low outdoor air temperatures. We always run the risk of getting liquid back to the compressor and the accumulator will stop this. This is why we typically do not see them on units. I hope this answered your question! And thank you for watching!

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@@AirConAcademy your very much welcome sir.

Interesting question, as far as I am aware there are five types of compressors, reciprocating, rotary, scroll, screw and centrifugal. I have only seen centripetal and screw compressors on chillers, meaning they would only be used on large systems and an accumulator would not be needed. The other three, reciprocating, rotary and scroll are used on smaller units. Most of the time when I have seen accumulators they are used in heat pumps. This is done because it is running on your very low temperatures and pressures in the heating mode so most likely they will be liquid trying to get back to the compressor and the accumulator will stop that. I have never seen a screw or centrifugal compressor used in this application. I hope this answers your question. Thank you for the question and thank you for watching!

@@AirConAcademy Thank you very much for your answer. Actually, the system which I am talking about is AC Plant for the ship, it is not a Chiller System. But as I see it can be installed before screw or piston, doesn’t matter. If you have video about how to choose correct sized suction accumulator it would be very good.

@@AMGpro1992 in your situation I suppose you could install it before the compressor. But it should not be needed if you have a good amount of super heat! And on your system I'm afraid it is too large of a system to have an accumulator? I have never seen an accumulator for a system that large. The most important thing you can do is make sure that you have superheat. Most likely you have TXV's so they should maintain superheat. I hope this helps. Let me know!

Typically the accumulator comes with the unit. It is very rare that you will have to add an accumulator to any unit. My suggestion has been to make sure you have the correct suction line size and approximately one that can hold the charge of the unit. Receivers are typically designed and sized to hold the entire charge plus about 10 or 20%. But accumulators typically do not need to hold the entire charge. I hope this gives you an idea. Good luck and thank you for asking and watching!

If the accumulator is sized properly it should not get overflow of liquid refrigerant going back to the compressor. If someone has overcharged the system then, yes liquid would still make it to the compressor but the accumulator would have to be practically full of liquid refrigerant. I hope this helps! And thank you for watching!

Thank you!!!!

You could say so the oil will be atomized and go back as a mist so as to not hurt the compressor.

That is a good question! If that was to happen it would be a minimal amount and it would not be enough to slug the compressor. Some manufacturers suggest that you have a heater in the accumulator to keep that from happening, but I am sure they would be in very cold climates. And if it's that cold you would not use a heat pump. That was a very good question and thank you for sending it in.

@@AirConAcademy Thank you very much. 👍

Kevin Mask If your heat pump is running with next to no superheat it could be a dirty evaporator coil, or it could be a dirty return air filter, you may want to check the fan speed of the evaporator fan, check to see if the vents are open throughout the spaces and or a could be a badly adjusted metering device. Bad compressor valves would not cause zero superheat. Yes, you are correct the accumulator would stop the liquid from getting to the compressor, flooding the compressor and destroying the bearings.

quite honestly, I'm not sure!? This would save a lot of compressors, but then again, it cost money to install it. And the manufacturers want to make more money I suppose. These are used in heat pumps because of the low outside air temperature when the heat pump is in the heating mode. Sorry, I guess I don't have a good answer as to why you don't have these on all AC units? Thank you for watching!

Thank you!!! I think that is a hard question to answer. Are you replacing the compressor? Did the compressor come empty without any oil? Typically what we do is to measure how much oil is in the compressor when we remove the compressor and then replace only that amount of oil that came out. Usually you do not lose a large amount of oil because of leaks. So the oil should be in the system. You don't want to have too much oil in the system because it will just lay in the evaporator or the condenser and then they're not going to transfer heat like they should. I hope this helps! Good luck!

No compressor change replaced evaporator leaking and will change accumulator

You should not have to add any Oil. You should be able to just change the evaporator in accumulator. Good luck! @@felixsoto9110

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I will make a note of it and get one on here soon Thank you!!!

if you over heat the accumulator it could leak but from the joints. not from the side? it could have been defective!!! yes you are correct

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It means that you have liquid refrigerant leaving the evaporator and you need to check the superheat and make sure you have superheat.

Thank u.

@@AirConAcademy Thank u for your answer. If the system had a hot gas bypass line and an extra TXV on suction line should i check something more?

@@soterist9011 OHHHHH!!!! That changes things a bit!! it could be that the hot gas bypass valve is not opening and the TXV is miss adjusted. those systems are a bit more tricky. check the adjustment on the extra TXV. sometimes those have a solenoid just before it so it only works sometimes. only when needed. so check the superheat on the extra TXV. I am sorry it took me so long to answer I have been teaching in the mornings.

Cai have an accumulator in the every unit or just heat pump?

That is an interesting question! There is actually not much that can fail in an accumulator. The only thing that could happen is that the port at the bottom of the RU-vid could get clogged up. Other than that not much can fail. The only thing I have seen happened that makes you need to replace an accumulator is that they rust and they leak. They are made out of steel so patching it is not going to work. I have tried that before and a few days later another hole appears someplace else. But there isn't anything that could actually feel in an accumulator. I hope this helps! Good luck out there!

@@AirConAcademy Thanks

I'm not sure I understand your question. But if you have a container of refrigerant, and it is not labeled. You should place it in a room for several hours, once it has stabilized at that room temperature, then you get the pressure and compare the pressure and temperature in the PT chart. That will tell you what type of refrigerant is in the bottle/container. you have to have an accurate thermometer, accurate gauges, and a PT chart. I hope this answers your question. I assume that you're not talking about a specific unit because you could look up the type of refrigerant and the data plate of the unit. But if you're talking about a bottle of refrigerant/container send the way I mentioned is the way to find out what type of refrigerant is in the container. Thank you for watching!