AC compressor discharge tempreture

[khalodee123]

for home AC quality control purpose, I need to measure the temperature at the AC compressor outlet. How can I measure it. Please advise

 

[imok2]

Put a thermocouple about 6 inches from the discharge valve should not be more then 250*f because oil will start to break down, try to keep it above 225*F

 

[khalodee123]

thanks imko2 but as you know the discharge tubing out of the compressor is very small size ( less than 1/2 inch). is there a thermocouple that can be installed on this very small size? Also the flow media is gas (Feron) and not oil.

thanks

 

[willard3]

Oil and refrigerant gas are mixed at the compressor outlet which is why compressor mfgs have such stringent requirements on lubricating oils. Refrigerant lubricating oils are very special.

If the compressor outlet temps are too high, the lubricant oil breaks down.

I would suggest an infra red thermometer to measure discharge temps, then pipe size makes no difference.

 

[imok2]

If you are going to use infra red thermoter then I suggest you sprey paint the area black as this should give you a better reading and yes you can take a reading on i/2" pipe with a thermocouple

 

[thermcool]

If the pipe is relatively small diameter, use thin wire thermocouple. It give more precise readings.

I would suggest more than one thermocouple (may be 2 or 3) to take into account the effect of the improbable errors.

 

[KiwiMace]

Use the smallest joint thermocouple you can find (welded - a twisted end won't do) and tape it to a clean section of tubing with foil backed tape. Armacell insulate over and cable-tie this down. I'm testing out a new locally made monitoring system on my furnace that does this at the moment.. but they use one-wire digital temp sensors - try

http://www.istmonitor.com

It seems to be more useful to measure your liquid line and suction line temps.

 

[waross]

Try this site for thermocouples

http://www.omega.com/toc_asp/sectionSC.asp?section=A&book=temperature

yours