Filter Dryers and moisture indicators.

Harvey Ramer

What is the shelf life on this stuff?



Harvey

Techman

The MI part

Hi Harvey! Interested in stocking a few parts? I have a few MI's in stock! 27 or so on the truck , and backup in the shop. 20 years or so ago I bought a bunch of 7/8  and 1 1/8  liquid line MI's.I sold a few in the past 2-3-5 years or so, the MI tablet showed "caution" while in the shop and on the truck.Then in the system , the MI showed "caution" , then changed the FilterDrier(twice) and the new ( in the system ) MI showed "DRY". There are two "types"or  "styles" of "moisture sensitive tablets" by the way! So I'm going to say that MI's last one 'ell of a long time or so! 

meplumber

MI's

I had one riding around on my van for about 4 years.  It was a 7/8" that I bought for a job and ended up not using it.  Pulled it out of my van on a Saturday morning in desperation and installed it while showing "Caution."  After a full triple vacuum, it showed Dry.  So....as Tech said, they last a while.

Harvey Ramer

Sporlan

These are sporlans.



My neighbor, who is in his fifties gave me a couple big boxes of refrigeration supplies, that used to belong to his dad, who did refrigeration his whole life. This stuff is all 20+ years old.



Harvey

Techman

FilterDrier part

Morning Harvey, what brand of FD/MI do you use now? Are these solder or flare FD's ? Do you "listen " for the "pressure noise" when you open up a new FD now? WHAT? What pressure noise? What are you talking about? PSSSSSST, THAT pressure noise!!!!!Try one of the old  FD's that you just got. If flare have a SAE flare cap ready to plug the FD after you  open it. What sizes of FD did you get? Sporlan FD use the "absorbtion" type of desicant,so , if the FD "pressure noise " IS NOT there,then, you have two choices.1- If on a new install I would( have) still use the old FD because you will be pulling a vacuum anyway.2- If on service , and you are changing the FD "on the fly" I would NOT use the old FD. If you got a bunch of c-162 or c-163 or c303 , I would (have) use them. Check to see if the old FD are compatible for use w/ R410a and POE oil.

Eugene_Silberstein

I'm with Techman

As long as the pressure rating is okay, then I say, "GO FOR IT!"

Harvey Ramer

Will do.

I'll make sure on the pressures and only use them in appropriate situations. They are all flare.



Techman. How do you change a FD on the fly? Some kind off shut off valves on each side that I don't know about?



Harvey

Techman

On the fly

Let's say the MI is showing caution, front seat the King valve, pump the system down to .00001 psig, and swap out the old FD for the new FD.Now ,if one of those old FD DOES NOT have that "pressure noise" it is highly probable that moisture invaded the desicant , and since you are not evacuating the system , you will be adding moisture into the system, so in this situation I would not use one of your freebe FD's.

Harvey Ramer

Quickly

So you just do it quickly and only with flare FD's? And only if the flare is already made and so on? I can see that.

Up to this point I always pumped down, changed the dryer and then vacuum dried the lineset and evaporator.



Harvey

Techman

on the fly.

Yup! That's one of the reasons why I like flare FD. If the system has a solder/brazed FD/MI I remove them and put in flare. Then because the system was open to the atmosphere I pull a vac.