Refrigeration Leak Detection

Austrailian Article on Leak Detection and  Sealants
Refrigeration leak detection

Refrigeration leak detection has become much more sophisticated since the days of brushing on dish soap and looking for bubbles to appear. More reliable methods to emerge include sophisticated electronic sniffers, newly-developed dyes, and advanced fluids with high sensitivity that have supplanted the traditional soap/water methodology. More importantly, recent developments have produced dependable industrial refrigeration system sealants for leaks that are undetectable or inaccessible for repair. While a relatively recent development, these new sealants stop leaks without affecting system components or performance. Thus, sealants are helping to produce an environment with reduced refrigerant emissions. With a leaking system, many facility engineers are walking a tightrope. On one side of the tightrope are the moral and lawful obligations of eliminating all leaks of refrigerant into the environment. But on the other side, a plant or system shutdown due to leaking refrigeration system repairs can sometimes cost a company millions of dollars in lost productivity.

In industrial situations, facility engineers should know leak detection basics, regardless of whether they have a maintenance contract from an outside vendor or they perform service work themselves.

Additionally, knowing leak detection basics can sometimes avert a large repair or equipment replacement bill. Dismantling refrigeration systems in a quest for a leak is obviously profitable for the outside maintenance vendor, but it is really the contractor’s moral duty to solve the leak problem with the least amount of work and cost possible. Knowing the basics of leak detection can help plant personnel make better judgments on refrigeration system repair work or even perform the repairs themselves.

Is the system leaking?

One key sign in determining a leak is observing a large differential between the evaporator’s saturation temperature and the chilled water’s discharge temperature. A system might be working fairly well; however any variation from the manufacturer’s specifications and current operating condenser, evaporator, chilled water, or oil temperatures, may also suggest a refrigerant leak.

These are all telltale signs, but many times technicians disregard these signs of leaking and continue putting new refrigerant into a leaking system. While plant productivity or budget considerations are important, continually filling a system that’s leaking is unlawful according to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations; and harmful to a system over its life cycle. That is why leak detection is just another helpful tool in plant maintenance for the technician.

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