Vacuum Drying and Leakage Checking
32 Installation
7. Vacuum Drying and Leakage Checking
7.1 Purpose of vacuum drying
Eliminating moisture in sy st em to pr event the phenomena of ice-blockage and copper oxidation.
Ice-blockage shall cause abnormal operation of system, while copper oxid e shall damage compressor.
Eliminating the non-condensable gas (air) in system to prev ent the components oxidizing, pressure
fluctuation and bad heat exchange during the operation of system.
7.2 Selection of vacuum pump
The ultimate vacuum degree of v ac uum pump shall be -756mmHg or above.
Precision of vacuum pump shall reach 0. 02mmHg or above.
7.3 Operation procedure for vacuum drying
Due to different construction environment, two kinds of vacuum drying ways could be chosen, namely
ordinary vacuum drying a nd special vacuum drying.
7.3.1 Ordinary vacuum drying
1. When conduct first vacuum drying, co nnect pressure gauge to the infusing mouth o f gas pipe and liquid
pipe, and keep vacuum pump running for 1hour (vacuum degree of vacuum pump shall be reached
-755mmHg).
2 If the vacuum degree of vacuum pump could not reach -755mmHg after 1 hour of drying, it indicates
that there is moisture or leakag e in p ipeline system and need to go on with drying for half an hour.
3 If the vacuum degree of vacuum pump still could not reach -755mmHg after 1.5 hours of drying, check
whether there is leakage s our ce.
4 Leakage test: After the vacuum degree reac hes -755mmHg, stop vacuum drying and keep t he pressure
for 1 hour. If the indicator of vacuum gauge does not go up, it is qualified. If going up, it ind icat es that
there is moisture or leak source.
7.3.2 Special vacuum drying
The special vacuum drying method shall be adopted when:
1. Finding moisture during flushing refrigerant pipe.
2. Conducting construction on rainy day, because r ain wat er m ight penetrated into pipeline.
3. Construction period is long, and rain wat er might penetrated into pipeline.
4. Rain water might penetrate into pipel ine during construction.
Procedures of special vac uum drying are as follows:
1. Vacuu m drying for 1 hour.
2. Vacuum damage, filling nitrogen to reach 0.5Kgf/cm2 .
Because nitrogen is dry gas, vacuum damage could achieve the effect of vacuum drying, but this
method could not achieve drying thoroughly when there is too much moisture. Therefore, special
attention shall be drawn to prevent the entering of water and the formation of condensate water .
3. Vacuu m drying again for half an hour.
If the pressure reached -755mmHg, start to pressure leakage test. If it can not r eached the value,
repeat vacuum damage and vacuum drying again for 1 hour.
4 Leakage test: After the vacuum degree reac hes -755mmHg, stop vacuum drying and keep t he pressure
for 1 hour. If the indicator of vacuum gauge does not go up, it is qualified. If going up, it ind icat es that
there is moisture or leak source.