my idea of a DIY receiver/accomulator/subcooler all-in-one.

[dmitriyaz]

the titile sounded threatening, eh? :D

ok,
the idea pretty much is:
put the accomulator inside the receiver,
and before the cold refrigirant, on the way from the evaporator, enters the accomulator, it goes throwth coiled copper pipe inside the receiver, wrapped around the accomulator.
if you buy reciever, accomulator and the subcooler in the store, thats easily $170.
for the thing i "invented", you need a small amound of copper (for the inside) and stailnless steel (for the outside), that will be no more than $40 from online metals, including custom cuts.
another advatage is: it will take up much smaller amount of space than the 3 store bought units.
if you have an air compressor (i do :D), you can test it for pressure, after you solder the thing together.
the picture below is fairly self explanatory, with color coding and all, just read these 3 notes:
- the scale IS NOT realistic, i purposefully made my subcooler thingy bigger than everything else, to show the design.
- the thin lines all around show the subcooling.
- there will be MUCH more coiled copper tubing than shown on the pic, i just didn't wanna bother drawing it all.
enjoy.
http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/extern/729409.jpg

[bowman1964]

that will work fine.but i have been sub cooling mine from the first one i built.the eastest way i have found is to run the pressure line inside of the suction line.that is how i do it.all you need it one piece of pipe that the capilary tube or high side line can enter the suction side at.easy and simple and works better because it stays in freon the whole time intill it reaches the evaperator.thats is one of my tricks i use to get to -58f with r22.

[dmitriyaz]

-58 f?
i didn't know that you could get that low with r22...VERY impressive :)
i have thought about your idea of subcooling before, and it seems really good,
except for one thing:
i will have to use capline, not TXV.
i am still not confident enough to think i can calculate the length of capline correctly, so i'll stick with good ol' TXV
here is my drawing from a while ago that shows an easy design for "capline inside the suction" system:
http://image1ex.villagephotos.com/extern/599541.jpg
i was thinking of using a TXV on my CPU block, and caplines on GPU and NB, but appearantly that's a no-go.
you can read all about it here:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1952&perpage=25&pagenumber=3
so...i guess the question is: can there be a way to use the kind of subcooling you mentioned with a TXV and not a capline?
thanks :)

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Whatever u don't DO NOT USE STEEL!! IT's MURDEROUS TO SOLDER/BRAZE TO!!! use common sense man.. copper all the way :)

[BigBadger]

That looks like an excellent idea.....wish i'd thought of it:D

[dmitriyaz]

thanks BigBadger,
that means a lot coming from YOU :wave:

Punisher, i need to work on that a little more :). i dont know where to get a copper pipe THAT thick; plus, it would be pretty expensive with that much copper...
what about brass? its a good matetial to solder...
aluminum would be nice, its lightweight, cheap, and available in any round tube size and thinkness imaginable. i dont know about how good it is with solder though...
i'm open to further suggestions :)

[aenigma]

Yes brass is very easy to solder,aluminum I have heard is a real pain to solder.Steel I know is a pain.

By the way,instead of how you have it now,why not have it coaxial?You could get it pretty small,may take a little bit of work getting it small.But most definately cheaper.Either way, yes that design would work great.

[dmitriyaz]

thanks :)
coaxial, eh?
what exactly do you mean? i thought it IS coaxial :p

[aenigma]

Coaxial pipe I mean.
Pipe in pipe.I made one for a cascade system I had going for awhile.Take say 5 feet of 1/2 pipe, put 2 6ft 1/4 pipes through it.Clamp down each end and braze the ends.Now you have a subcooler/accumulator.No reciever though.This idea works much better on a cascade system because you only use 1 6ft piece of 1/4 inside of it and use the other 1/4 of space inside the 1/2 pipe for the liquid refrigerant to cool the 1/4 pipe(condenser).I dont know how good heat transfer would be using it like you want to.Maybe you could fill the 1/2 pipe with alcohol to transfer heat/cold from each 1/4 pipe better...

If you can get a big brass/copper container like that for a reciever.You could just coil your suction line in the bottom of it, no need for the accumulator.The warm liquid from the condenser will boil off the refrigerant returning to the compressor.

[dmitriyaz]

i see...
heh,
some day, when i quit being stupid, i hope to build a cascase system too,
what kind of results did you get with yours?

[aenigma]

Originally posted by dmitriyaz
i see...
heh,
some day, when i quit being stupid, i hope to build a cascase system too,
what kind of results did you get with yours?

Pretty bad results, it was a dual stage system cooled by a 3/4hp system and it couldnt quite cope with the heat.No load temps were low.But under a load I only got temps of -40f liquid I think.It was a pain to mess with loud big etc.

Oh yeah you arent stupid ;)
Your learning alot!But your dehumidifer isnt 1hp :p