Morphing Air Conditioner into Autocascade System

[mytekcontrols]

N00b I missed this one early, and just caught it when I was reviewing this thread.

R14's incredibly pricey to begin with, though with a subcooler r14 and argon work nicely I've seen

Yes especially with a subcooler following the 3rd cascade, you can indeed get some pretty low temps using Argon with the R14. However for the typical loads desired from a PC Cooler (200 watts+), the desire to keep the overall size of the unit small, and the power supply requirements within reason, Argon should only be used sparingly.

Under the conditions I stated above, having more then a couple % of the refrigerant gas pressure made up of Argon, will very quickly send your compressor discharge through the ceiling.

If you can live with an operational range of -100 to -110C, then no Argon would be the better way to go.

For people that don't understand how using Argon (which wont condense in a typical autocascade) can create a colder running system, I would point you back to my earlier post in this thread that discusses the principle of gases dissolving into "subcooled" refrigerants, and thereby creating a pseudo refrigerant with boiling point temperatures lower then the condensate that formed the base.

Edit: Also the presence of Argon gas in the final evaporation stage helps to create what appears to be a lower pressure environment, due to the principle of partial pressure (reference: Low Temperature and Cryogenic Refrigeration).