Help Your Air Conditioning System Beat the Heat
This Summer

It happens every year. Warmer weather brings a sharp increase in air conditioning breakdowns as equipment is started up without proper maintenance. There are many factors that can lead to an air conditioning breakdown, but a dirty condenser or poor quality lubrication can significantly increase the chances of a problem. Neglected maintenance also can decrease system performance.

Condenser Cleaning is Critical

Condensers don’t always get the attention they deserve, possibly due to the typical location for condensers on rooftops. Over a period of years of operation, condenser coils will become fouled with dirt and organic matter. Although cleaning the exterior of a condenser is labor intensive and can add to the cost of maintenance, it is often the only way to assure your condenser will perform well during the warmest days of summer.

High Quality Lubrication Will Help

The condenser coil can also become fouled inside if poor quality lubricant or improper levels of lubricant additives are in the system. The primary function of lubrication is to prevent metal-to-metal contact. Oil needs to be relatively free of contamination and within a specified viscosity range. Condensers in poor condition will have two very detrimental effects on your air conditioning system. The higher temperature can lower oil viscosity until metal-to-metal contact occurs in the compressor. This will result in rapid wear, or even compressor seizure.

Moisture is the No. 1 Problem

In both hermetic and semi-hermetic systems, refrigerant is often used to cool the motor windings. If you don’t reject heat in the condenser, it stays in the system. The higher operating temperatures will break down motor insulation more rapidly over time and eventually cause the motor insulation to fail. There are other factors contributing to early motor insulation failures more directly related to lubrication quality. Moisture contamination is the No. 1 problem associated with breakdown of oils.

Monitoring Conditions with Oil Analysis

Spectrochemical oil analysis is the best method available to assure your system’s oil is in good condition for continued service. While it is good maintenance practice to change oil on a routine basis, simply changing the oil does not provide any information on possible system problems. For larger units, original equipment manufacturers may recommend changing oil only when the oil analysis indicates the need to do so.

Improving Efficiency, Extending Equipment Life

Although the spectrochemical oil analysis report will include metals content, it is not necessarily a good indication of “wear” metals. The indication may be an “oxide” due to moisture contamination. Medium and larger size systems may also include oil filters trapping any actual wear metals above 5 microns in size. If your system has such filters, consider examining the oil filter for actual wear particles under a good light and with magnification.

For more information about condensers, maintenance, oil analysis and lubricant additives, refer to the full-text article.

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