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Re: Vacuum pump Posted by Gene N [Email] ![]() ![]() ![]() In Reply to: Vacuum pump, yaofeng, Thu, 20 Jul 2006 05:46:43 Members do not see ads below this line. - Help Keep This Site Online - Signup |
There at least two types of electric vacuum pumps. Single stage and dual stage. The two stage pulls a better absoulute vacuum, but is more expensive as you would imagine. I have a single stage pump, and it works just fine, pulls to about 29.8 inches of Hg or 150 microns.
The vacuum pump that works off compressed air uses Bernoulli principle to evacuate the system, so the pump has no moving parts. They do work, but they cannot pull as high a vacuum as the electric vacuum pumps (28 inches of Hg if you are lucky), require a robust compressed air flow (5 CFM at least), and reportedly take quite a long time to do the job.
The idea behind the pump is remove all the air from the system before charging, with particular attention to water vapor. In an A/C system, water vapor turns to ice and clogs up the expansion valve. The water is removed by lowering the pressure in the system to the point where the water is boiling at the ambient temperature (say 20 degrees C). The higher the vacuum, the lower the boiling point.
The venturi vacuum pump requires no maintenance and costs $10 from Harbor Freight. The electric pump requres changing the vacuum pump oil periodically and typically costs $200-$300 new. I got a used one in excellent shape for $100 a few years ago, and have used it dozens of times.
My recommendation is to shop around for an electic pump.
posted by 208.20.22...
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