Floodback Page 1 of 3

Flood Back
Liquid return during the running cycle. More commonly known as refrigerant flood back. The expansion valve plays a part in all the
conditions here whether directly or indirectly this is obviously because the refrigerant can only really come this route.

Moisture

Moisture is the most consequential of system enemies so I should discuss moisture first and separate to other abnormal expansion
valve conditions. The most widespread problem resulting from moisture contamination is freeze locking of the expansion valve. Of
course, this is not so much the case with applications such as air conditioning where the evaporating temperatures are above 0oC.
Moisture freezing at the expansion valve has two common effects, valve locked wide open or valve locked or blocked fully closed,
these scenarios are each equally likely to occur. Moisture freezing in the working parts or port will lock the valve in any position from
fully closed to fully open.

Moisture may enter the system in several ways, such as during oil or drier changes, connecting service lines, or even poor evacuation
and dehydration prior to initial commissioning. Just as the oil will absorb refrigerant from the system during off cycles so too it will
absorb water vapour from the atmosphere especially if during oil charging the container is opened prematurely. This also applies to
dryers whose operation is based on the absorption principle. A driers ability to absorb decreases with temperature meaning that water
can be released when dryers are warmed by the liquid line. Often parts of the system opened for service are chilled below
atmospheric dew point as a consequence of pump down and this results in water condensate settling in those parts during service
such as drier chambers. It's also possible for water that is chemically trapped in the winding varnish to be liberated during periods of
high temperatures such as compressor short cycling, extended pulldown periods or abnormally low mass flow conditions.

Moisture Proportions

Refrigerants can take a proportion of water into solution, but this is a definite amount, and for each refrigerant the amount is a function
of refrigerant temperature where the level of solubility decreases rapidly with falling temperature. In practice, the refrigerant always
contains a small proportion of water which does not appear in the system as free droplets but remains safely in solution. It is therefore
easy to understand the principle behind two of the most common conditions for valve freeze up. One is when loss of refrigerant by
leakage causes a drop in refrigerant temperature occurring in the expansion valve orifice due to lower pressures, this drop in
temperature results in some of the dissolved moisture precipitating as water droplets. The second is the lower system temperatures
experienced during winter operating conditions. An example of this is when a system is installed during summer, operation during that
first summer is fine but during any subsequent winter the liquid line temperature may drop below the critical point where the excess
water is now out of solution and circulates as free droplets. This can be very confusing when a system worked fine during summer
and has never required any service work since.

Considering how small the expansion valve orifice is we can easily picture small droplets of water freezing to one side of the needle
and locking it in a fully open position. This results in severe over feeding of the evaporator and liquid flood back to the compressor.
This will continue until either something stops the system or more water freezes at the orifice resulting in a blockage sufficient to
activate that all important LP safety switch.

The Expansion valve can be subject to many conditions which result in liquid flood back occuring both at start up or during system
operation. It's helpful to differentiate between flood back at start up and flood back during the running cycle although the two share
much ground. I may not necessarily discuss the two separately though. Flood back at start up is generally restricted to systems not
using a pump down cycle or even those that have an interrupted pump down. But theoretically, even a system with a pump down
facility can experience start up flood back problems, for instance, when the cut in pressure is set too high delaying the on cycle and
thus allowing time for suction side liquid refrigerant accumulation, even through migration, particularly when the compressor and
suction line are in very cold locations. In fact, I should say that when setting the pump down control switch, your cut-n point should be
set lower than the equivalent coldest saturation temperature you expect the compressor or suction line to be exposed to.

TEV Bulb Location & Other False Readings

Warm TEV bulb location is a very frequent cause of flood back by my experience, and is commonly accompanied by a cold suction
line location. I say cold suction line location because if the suction piping were warm it is my opinion that the liquid would remain in the
cooler evaporator and on start up over cool the TEV bulb keeping the valve closed and limiting the flood back occurrence because the
compressor would then repeatedly trip on LP bringing the amount of liquid refrigerant in the evaporator down to a safe quantity. I
imagine, if the evaporator contained an excessive amount of oil which would be diluted with liquid refrigerant we would also
experience LP tripping on start up as opposed to a flood back.

What will close the valve during the off cycle is merely the superheat spring pressure acting upward against the bellows diaphragm.
With proper installation during the off cycle the bulb should be at equal temperature with the coldest part of the system, typically the
evaporator, there should therefore be no gas pressure difference across the bellows. Warm bulb location scenario's are many, it might
simply be that the TEV bulb is not clamped tight enough resulting in poor thermal contact; the warmer liquid line may be in contact
with the TEV bulb; the TEV bulb might be located in the warm return air stream; the bulb or even whole expansion valve may be
mounted in a wamer location entirely outside of the refrigerated area. Also, if you're using one expansion valve to supply two
evaporators which are in separate chambers then the bulb should not be located in the warmer but rather in the cooler chamber, so
route the suction line back through the colder chamber for bulb mounting. I needn't mention that if the system does have a pump
down then it's possible the solenoid valve that isn't holding, this could be due to foreign material lodging in the solenoid valve seat,
anyway, our imaginations can run away here.

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Modern expansion valves have pretty much overcome the problem of orifice seat wear which used to be caused by liquid line vapour
entering the valve with the liquid. Normally the liquid head entering the valve provides a constant force to the valve needle. However,
this force is made to vary if we have alternating vapour and liquid entering the valve which then creates relative motion between
needle and orifice, cavitation also results, causing orifice wear. This wear would effectively increase the valves capacity resulting in
the normal hunting and flooding scenario. We should also keep in mind that any foreign material which might get passed the valve
strainer could lodge in the valve parts preventing proper closure, keeping in mind this discussion is about flood back.

Superheat Lost Due To Evaporator Oil Logging

I was called out to repair a freezer room one early Sunday morning back in about 1991. System refrigerant was R502. The system
had lost gas through a crack on the oil separator cylinder body. At that time the only way I could repair the unit was to completely
remove the oil separator. After topping up the system refrigerant charge I left the system to re-establish the required room temperture.
A few hours later I began experiencing low superheats and the consequential valve hunt. Well, of course, much oil left the compressor
due to L.P. short cycle before I arrived but I did turn on the defrost heaters for maximum TEV opening before starting the unit, this was
to harvest any oil that had passed the seperator during the recent LP cycling. This momentary oil harvest was successful, judging by
the compressors oil sight glass which returned to a healthy level soon after start up. I guessed the later seen low superheats were
because without the oil separator increased oil quantities were now able to accumulate in the evaporator and consequentially interfere
with TEV's bulb sensing. I decided to add a portion of R12 to improve oil return which is expected because of R12s' increased
miscibility with oil. This actually worked very well, returning more oil and increased superheat to the point all hunting stopped. But,
then I thought it a good idea to add some more R12 for those midnight low load conditions but this was a mistake, the superheat was
then lost completely, and I was forced to adjust the refrigerant proportions again. My interpretation was that the lower average
saturated suction pressure resulting from adding excessive R12 acts to open the valve due to loss of closing pressure beneath the
bellows. Also, during evaporation, the lower temperature R502 keeps the R12 in a liquid state until it reaches the end of the coil by
which stage all the R502 has vaporised. At the end of the coil the R12 will then vaporise but at a higher temp than the R502 giving the
T.E.V.the impression that superheat is excessive causing the valve to open and in fact over feed the evaporator. We don’t use R12 or
R502 anymore but the correct proportion for TEV stability is no more that 5% of total system charge by weight. These days
hydrocarbons can be added to give the same effect of improved oil return, the hydrocarbon should be dry and clean, more so than
that used for combustion purposes, so it should be charged in through a good filter drier. 3 to 4% gives good results.

Valve & Refrigerant Compatibility

Remember if you use a TEV with the wrong refrigerant i.e. one of say a lower saturated evaporation pressure for a given evaporating
temperature then the valve will flood due to a loss of the closing pressure beneath the bellows. Also then, the valve will close and
starve when used with a refrigerant of higher equivalent saturated pressures. The above is likewise a description of or related to
temperature glide problems experienced with new blends or zeotropes where the individual refrigerants in a blend behave separately.
Temperature glide is something to consider when using these new ozone friendly blends. Your superheat setting of say 6K for air
conditioning applications must be above the evaporating temperature of the refrigerant with the highest boiling point for that blend, this
point is called the "dew point" and is the saturated temperature value given on most comparators. Remembering that the highest
possible superheat depends on the temperature difference between the evaporating refrigerant and the return temperature of the
medium being cooled. i.e. if you design a water chiller to cool the water to a return temperature of say 4oC and your superheat is set
at 6K obviously your T.E.V. will close until the saturated evaporation temperature is -2oC. Not only do you drop capacity here but you
also risk freezing the water. This freeze condition, by the way, will then cause a flood back. Although the numbers above are only
given for illustration the correct superheat setting for this unusual design would be about 3.5K this should keep the evaporating
temperature at or above 0oC unless the compressor can unload allowing the TEV to ride down it's superheat/capacity curve. Actually,
you can see from this that if your return water temperature was in fact a feasible 7oC. the same freeze up threat will exist if the
superheat was set at about 9K. Another example is say a flower cooler where you require high humidity's and therefore low operating
TD's. If you forget to change the factory superheat setting from 6K to your design superheat of say 4K then at the thermostat cycling
temperature the evaporating refrigerant temperature would be below design requirements by 2K, here you lose both system capacity
and chamber humidity.

Always Check The Superheat With Instruments, Never Assume!

Always use instruments to measure your superheat. Consider this, if a freezer is operating properly at -40oC with a 3K superheat
setting at the evaporator then the return gas near the compressor could easily be at a temperature of -20oC. This will obviously and
correctly cause condensate on the suction line components to freeze. However, in this circumstance, if one were to wind down the
TEV to rid the suction side components of ice such as the compressor suction service valve then the results can be disasterous. This
action may overheat the compressor parts including the motor, espacially if it’s refrigerant cooled, also it would certaily contribute to
reduced system capacity and efficiency. Further increases in compressor temperatures my result from the inevitable reduction in oil
return.

Valve Hunt Causing Liquid Carry Over.

A good example here is excessive condenser fan cycling causing flood back or slop over due to liquid line pressure fluctuations.
Liquid line pressure may also be made to fluctuate from above to below saturation. For instance, assuming constant liquid enthalpy,
when a fan cycles off, condenser pressure and so liquid pressure is increased meaning the liquid would tend toward a subcooled
condition feeding the TEV with high pressure good quality liquid. Then when a fan cycles back on, the condensing pressure is
reduced and so is liquid line pressure where the liquid condition may turn from being subcooled to that of phase change or a liquid
flashing condition meaning the TEV is now being under supplied due to reduced liquid pressure and liquid quality. This is especially
apparent on systems with poor loads when accompanying low condenser TD's reduce subcooling. You should provide sufficient
subcooling so that during fan cycling induced condenser pressure fluctuations the liquid before the TEV always remains in the liquid
phase.

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Reducing Subcool To Prevent Flood Back, Improve Mass Flow & Oil Return.

Sometimes on DX water chillers there is a narrow margin between freezing the evaporator or not. A typical water chiller superheat
setting is 4K but sometimes the return water might be asked to return at about 4 deg C and leave at 3 deg C in which case the
saturated evaporating temperature would be perhaps forced down to -1oC since the only heat source for superheating is that 4 deg C
return water and it is not easy to get a true temperature equilibrium between superheated vapour and return water. With this system
scenario, especially at low loads, such as indicated above, when the valve is probably hunting, since normally a TEV is only stable
between about 50% and 120% of it's rated capacity, it might be beneficial to have reduced subcool. This would have the effect of
increasing the load, which is coming into the evaporator with the liquid as opposed to comming in with the cooled water, this would
then raise saturated evaporating conditions up away from freezing the evaporator which otherwise can result in evaporator damage or
compressor flood back. Also, the increased mass flow at these low loads due to reduced subcool would assist oil return.

Here I'll Mention Some Odd Ball Experiences.

Locating the defrost termination at a sight representing maximum freeze up i.e. zone of majority moisture load. This might mean
determining where the majority of moist air would flow. For instance, with multidoor cabinets if the defrost termination sensor is
situated behind the least popular door you will never get rid of your frost without cooking some of the product. The lob sided frosted
evaporator may cause a degree of operational flood back.

Dirty curved fan blades become flat fan bladesand this flat profile reduces air flow and hence evaporator load causing flood back.

MOP (maximum operating pressure expansion valves) should always be adjusted when the system is running at stable design
conditions. Once this valves bulb has been heated beyond the temperature equivalent of its maximum operating pressure there would
be no chance of opening the valve further if reduced superheat is required. However, I have come across people who do not realise
this. They set the superheat during times of system pull down and then later fail to understand why the compressor is being
completely flooded after pull down.

Dangers Of Defrosting Badly Iced Evaporators.

Ever noticed how hermetic compressors often seize soon after giving them a badly needed defrost? You turn a compressor off to
defrost a badly iced evaporator coil and compressor body. Then later turn everything back on and suddenly the compressor seizes.
Normally what's happened is nothing stopped the compressor from running while the evaporator was icing up, the subsequent
sustained flood back wore the compressor bearings but the rotor was held up right and central during this bearing wear process. After
the defrost and at restarting the compressor it then seizes because now the worn bearings allow the rotor and crankhaft assembly to
tilt over out of center with starting torque and cause component binding. But also, the colder an evaporator the greater the proportion
of total system refrigerant charge that will be found in there, your initiated defrost results in the driving out of far more than normal
quantities of liquid refrigerant from the evaporator. This larger quantity sits in the suction line waiting to destroy the compressor as
soon as you've finished your good intentions defrost.

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