Many enjoy the cool climate of a hotels, casinos, office buildings or manufacturing facilities without realizing the immense and robust HVAC system that these types of buildings require. Refrigerant is an important component of any HVAC system. It is responsible for cooling the air in your home or commercial building and is governed by different levels on pressure depending on the application. To put it simply, without a pressure differential, the air conditioner can’t provide the temperature and desired cooling level. By the same token, refrigerants is also responsible for heating your air if you have a heat pump. One of the key distinctions to make between different types of refrigerant available for HVAC units is the operational pressure and differences in engineering that vary build requirements such compatibility operational pressure.
Metrex Valve is a manufacturer of valves for heat exchange control including water-cooled HVAC for commercial, industrial, marine, military shipboard and nuclear service. Metrex Valve are experts in both standard pressure refrigerant valves (R22 refrigerant), as well as high refrigerant pressure models (R410a refrigerant). Some of the high-pressure valves have been tested to 2300 PSI, showing durability and robust functionality. “Our valves are really built differently, our innovation team at Metrex Valve has extended our product range to include high pressure valves guaranteed to work up to 650 PSI, but tested to 2300 PSI” says Doug Jorgensen, President of Metrex Valve.
A huge part of this innovation is the company’s contribution to environmental efforts to protect the ozone layer. Unfortunately, R22 causes significant ozone depletion when it leaks which results in ozone damage. For this reason, in 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency began phasing out R22 air conditioning refrigerant, read our previous blog for more information HERE
HVAC Valves – Standard Low-Pressure
Metrex offers both 2-Way and 3-Way valves that are refrigerant pressure-actuated with threaded ends, union ends, and flange ends. There are still many R22 refrigerant systems out there and Metrex Valve provides low-pressure valves catering to this application for up to 250 PSI. Having only been a short time since the EPA mandate, the r22 refrigerant phase out is only at about a halfway point meaning the refrigerant is still relevant to many prior HVAC applications. “Cost to modernize or retrofit systems are a huge issue in some situations but our mission is to provide solutions right across low and high pressure refrigerant systems despite our wish to move towards a more environmentally friendly solution with our R410a valves” says Rob Jorgensen, Operations Manager at Metrex Valve.
High-Pressure Refrigerant Valves
The truth is, systems using R410a refrigerant operate at pressures approximately 1.6 times higher than systems using R22. The high-pressure valves offer better performance, lower cost, and leaks depletes the ozone layer at a slower rate. R410a is not only more efficient but it is better at absorbing and releasing heat as opposed to R22 refrigerant.
R410a operates at an average of 480psi – 500psi (with newer models of our valves operating at a tolerance of 650 psi) making it a high-pressure refrigerant. This distinction is extremely important due to the operational dangers when working with high-pressure systems. In addition to the added durability and safety of our latest HR series they’re rated for higher than even the most extreme r410a operational pressures. Our quality extends to all of our valves as Metrex High Water Pressure Valves feature an all O-Ring construction for leak-proof reliability in your high water pressure system.
Higher system pressures make longer pipe separations achievable. Compressor displacement decreases by 30% and the heat transfer ratio improves by 35%. This allows for the use of smaller physical size system-components such as condensers, compressors, evaporators.
These also come in two- and three-way valves. More information on the product series available for R410a can be found here.
Tips
- To increase the actuating refrigerant head pressure, insert a pin or hex key into the adjustment nut and turn counter-clockwise. To lower actuating refrigerant head pressure, turn the adjustment nut clockwise.
- Valves can be mounted in any position without affecting performance. However, for ease of adjustment consider the accessibility of the adjusting nut.
- Do not disassemble actuator. There are no user-serviceable parts inside the actuator.
To learn more about our products, feel free to contact us here. For more information about the environmentally-motivated industry-wide shift from R22 to R410a, take a look at our recent piece on the rise and need for R410a HVAC refrigerant systems here.
