Defining, Understanding, and Applying

Proper Subcooling
Beginning technicians often have difficulty understanding and
calculating subcooling

Subcooling can be a somewhat difficult topic for new technicians starting

out in the industry. In fact, few topics garner as many questions from
green techs than subcooling does.

“A lot of technicians often ask, ‘What should my subcooling be?’ as

opposed to fully understanding what it even is,” said Bryan Orr, cofounder
and vice president of service, Kalos Services Inc., Clermont, Florida, and
founder of HVACRSchool.com. “The actual range of required subcooling is
not that great, so it’s not a super difficult question to answer in a simplistic
form, but the actual understanding of what it is and how it functions is
more in-depth.”

Orr has written several articles on HVACRSchool.com discussing the whole

range of subcooling and specifically defining exactly what it means.
“There are a few things beginning techs should know, and the first is what
it is,” he explained. “Subcooling tells you that you have a full line of liquid
refrigerant in the liquid line. A lot of new techs, especially if they haven’t
been exposed to refrigeration or a refrigerant sight glass, don’t really
understand. A refrigerant sight glass is essentially doing the same thing
we’re doing when we’re measuring subcooling, which is first and foremost
proving the liquid line is 100 percent full of liquid. Additionally, a lot of
technicians have this belief that subcooling is only useful when you’re
working with electronic expansion valves (EEVs) or thermostatic expansion
valves (TXVs), and that’s just not true. Subcooling is an important
measurement to take on any type of metering device in a comfort cooling
system.

“A lot of techs also misunderstand that you are adding to the system
efficiency with additional degrees of subcooling because the refrigerant is
actually further cooled below its condensing temperature, which means it
requires less energy to then flash boil it and evaporate it in the
evaporator,” Orr continued. “A lot of technicians miss that even small
changes in subcooling can have a significant impact on system capacity
and efficiency. And, finally, new technicians also miss the relationship
between outdoor air conditions and subcooling. A lot of newer techs don’t
understand the relationship between outdoor temperature and
condenser load. They think that as the air gets hotter or as the condenser
coils become blocked, that that’s going to decrease the subcooling, when,
in fact, it doesn’t. In some cases, it even increases it.”

John Tomczyk, author and professor emeritus, Ferris State University, Big
Rapids, Michigan, explained subcooling as the difference between the
measured liquid temperature and the liquid saturation temperature at a
given pressure. So, any sensible heat taken away from the 100 percent
saturated liquid point in the condenser can be defined as liquid
subcooling.

“You subcool liquid because you don’t want it to get to the metering
device without being subcooled; otherwise you’ll have premature flash
gas,” Tomczyk said. “If you start flashing in the liquid line, you’re losing
refrigeration effect, which takes away from the efficiency of the system.”
Tomczyk called subcooling a tricky topic for beginning technicians.

“A lot of people think it’s an amount, but it’s a measured amount,” he said.
“You have to measure two different temperatures. Take the condensing
temperature and the condenser outlet temperature, and the difference
between the two is the amount of subcooling.

“Let’s say the condensing temperature is 100°F. Put a thermistor on the

condenser outlet, and let’s say that’s 90°,” continued Tomczyk. “So, you
have 10° of subcooling. Technicians get confused thinking that just
because there is 10° of subcooling, it means there is a certain amount of
liquid in there. That is not true. It just means the liquid is cooled 10°.

“For instance, if you put that condenser in a really cold ambient outside,
you can have 1 inch of liquid to give you 10° of subcooling, because it’s
cooling really fast,” Tomczyk continued. “But sometimes, you can have a
foot backed up in the condenser with only 10° of subcooling. It’s not an
amount of liquid; it’s how fast the liquid is cooling.”

Additionally, Tomczyk said subcooling and superheat are two things you
always have to check if you think there is a refrigeration system problem.

According to Joe Marchese, author, instructor, and former HVACR

contractor, the three things beginning techs should know about
subcooling are how to measure it, why you measure it, and the acceptable
values.

“All of these will allow a technician to properly diagnose a system problem

and/or may be required to properly charge a system with refrigerant,” he
said. “Techs should be measuring subcooling when they are adding
refrigerant to a system with a TXV-style metering device and anytime they
are diagnosing an issue with the mechanical refrigeration system.”

COMMON MISTAKES IN THE FIELD

There are a number of things that can cause high or low subcooling, Orr
noted.
“Techs see a system with the correct subcooling, but they don’t realize it is
correct only because someone corrected for subcooling without
consideration of the other factors of the system, which can be confusing,”
he explained. “An example would be if you have a TXV slamming down or
a piston that is too small or restricted. Somebody sees a high subcooling,
so they start to remove some refrigerant to get to a proper subcooling.
But, now you have two problems: a metering device that’s restricted and a
system that is low on charge because somebody compensated for it.”

Another common mistake made in the field is assuming subcooling is

always one number.

“You shouldn’t always assume it’s always 10° subcooling,” Orr said. “What’s
tricky about that is that I’ve said things like that. In a previous article, I
wrote, generally speaking, 10°-12° of subcooling at the outlet of the
condenser coil is most common. It’s something we say all the time
because, generally speaking, that is the truth. But you only go back to
rules of thumb when you have no access to manufacturer literature,
which does happen from time to time. You really want to make sure
you’re following what the manufacturers have to say.”

Bill Johnson, author and former HVACR instructor and contractor, said a
few common mistakes techs make in the field include charging the system
at other than design conditions and using poor instrumentation.

“When in doubt, consult a well-illustrated textbook or technical bulletin,”

Johnson said.

“Other common mistakes include not measuring the refrigerant pressure

at the location when the subcooling calculation is required, simple math
errors, using the wrong column of a PT chart, and trying to calculate the
subcooling when the liquid line pressure rapidly changes,” Marchese
added.

SUBCOOLING BEST PRACTICES

The best thing a tech can do while out in the field is always know what the
manufacturer says about a particular piece of equipment,” Orr noted.
“There can be some pretty decent variance on systems,” he said. “You’ll
see some systems that require 8° of subcooling while others go up to 16°
or more in some cases. And that’s just generally what I’m used to seeing. It
does make a significant difference, so if a system is designed to have a 12°
subcooling, then set a 12° subcooling — don’t set it at 6°. The first best
practice would be not to make this stuff up. Look at what the
manufacturers have to say about subcooling.

“The second thing would be to measure subcooling on every system, not

just selectively,” he continued. “A caveat worth adding is in certain types of
large refrigeration where headmaster controls are being used, measuring
subcooling becomes a little more difficult. You have to measure
subcooling on every system, whenever possible, knowing there are some
exceptions where it is not practical. And lastly, never use only one reading
to charge a system. A lot of technicians have the sense, and I’m using air
quotes here, that you can charge by subcooling. You use subcooling as
one of your primary metrics for charging on an expansion valve system,
but you have to take it in conjunction with system airflow, superheat,
design, suction pressure, head pressure, and all of those other things that
have to be taken into account when you’re factoring in subcooling,
because you could set a subcool on a system with massive problems. Just
because you hit that subcooling target doesn’t mean you have a properly
functioning system.”

Johnson advised that subcooling should typically be between 10°-20°.

“One best practice includes letting the unit run long enough for it to
stabilize, maybe 30 minutes,” he said. “A measure of the subcooling can
give you an indication of the correct condenser charge. The correct
subcooling in the condenser can improve unit performance by 10-15
percent. Charging a unit to the correct subcooling level takes time; and
the larger the unit, the more savings the customer receives. Ensure the
charge is accomplished at design operating conditions, which is usually
95°F condenser air for an air-cooled unit. This may be accomplished in
mild weather by blocking the condenser until the design head pressure is
accomplished. Different conditions pertain to water-cooled equipment.”
According to Marchese, one best practice is to measure the liquid line
pressure, convert that pressure to its equivalent saturation temperature,
and measure the liquid line temperature. The difference between the two
is the subcooling value.

“It is best to measure the pressure and temperature at the location where
the subcooling measurement is required,” he said. “Measuring the
pressure at a different location can lead to an inaccurate subcooling
calculation. If there is a pressure difference between the measure location
and where the subcooling is to be measured, your subcooling calculation
will be off.”

The first rule, though, is to always follow manufacturers’ guidelines,

Marchese said.   

Publication date: 7/10/2017

Refrigerator Troubleshooting Diagram
Refrigerating Superheating and Subcooling

Superheating (referring to superheating of the refrigerant vapor

leaving evaporator) and subcooling (referring to subcooling of refrigerant
liquid leaving the condenser) are apparently two significant processes in
practical vapor-compression refrigeration systems and are applied to
provide better efficiency (COP) and to avoid some technical problems, as
will be explained below.

Superheating

During the evaporation process the refrigerant is completely vaporized

partway through the evaporator. As the cool refrigerant vapor continues
through the evaporator, additional heat is absorbed to superheat the
vapor. Under some conditions such pressure losses caused by friction
increase the amount of superheat. If the superheating takes place in the
evaporator, the enthalpy of the refrigerant is raised, extracting additional
heat and increasing the refrigeration effect of the evaporator. If it is
provided in the compressor suction piping, no useful cooling occurs. In
some refrigeration systems, liquid-vapor heat exchangers can be
employed to superheat the saturated refrigerant vapor from the
evaporator with the refrigerant liquid coming from the condenser (Figure
3.32). As can be seen from Figure 3.32, the heat exchanger can provide
high system COP. Refrigerant superheating can also be obtained in the
compressor. In this case, the saturated refrigerant vapor enters the
compressor and is superheated by increasing the pressure, leading to the
temperature increase. Superheating obtained from the compression
process does not improve the cycle efficiency, but results in larger
condensing equipment and large compressor discharge piping. The
increase in the refrigeration effect obtained by superheating in the
evaporator is usually offset by a decrease in the refrigeration effect in the
compressor. Because the volumetric flow rate of a compressor is
constant, the mass flow rate and the refrigeration effect are reduced by
decreases in the refrigerant density caused by the superheating. In
practice, it is well known that there is a loss in the refrigerating capacity of
1% for every 2.5°C of superheating in the suction line. Insulation of the
suction lines is a solution to minimize undesirable heat gain. The
desuperheating is a process to remove excess heat from superheated
refrigerant vapor, and if accomplished by using an external effect it will be
more useful to the COP. Desuperheating is often considered impractical,
owing to the low temperatures (less than 10°C) and small amount of
available energy.

Subcooling

This is a process of cooling the refrigerant liquid below its condensing

temperature at a given pressure (Figure 3.32). Subcooling provides 100%
refrigerant liquid to enter the expansion device, preventing vapor bubbles
from impeding the flow of refrigerant through the expansion valve. If the
subcooling is caused by a heat transfer method external to the
refrigeration cycle, the refrigerant effect of the system is increased,
because the subcooled liquid has less enthalpy than the saturated liquid.
Subcooling is accomplished by refrigerating the liquid line of the system,
using a higher temperature system. Simply we can state, subcooling cools
the refrigerant more and provides the following accordingly:

• increase in energy loading,

• decrease in electrical usage,
• reducing pulldown time,
• more uniform refrigerating temperatures, and
• reduction in the initial cost.

Note that the performance of a simple vapor-compression refrigeration

system can be significantly improved by further cooling the liquid
refrigerant leaving the condenser coil. This subcooling of the liquid
refrigerant can be accomplished by adding a mechanicalsubcooling loop
in a conventional vapor compression cycle. The subcooling system can be
either a dedicated mechanical-subcooling system or an integrated
mechanical-subcooling system (Khan and Zubair, 2000). In a dedicated
mechanical-subcooling system, there are two condensers, one for each of
the main cycle and the subcooler cycle, whereas for an integrated
mechanical-subcooling system, there is only one condenser serving both
the main cycle and the subcooler cycle.

For example, subcooling of R-22 by 13°C increases the refrigeration effect

by about 11%. If subcooling is obtained from outside the cycle, each
degree increment in subcooling will improve the system capacity
(approximately 1%). Subcooling from within the cycle may not be as
effective because of offsetting effects in other parts of the cycle.
Mechanical subcooling can be added to existing systems or designed into
new ones. It is ideal for any refrigeration process in which more capacity
may be necessary or operating costs must be lowered. It has proved cost
efficient in a variety of applications and is recommended for large
supermarkets, warehouses, plants, etc. Figure 3.33 shows a typical
subcooler for commercial refrigeration applications.