Matter, Mass, Weight, and Volume

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Bryan Orr

Training, Careers, Airconditioning, Self-improvement, Hvac, Business, Education, Refrigeration, Heating, Ac, Apprenticeship

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 11 September 2017

⏱️ 25 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This episode covers some basics of matter that relate to HVAC/R. These basics include mass, weight, and volume. There will also be some talk of specific gravity and specific volume.

Matter and energy are the building blocks of the HVAC industry; we move matter around and transfer energy. Matter refers to anything that exists and takes up space, including all solids, liquids, and gases. We use three means of measuring matter: volume, mass, and weight. Volume refers to how much space an object occupies. Even though we use mass and weight interchangeably, they mean two different things. Mass refers to the amount of matter an object has, and weight is the force exerted on an object by gravity.

Density is a mass-to-volume relationship. Density comes into play when items float or sink in water, and it is a component of specific gravity. Specific gravity does not have an absolute unit of measure; it merely compares an object's density to water. For example, propane has a specific gravity of 1.5 in comparison to air and would sink. Conversely, natural gas has a specific gravity of 0.6-0.7, meaning that it would float in air.

Specific volume is NOT relative; we use a set unit for it, typically cubic feet per pound. The cubic feet of air per pound changes with temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure. So, "standard air" isn't a fixed value. All gases can be compressed and can be affected by temperature much more easily than the other states of matter. Specific volume is important because it helps us determine the amount of refrigerant we can safely put into a recovery tank; you must know the difference between the specific volume of water and the refrigerant you are using.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The free training provided by the HVAC School Podcast is made possible because of the generous support from our sponsors.
0:14.0	Testo, Rector Seal, and Carrier.
0:18.0	All right, so let's talk real quick about additives into the refrigerant system.
0:23.4	Let me give you a blanket statement first.
0:25.5	The blanket statement is, is that I'm not a fan of putting
0:27.8	aftermarket additives inside of an air conditioning system.
0:30.0	I'm just not.
0:30.6	It's not something that I like to do. However, there are cases in which additives
0:36.5	are a good idea and the perfect example is when the whole situation happened with Copeland
0:41.3	and the rust inhibitor and the compressors that was causing
0:43.4	issues with expansion valves, a lot of manufacturers came out and actually gave part numbers
0:48.8	for high performance lubricants to put in the system.
0:52.2	The carrier did this, and I think some others did as well in order
0:55.0	to help combat this problem with the rust inhibitor. And clearly rust inhibitor in and of itself
0:59.5	is also an additive. So there are already additives being put into systems in many cases
1:04.1	by the manufacturer and generally I agree that the manufacturer probably knows what's
1:07.7	best to put in their systems. But there is a situation, a circumstance in which I'm being having my mind open to, we'll put it that way.
1:16.9	And that is the use of leak sealants.
1:19.6	Now, before you freak out, there's a specific type of leak sealant that I will never use, and that is a leak sealant that hardens inside of the system.
1:28.1	Those are leak sealants that react to air and moisture. They're often called refrigerant based products.
1:33.0	They go, they travel with the refrigerant and when they hit air or moisture they harden.
1:37.0	And these products can get into your TXVs, they can get into your compressor, they can get into your gauges, and they'll, you know, they'll try to sell you on the idea of
	...

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