Short #22 - Mineral & POE Oil

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 2018

⏱️ 12 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Bryan talks about the differences between mineral oil (MO) and POE oil, the advantages and disadvantages of using them, and when to use them.

Mineral oil (MO) is what we've used for a long time. We like using it because it's very stable; it may have an affinity for moisture, but it is not nearly as hygroscopic as POE oil. Vacuum pump oil is a highly refined mineral oil, and it works so well because it's able to lock in moisture as those non-condensables get sucked out of the system. It is still not much of a solvent compared to POE oil, though.

However, the refrigerant may have a hard time carrying mineral oil through the system. So, pipe size, pitch, and trapping are important considerations when you're dealing with mineral oil.

POE (polyol ester) oil works much better with newer refrigerants, especially R-410a. These new refrigerants can't carry mineral oil effectively, and so they rely on POE oil, which moves with those refrigerants a lot more easily and doesn't just sit in the evaporator coil. Oil should stay in the compressor, but oil loss will happen over time and should move back to the compressor with the refrigerant. POE oil works with new refrigerants, but it also works with R-22. Overall, POE oil is very miscible, which means that it moves with refrigerant very well.

However, POE oil is reactive and acts as a solvent. The POE oil can pick up contaminants a lot more easily than mineral oil, which can wreak havoc on your system. POE oil reacts with moisture to become acidic, which can lead to issues like burnout. (Note: POE oil does NOT react with mineral oil!)

Bryan also covers:

Refrigerant velocity
Oil return
Acid scavengers
Retrofits

Learn more about Refrigeration Technologies HERE.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, yes, this is the HVAC School Podcast. This is a short episode. This is a short episode.
0:09.5	This short episode is about P.O.E. and mineral oil oil and yes I am driving into work this morning.
0:15.0	You may hear a little sleep still in my voice, but never fear. I'm sharp when it comes to the topic of
0:21.1	P.O. E. versus mineral oil. And I'm also sharp when it comes to the topic of P.O. E versus mineral oil.
0:22.5	And I'm also sharp when it comes to the topic of our sponsors,
0:25.1	which I'm gonna name now, Navac and Navac Global.com.
0:28.6	You can find Navac Vacvac Vacums by going to true tech tools.
0:31.9	Use the offer code get school for a great
0:34.2	discount also want to mention carrier and carrier.com air oasis find out about
0:40.4	the air oasis bipolar and nanos where you can get them the prices all that stuff
0:44.5	by filling out a form at air oasis.com forward slash go that's air oasis.com forward slash go and then finally refrigeration technologies at
0:54.4	refriggedec.com they make all kinds of great cleaners and other products
0:59.4	like Nylog if you haven't used Nylog on threaded refrigerant fittings before, then you are missing
1:06.0	out on a good time, my friend. All right, so here we go. P.O.E. and mineral oil, what's the difference
1:11.3	and why should you care.
1:12.7	Now first thing that I have to note here is that for those of us who are nerds in the business
1:18.2	but something that we've spent a lot of time thinking about is P.O.E.
1:21.2	versus mineral oil but you'd be surprised how many
1:24.2	technicians and installers are out there today who really don't even know that there
1:28.0	is a difference. They just think of refrigerant oil as being one thing. And obviously there are other types of refrigerant oils other
1:35.0	than P. O. E and mineral, but I'm just going to focus on those two because those are the
1:38.3	most common ones that we see. And so let's first talk about mineral oil and what its advantages are.
	...

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