Inspection on Maintenance E nvironment
Before operation, the refrigerant leaked in the room is not allowed.
The area of the room in which ma intenance is made sha ll be in line with the nameplate .
Continuous ventilation sha ll be maintained during m aintenance.
Open fire or high-temperatur e heat source higher than 548 degree which can easily give birth to open fire is
not allowed inside the room within the m aintenance area.
Dur ing m aintenance, the phones and the radioactive electronics of all the oper ators inside the room must be
powered off.
One dr y powde r or c arbon dioxide extinguisher shall be equipped inside the maintena nce area , a nd the
extinguisher must be under available state.
Maintenance Site Requi r eme nts
The maintena nce s ite sh all be provi ded with f avorable ventilation and must be flat. Arrangement of the
maintenance site inside the basem ent is not allowed.
Welding zone and non-w e lding zone shall be divided at the maintenance site, and shall be clearly marked. A
certain safe ty distance must be gua ranteed between the two zone s.
Ventilators s hall be in s talled at the maintenance site, and exhaust f ans, fans, ceiling fans, f loor f ans and
dedicated exhaust duct can be arranged, to meet the requireme nts of ventilation volume and uniform exhaust, and
to avoid a ccumulation of refrigerant gas.
Le ak detection equipment for flammable ref rigerant shall be equipped, with r elevant m anagement system
being established. Whe ther the leak de tection e quipment is unde r available state shal l be c onfirmed before
maintenance.
S ufficient dedicated vacuum pumps of flammable r efriger ant and refrigerant charging e quipment shall be
equipped, with relevant management system for maintenance equipment being es tablished. I t shall be guaranteed
that the maintenance equipment can only be used for vacuumizing and charging of one type of flammable
refrigerant, and mixed usage is not allowed.
The master powe r switch s ha ll be arranged outs ide the maintenance site, with prot ective ( anti-explosive)
device being equipped.
Nitrogen cylinders, ace tylene cylinders and oxygen cylinder s shall be placed separately. The distance
between the gas cylinders above and the working area involved in open fire shall be at least 6m. The anti-backfi re
valve shall be installed for the ace tylene c ylinders. The colo r of the acetylene cylind ers and oxygen cylinder s
installed shall mee t the international requirements.
The warning sign of “No Fi re” shall be arranged in side the maintenanc e area.
F ire control device suitable f or electric appliance such as the dry powde r extingui sher or carbon dioxi d e
extinguisher s hall be equipped, and shall a lways be under the available state.
The ventilator and other ele ctrical equipment at the maintenanc e site shall be r elativel y fixed, with
standardized pipe routing. Temporary wires and sockets at the maintenanc e site are not allowed.
Leak De tection Methods
The environment in which the r efrigerant l eakage is checked s hall be free from pot ential ignition source.
Leak detection with halogen probes (or any other detector with open fi r e) shall be avoided.
F or the s ystem containing flammable refrigerant, lea k detection may be realized with electronic leak
detection equipment. During leak detection, the environment in which the lea k detection equipment i s calibrated
shall be free f rom r efrigerant. It shal l be guaranteed that the leak detection equipment will not become potential
ignition source, and is applicable to the refrigerant to be dete cted. Leak de tection equip ment shall be set at a
percentage of the LFL of the refrigerant and shall be calibrated to t he refrigerant employed, and the appropriate
percentage of gas (25 % maximum ) is c onfirmed.
The fluid used for leak detection s hall be a pplicable to mos t of the ref rigerant. The use of chlor ine-
containin g solvent shall be avoided, to avoid che mic al reac tion between chlorine and refrigerant and corrosion to
copper pipelines .
I n case leakage is suspected , the open fire at the site shall be evacuated or be put out.
I n case welding is required at the leakage position, all the ref rigerants sha ll be recovered, or be isolated at a
position far from the leak poi n t with a stop valve. Befo re and during welding, the whole system shall be purified
with OFN.
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Safety P rinciples
During product maintenance , favorable ventilation shall be guarante ed at the ma intenance site, and the close
of all the doors/win dows is not allowed.
Operation w ith open fir e is not a llowed, including weldi ng and smoking. The u se of phone s is als o not
allowed. The user shall be inf ormed that cooking with open fir e is not allowed.
Dur ing maintenance in a dry season, when t he relative humidity is less than 40%, anti-static me asures sha ll
be taken, inc luding the wearing of cotton c lothes and cotton gloves.
I n case the leakage of flammable r efrigerant is identified during maintenance, f orced ventilation measures
shall be taken imm ediately, and the source of leak shall be plugged.
I n case the pr oduct dam aged must be m a intained by disassembling the refrigerati on s ystem, the pro duc t
must be delivered to the maintenanc e point. Welding of refrigerant pipelines at the use r’s site is not allowed.
During maintenance, in case re-treatment is required due to lack of fittings, the air conditioner sha ll be reset.
The refrigeration system must be safely earthed in the whole cour se of maintenance .
For the door - to-door service with ref rigerant cylinders, the ref rigerant charged inside the cylinder cannot
exceed the specified value. The cylinder placed in vehicles or at the installation/maintenance site shall be fixed
perpendicul a rly and be kept away from heat sources, ignition sour c e, sour ce of radiation and electric applianc e.
Maintenance I tems
Maintenance Requirem ents
Before the r e frigeration system is operated, the circula ting system shall be cleaned with nitroge n. Afterwards,
the outdoor unit shall be vacuumized, the dura tion of which cannot be less than 30 minutes. Finally, 1.5~2.0MPa
OFN s hall be us ed for nitr ogen flushing (30 s econds~1 m inute), to confirm the position requi r ing treatment.
Maintenanc e of the r efrigeration system is only allowed after the residual gas of flammable refrigerant is removed.
During the use of refrigerant charging tools , c ross contaminati on of different ref rigerants shall be avoided.
The total length (including the refrige rant pipelines) shall be shortened as much as possible, to r edu ce the residual
of refrigerant inside.
The cylinders of refrigerant shall be kept upright, and be f ixed.
Befor e refrigerant charging, the r efrigerati on system s hall be earthed.
The refrigerant charged shall be of the type and volume specified on the nameplate. Excessive chargi ng is
not allowed.
Af ter maintenance of the ref rigeration system, the system shall be sealed with a safe manner.
The maintenance in pro gr ess shall not damage or lower the original class of sa fety protection of the system.
Maintenance of Electrical Components
P artial of the electrical component under maintenance shall be subject to inspection on refrigerant l eakage
with dedicated leak detection equipment.
Af ter the mainten ance, the components with safety protection functions cannot be disassembled or removed.
During the maintenance of sealing e lements, before opening the s eal cove r, the air conditione r shall be
powered off fi rst. When power supply is required, continuou s leak de tection s hall be ca rried out at the most
dangerous posit ion, to avoid potential risks.
Dur ing maintenance of e lectrical components, the replacem ent of enclosures shall not affect the level of
protection.
Af ter maintenance , it s hall be guaranteed that the seali ng fun c tions will not be damage d or the se aling
materials wil l not lose the f unction of preventing the e ntry of fl am ma ble gas due to aging. The sub sti tute
components shall meet the rec o mmende d r equire ments of the air conditioner manufacturer.
Maintenance of Intrinsicall y Safe Elements
The intrinsically safe element refers to the component s working continuou sly i nside flammable gas without any
risks.
Befor e any maintenance, l eak detection and inspection on earthing reliability of the air conditioner must be
carried out, to ensure no lea kage and reliable earthing.
In case the allowable voltage and current limit may be surpassed during the service of t he air conditioner,
any inductanc e or capacitance cannot be a dded in the circuit.
Only the elements appointed by the air conditioner manufacturer can be used as the part s and components
replaced, or otherwise a fire may be triggered in case of ref rigerant leakage.
F or the maintena nce not involved in system pipelines, the system pipelines shall be well protected, to ensure
that no le akage will be caused due to maintenance.
Af ter maintenance and befor e test run, the air conditioner m ust be subject to leak dete ction and inspection on
earthing reliabi lity with leak detection equipment or leak detecting solution. It shall be guaranteed that the startup
inspection is carried out without leakage and under reliable earthing.
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Removal and Vacuumizing
The maintenance or other operations of the refrigeration circuit shall be made as per conventional procedures .
Moreover, the f lammability of ref rigerant shall also be mainly cons idered. The fol l owing pro cedures s h all be
followed:
Refr igera nt clearing;
P ipeline purification with inert gas ;
Vacuumizing;
P ipeline purification again with inert gas;
P ipeline cutting or welding. T he ref rigerant shall be r ecovered t o a proper c ylinder. The sys tem s hall be
purged with OFN, to ensure sa fety. The step above may need to be repeated for several times. Compressed air or
oxygen can not be used for purging.
In the course of purging, OFN shall be charged i n side the refrigeration sys te m under vacuum state, to reach
the operating pr essure. A fterwards, the OFN sha ll be discharged to the atmosphe re. Finally, the system shall be
vacuumized. The step above sha ll be repe ated until a ll the refrigerants in the system are cleared. The OFN charged
for t he last time s hall be discha rged to the atmosphere. Afterwards, t he system can be welded . The operatio n
above is nec essary in case of pipeline welding.
It shall be guarantee d that no alight fire source is around the outlet of the vacuum pump and the ventilation is
favorable.
Welding
F avorab le ventilation must be guaranteed in the maintenance area. After the maintenance machine is subject
to the vacuumizing above, the system ref rigerant can be disc harged on the outdoor unit si de .
Befor e the out door unit is welded, it must be guaranteed that no refrigerant is inside the outdoor unit and the
system refrigerant has been discharged and cleared.
The ref rigeration pi pelines cannot be cut with a welding gun under any circumstance. T he refri ge ratio n
pipelines must be disassembled with a pipe cutter, and the disassembly must be carried out around a ventilation
opening.
Refrigerant Ch arging Procedu res
The followin g requirements are add ed as the supplementation of conventional procedures:
During the use of refrigerant charging tools, cross contamination of different r efrigerants shall be avoided.
The total length (including the refrige rant pipelines) shall be shortened as much as possible , to r edu ce the residual
of refrigerant inside;
The cylinders of refrigerant s hall be kept upr ight;
Befor e refrigerant charging, the r efrigerati on system s hall be earthed;
A label must be pas ted on the refrigeration syste m after refrigerant c harging;
Exc essive charging is not a llowed; the refrigerant sha ll be charged slowly;
I n case system leakage is identified, refrigerant charging is not allowed unless the leak point is plugged;
Dur ing ref rigerant charging, the charging amount shall be m easured w ith an electronic sc ale or a spring
scale. The connecting hose between the refrigerant cylinder and the charging equipment shall be relaxed
appropriately, to avoid impact on the mea suring accuracy due to stress.
Requireme nts on storage site of refrigerant
The cylinder of refrigerant s hall be placed in a -10~50 °C environment with favorable ve ntilation, a nd
warning labels shall be pasted;
The maintenance tool in contact with the refrigerant shall be stored and used separately, and t he
ma intenance tool of different refrigerants c annot be mixed.
Scrapping and R ecovery
Scrapping
Before scrapping, the technician shall be c ompletely familiar with the equip ment and all its features. The safe
recovery of ref rigerant is r ecomm ended. In case the refrigerant r ecovered needs to be reus ed, before which the
sample of refrigerant and oil sha ll be analyzed. The power supply required shall be guaranteed before tests.
(1) The equipm ent and operation sha ll be w el l known;
(2) Power supply shall be switche d off;
(3) The followings shall be guarante ed before scrapping:
The mechanical equipment shall be convenient for operation on the cylinder of refrigerant (if nec essary);
All personal protective equipment is available a nd being used correctly;
The whole course of recovery shall be guided by qualified personnel;
The r ecovery equipment and c ylinders shall be in line with corresponding standa rds .
(4) The refrigerati on system s hall be vacuumized if possible;
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