Automotive Air Conditioning Information Forum

Hello guys, I hope you are doing well.

So I got a new universal condenser, with #6 and #8 conections.

The problem is that my SD508 has #10 and #8 fittings, so in order to connect the discharge line of the compressor to the upper side of the condenser I would have to put the condenser upside down, because the connection in the bottom of the condenser is the larger one.

There would be an impact on the performance of the system?, It is a parallel flow, chinese condenser, I see that It has 2 larger sections, and a small one.

Also I have the idea of changing the fittings of the lines, like if you were using an adapter to convert #8 to #6 and #6 to #8, the last one because the line to the reciever dryer is #6 not #8 like the one at the bottom of the condenser, but I don't know if that's possible.

Thanks in advance for you help.

The universal condensers usually have symmetric design and mounting holes and can usually be flipped up/down and left/right as needed.

What is preventing you from putting the #6 at the bottom?

Seems like the rest of your system is correctly set-up.

What is causing the replacement of the condenser?

Based on your question I feel the need to add three following - To have a successful system after a condenser replacement you need to (possibly flush the system), change the receiver/dryer, properly vacuum the system, and properly charge with the proper refrigerant..... Does everything in the preceded sentence make sense and leave you with "Yeah, I totally got this!" ? If not, include in your reply/additional questions what Year, make, model you are working on and why it has a universal condenser so the skilled folks on here can help most effectively.

Re: car type, etc

Notice you posted the following where you put described what you are working on and why

https://www.autoacforum.com/viewtopic.p ... 069#p28069

(To those on here commenting about MY fragmented posts - I now get what you were trying to say about the difficulty following)

andrew vanis wrote: ↑Wed Sep 20, 2023 3:25 am The universal condensers usually have symmetric design and mounting holes and can usually be flipped up/down and left/right as needed.

What is preventing you from putting the #6 at the bottom?

Seems like the rest of your system is correctly set-up.

What is causing the replacement of the condenser?

Based on your question I feel the need to add three following - To have a successful system after a condenser replacement you need to (possibly flush the system), change the receiver/dryer, properly vacuum the system, and properly charge with the proper refrigerant..... Does everything in the preceded sentence make sense and leave you with "Yeah, I totally got this!" ? If not, include in your reply/additional questions what Year, make, model you are working on and why it has a universal condenser so the skilled folks on here can help most effectively.

Well I was trying to make sure because in some place, I don't remember where, I saw something about that there are some specific sections of the condenser, like the bottom, that are a little bit different from the inside, so if you put the condeser upside down, your system is not going to be as efficient. But if you say that the inside of these universal condensers is identical from the top to the bottom I guess I would put the condenser upside down, because it would be a pain the ass to modify the lines.

Fittings of #10 into the comp and #8 out of the comp is totally normal.
The condenser must be mounted such that the #8 fitting is at the top, and the #6 (liquid) is at the bottom. It will not work if you flip it over from this design spec. Since it is a universal cond, you may have to modify your hoses to accommodate this spec.

We have had some DIY jobs come in the shop where the #6 was at the top (the cond needed to be flipped) and of course the AC system did not work

Unless it has an oil cooler in it or an integral R/D—which looking at the photos, your universal condenser does not have—just turn it over so that it's in the correct orientation fitting-wise. Condensers that DO have an oil cooler and/or R/D would have the fittings in the correct orientation anyway, I would expect.

Wow. Working hard at installing a condenser backwards.

Your picture clearly illustrates how a multi pass parallel flow condenser works.

The hot gas enters the top through a #8 fitting. The gas occupies a large volume. As it cools, it decreases in volume and increases in density.

By the time it gets to the zone you show in green, it is foamy liquid. It sub cools in the bottom rows to quality liquid. The liquid refrigerant only needs a few tubes to move as much mass as the #8 fitting delivered hot gas through. That is why the discharge line is a #6

Thankyou all for you replies. Now with your help it has become clear to me that I was wrong hahaha. And I'm glad to hear that I was wrong, because I installed the old condenser in that way, with the #8 at the top, and the #6 at the bottom.

And on top of that, now I am sure that everything is alright. I don't know if some of you remember a post from march 2022, where we discover that the AC Shop installed the line backwards, with the discharge line on the bottom of the condenser. (https://autoacforum.com/viewtopic.php?t ... civic+1990)

So actually, now I see that it was the condenser that was upside down, that's why they installed the #8 line at the bottom, and that I did the right thing just flipping the condenser and not modifying the lines to make the discharge line a #6.

And by the way, another thing that I discovered is that the incompetent people of the AC shop installed the evaporator and to fill the empty space around the core, they used sponge... like the one you find inside a couch, so as you can imagine, that material was absorbing all the water, and there was an obstruction on the draining hole, and there was so much water that the evaporator was submerged, you could see a lot of condensation around the evaporator box, and a lot of water on the passenger side. So I guess that all that water was being cooled down instead of the air from the blower. So I replaced all the sponge with "polystyrene", I'm not sure if that's the name, but anyway, now no more water on the passenger side, and you can feel the AC working better. But not as good as I would like.

So now I think that the 2 things that I have to improve will be the airflow because I guess that it is not enough, and to find the correct amount of r134, since it is a custom system, and I am just a DIYer it is really complicated to me to find the correct charge.

Again, thank you for you answers, your time, and you knowledge, without this community I would not have learned so much about car AC, and without you I would have wasted my money in an AC system that was not working at all.

andrew vanis wrote: ↑Wed Sep 20, 2023 3:25 am The universal condensers usually have symmetric design and mounting holes and can usually be flipped up/down and left/right as needed.

Large fitting is always on top. Left/Right, yes.

As far as how much 134 to use in an unknown system, Brad (Bohica) has posted a procedure to follow in that case. I am sure a search will turn it up