Crankcase Heaters

Crankcase Heaters


Compressor Heaters for Air Conditioner and Refrigeration Compressors

Tutco has been the world leader in compressor heaters for over 40 years, offering unlimited configurations for nearly every kind of air conditioning and refrigeration compressor.

 

Crankcase Heaters at a Glance

Overview
Intimate Fingers of Warmth
Intimate Fingers of Warmth
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Intimate Fingers of Warmth
 
 The Intimate Fingers of Warmth design allows the heater to snugly clasp the compressor housing to provide positive mechanical grip and highly-efficient heat transfer. The lower-mass design allows the most efficient transfer of heat directly to the crankcase wall.
Belly Band
Belly Band
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Belly Band
 
 The Belly Band is built with a continuous sheath construction, providing full contact with the HVAC compressor housing, facilitating heat transfer. With a continuous sheath comes more mass, which allows the heater to operate in open air. The Belly Band comes in three varieties: single pass (standard design), double pass (for those high wattage applications), and narrow double pass (for those applications where space is limited).

 

 

How does a crankcase heater extend the life of your compressor?

Product Use Diagram

Liquid Refrigerant Migration

Example Crankcase Heaters

Within refrigeration and air conditioning systems, migration of liquid refrigerant to the compressor is a natural occurrence. The powerful affinity of oil for refrigerant is due to the difference in vapor pressures between the two fluids.

The amount and severity of this liquid refrigerant migration depends on several things, including refrigerant and oil charge, length of shutdown interval and, especially, the temperature difference between crankcase oil and the rest of the system. As the temperature of oil drops, refrigerant is absorbed faster and more completely.

Oil Slugging

When refrigerant has mixed with oil and the compressor starts, oil slugging occurs: the mixture foams violently and all or most of the oil charge is pumped out. The compressor tries to pump the liquid -- a feature for which it was never designed -- and broken valves, damaged pistons, and blown head gaskets can result.

Compressor Failure

In most compressors, the oil pickup is located at the bottom. From there, it is fed to the cylinders and bearings for lubrication. When refrigerant has migrated into the oil, the mixture stratifies, and refrigerant settles at the bottom.

Originally intended for lubrication, the contaminated oil can no longer do its job. Instead, the refrigerant's solvent properties cause severe damage, resulting in immediate (or eventual) compressor failure.

Our Solution

By optimizing the temperature of crankcase oil, our crankcase heaters help protect the compressor from refrigerant migration. Oil is kept as much as 30° warmer than the system temperature* and refrigerant is forced to remain in the condenser, evaporator or accumulator.

*the off cycle heat required by many compressor manufacturer warrenties

Our heaters snugly clasps the compressor housing to provide positive, highly efficient transmission of heat. Acting as a heat sink, the crankcase can then absorb and transmit heat directly to the oil. Heat loss to ambient air is greatly reduced along with the major cause of refrigerant migration.