how to measure your coil
Tube Arrangement
Before starting measuring your coil, you will need to determine what types of tubes arrange of your existing coil is.
There are 2 types of tube arrangements: Staggered and Aligned (or In-line) tube arrangements
Staggered Tube Arrangement
Staggered tube arrangement is the most common arrangement provides a better heat transfer coefficient. Tubes are arranged in Triangular pitch (60 degrees/30 degrees depending on whether the coil is mounted horizontally or vertically). Below are examples of staggered tube arrangement of horizontal mount and vertical mount:
Aligned (In-line) Tube Arrangement
Another types of tube arrangement is called aligned or in-line tube arrangment. Aligned or in-line tube arrangement is less efficient compared to staggered tube arrangement. Tubes are arranged into Square pitch (90 degrees).
Row-Depth And Tube-Height
Next step is to count number of rows depth and number of tubes height of your coil.
Row-depth: is the thickness of your coil or depth of your coil’s fin-block. Row-depth can be either number of tubes counted in horizontal direction (if the coil is vertical mount) or in vertical direction (if the coil is horizontal mount).
Tube-height: represents front face of your coil, determines the height of your coil is if it is in vertical mount. Tube-height is number of tubes in one (1) row-depth.
Aligned (In-line) Tube Arrangement
As for aligned tube arrange, it is a very easy and straight forward to determine tube-height and row-depth by counting number of tubes in vertical and horizontal directions respectively.
Staggered Tube Arrangement
However, it is not that simple to determine row-depth and tube-height in staggered tube arrangement. For some, it might be a bit of confusion.
Below is our guide which will help you to determine row-depth and tube-height of your coil if its tubes are configured in staggered arrangement.
Your Coil Is Mounted Horizontally
If your coil was taken out and it is laying down horizontally on the ground, then you will determine its row-depth and tube-height as the drawing below:
Its row-depth will be determined by counting every row (including the offsetting row) in vertical direction.
Its tube-height will be determined by counting ONLY either top or bottom row in horizontal direction.
Therefore, in the drawing above, there are 2 rows (1 normal row and 1 offset row), therefore, it is 2 row-depth coil; and there are 3 tubes in the bottom row in horizontal direction, therefore, it is a 3 tube-height coil.
Your Coil Is Mounted Vertically
If your coil stands vertically, then its row-depth and tube-height will be determined as the drawing below:
Its row-depth will be determined by counting every row (including the offsetting row) in horizontal direction
Its tube-height will be determined by counting ONLY either the first or the last column in vertical direction
Similarly, there are 3 tubes in the first column, therefore, its tube-height is 3 tubes; and there are 2 rows (1 normal and 1 offset row), therefore, its row-depth is 2 row-depth