Patent ID: 7033508

Claim:
A method for decontaminating a fluid, comprising: a) providing a system containing a contaminated fluid and a fluid passage; b) providing an inlet and an outlet in the fluid passage; c) fluidly connecting a differential pressure gauge and an observation window of the type which is configured to allow a user to observe a fluid flowing in the fluid passage to the outlet in the system; d) causing a refrigerant fluid to be decontaminated to pass through the fluid passage and past the observation window so that the user may determine whether a contaminant is present in the fluid to be decontaminated; e) causing the fluid to flow past the observation window until a user has determined that the fluid has been sufficiently decontaminated; f) a flushing refrigerant is introduced into the inlet; g) introducing a flushing refrigerant until an observer determines by observation of the observation window that a refrigerant is visible in the observation window; h) the introducing of flushing refrigerant is halted, and a negative pressure is induced at the outlet of the passage until a predetermined pressured differential has been indicated by the pressure differential indicator; i) flushing refrigerant is again introduced into the inlet, and then the introduction of flushing refrigerant is halted after refrigerant has again been observed in the observation window; and j) the steps of establishing a negative pressure, introducing flushing refrigerant, and observing refrigerant in the observation window are repeated until the observer determines that the refrigerant observed in the observation window is sufficiently free of contaminant and that the refrigerant has been sufficiently decontaminated.