In this paper, experimental analysis was carried out on a vapour compression system by
varying the parallel tube condenser fins spacing under the same atmospheric condition in
a selected Refrigeration and Air-conditioning laboratory to examine the performance
characteristics of the refrigeration system. The fins spacing were 2, 4 and 6 mm using
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as working fluid with a mixture proportion of 17.2%
isobutene, 56.4% butane, 24.4% propane. The result shows that the coefficient of
performance of the system when working with condenser fins spacing of 2 mm was 28.8
and 35.9% higher compared to when the system worked with the fins spacing of 4 and
6 mm respectively. Energy consumed by the single hermetic compressor when the system
worked with condenser fins spacing of 2 mm reduced by 16.4 and 18.7% compared to
when the refrigerator worked with fins spacing of 4 and 6 mm respectively. The pull down
time of the cooling system was attained in 2 hours 45 minute with minimum evaporator
temperature of -13 β while working with 30 g mass charge of LP