In this highly technical and sophisticated age with its corresponding advances in refrigeration techniques, we still find disagreement within our own industry on the design and selection of accumulators. One manufacturer, for example, will rate the capacities on a given line of accumulators based on 100 fpm; another manufacturer will claim the optilTrum velocity is 200 fpm; still others have a different base value. Perhaps the method of selection is over-simplified, and a different parameter should be used. This paper will analyze all basic design aspects in an attempt to reduce the disagreement we all are facing.