I don't care what anybody says, BMW's are cool. An 02 or 3 series from the 70's still beats the crap out of a Ford fusion or Lincoln mkz IMHO. Ecoboost my butt.

Even the 2010 328i xDrive? My kid's car is not so cool..
It needs more R134a, and some sealer!!
I'll have to get my Freon sensor under the hood to see what's going on..

I told her to run the AC in the winter a few times. But does she? I wonder..

Jeff,
How did you get the copper tubes sealed into the tube?
The copper OD is a pretty good match for the ID of the hose..
But, the inside of the hose is smooth and the copper is smooth..
There is oil inside the tube, w/ the clamp tight the copper slides right out!
I think the R410a is going blow that copper right across the room!

http://ecorenovator.org/forum/attach...1&d=1500399928

PS: I'm going to use the empty can to test for hose leakage..

Thanks,
Rich

Use a flaring tool to expand the end a little bit.

What Mike said. I usually just put 2 hose clamps on the junction. The fuel injection hose clamps work better than the plain Jane band clamps. If you have worries about slippage, use a double flare adapter on the open end of your access valve tube. Usually it is a two step process, where you use the adapter to bend the tube first, then flare the end back on itself with the "regular" flare die.
http://toolmonger.com/wp-content/upl...aring-tool.jpg
To make a "double bubble" on the end, the adapter is put over the tube sticking out of the vice and run down a little bit. The adapter is also used as a depth Gage to set the tubing stickout height from the top of the tubing vice. That's it. Looks like this when it's done:
http://home.cogeco.ca/~mcraig/flare.JPG
http://racetrackdriving.com/tech/bra...-tube-ends.jpg
It's the middle one.
Works like magic.

I was thinking about using a flare, but dismissed it as being too sharp on the edge.
But that bubble thing looks really nice. However, I don't have any adapters.

I've got some slightly larger copper tube, I can slip some on the end and braze it on..
I'll check it out tomorrow, too sleepy now..

Thanks,
Rich

The FLAPS has the complete set ( like the first pic in my previous post) as part of the loaner tool stock. The zone and pep boyz has OEM brand, advance has auto craft brand. Deposit is around 30 bucks. When I am assembling an experimental rig out of stuff lying around, I double flare the sketchy tubing to make sure it doesn't fail because of a thin, brittle, or otherwise crappy flare joint.

The adapter set can be found by itself, but is usually the same price as the loaner set from the FLAPS. Harbor freight carries the whole set and it's about 20 bucks. eBay and Amazon and Walmart and other online stores are hit and miss as to the quality of the product, but offer comparable stuff for however much you want to spend.

If you want to braze something to the end instead, the compression fitting sleeves work well. I have done that for fuel lines before, and they work just fine as well.

Well, I have two cans of sealer. One for the Santa Fe and one for the BMW.
The braze work and tested to 130 PSI.
Seems like it's about time to inject some sealer into the the Santa Fe.

However, I've been checking the Santa Fe (daily) for leakage and watching it's performance.
It's running great and the leakage seemed to have dropped to undetectable..
I wonder if running it everyday has slowed or stopped the leakage.?. :confused:
I've been getting very good operation and 20 to 22 deg F output temp gain..

Maybe I should wait a while before adding in the Pro Seal..?.

2 years, 10 months, 20 days later..
 

Like sands through the hour glass, so are the days of our lives..
Where does the time (and the R410a) go?

I turned on the old Santa Fe and it was still working. And, it was also still leaking R410a.
It was drying out the basement. The air-output was 20 to 25 deg F warmer than the room temp.
When it stopped running, I used the leak detector and got a lot of beeps at the bottom of the removable side panel.
The amount of water coming out of the unit was a bit lower than normal.

Last night, I hooked up a 4 oz can of Enviro-Safe Proseal up to the port and attempted to shoot in about 1 oz.
Not sure how much made it into the system, since the can still felt like it was full.
I didn't want to put in too much, since the Santa Fe only takes 23 oz of R410a.

I ran it for a while and then added about 10 oz of R410a. It worked fine overnight.
The Enviro-Safe Proseal seems to have worked. No trace of leakage!

Still not leaking any R410a.. Yet..
 

It's been working okay without detectable leakage. Output air is 20F to 25F warmer than input air.
Set the power metering rate for 29 cents per KWh and it's showing $8 per month.
Even with all the damp weather we've been having. Winter will be here before we know it.. :(

I've got a timer on the Oil boiler, so it runs three times a day for 30 min.
At 6AM, 12PM & 6PM. It typically runs about 15 min approx (1 quart of oil) on each cycle. 3/4 gallon per day.
About one tank, 275 gallons per year! That oil isn't very cheap! ($684)! :eek:

Maybe a solar boost is something think about.?.

Because the oil burner sucks in outdoor air, I've placed a timer on the Santa Fe, to insure it's off while the Oil Burner is running.
After a burn cycle is over, the Santa Fe does it's thing.. :)