Airtap A7 dead?
 

My Airtap A7 is not shutting off and water is only luke warm. It worked great for 3.5 years. Airgenerate is out of business. Any ideas on how to fix?

Pictures? Could be a number of things. How many AC tools do you have? Is the fan and compressor running? Is the discharge line hot?

There are a few noninvasive tests you can do to figure ot what is happening with the unit. Plug the thing into a power meter like a kill-a-watt or use an ammeter to determine how happy the compressor is. With smaller units, the power draw doesn't swing as much with compression ratio as much as larger compressors, but it still swings. When operation initiates, you will get a jolt from the starting circuit, then power draw should drop to below normal running amps. As system pressure builds, the power draw will slowly ramp up to running amps. This value should be on the compressor nametag.

A lot can be found from the temperature of the refrigerant piping at various points in the circuit. The 3 main places to look are at the compressor outlet, the inlet to the capillary tube, and the outlet of the capillary tube. The outlet of the compressor should start out at ambient and climb to somewhere above water temperature. The inlet to the cap tube will usually be a little above water temp, and the outlet should be cold. If these 3 temps are normal, the system is probably ok. If not, what temperature they are vs what is normal can give you an idea what is going wrong inside the refrigerant loop.

Sounds like you maybe have lost refrigerant. Or, your HX coil is covered in ice..
(Look down inside from the top).
Checking the fan, the air filter and power use is a good start. But, don't run it too long..

I don't have any AC tools. I have lots of tools as I am a contractor. The discharge line goes into the hot water tank which heats up the water. This line is not heating up any more. I'm thinking it has lost refrigerant. Can these be recharged? I have an HVAC guy but don't think he has any experience with these units. I'm thinking about an E-tech water heater to take this units place if it can't be fixed.

It might not be too hard to repair.. But, you might have to uninstall it..
I'm not sure the all that copper tube inside will survive going in and out..

I've never heard of E-tech before.. It looks pretty nice. How are the reviews?

Wow, only $365 shipped down from Maine..
New Heat Pump Water Heater Save 50 or More on Your Hot Water | eBay

I'm temped to buy one.. As a backup..

Here is the answer from AirGenerate Support (Jan, 2012) when I inquired how much refrigerant went into the system.

I had bought one of their units for $40 (from Craigslist) and intended on repairing and recharging the system with R290. When it was originally installed they kinked the line releasing the refrigerant.



The AIrTap A7 takes 8.8oz of Freon.

Regards,

AirGenerate Support

These units should be a walk in the park for any fridgie tech worth a dime. They are on par with a dehumidifier or window air conditioner from the 70's as far as complexity goes. Main idea is find and fix the leak and it should work a long time thereafter. Whether you DIY or not depends on the skill vs wallet equation. On the wallet heavy end of the equation, it may not cost much more to buy a new one...then again, installation fees may sway the total value factor.

Thanks for your thoughts guys. The unit is at a cottage. I'm pretty handy but would not know where to start to fix this. My HVAC guy would have to travel a distance to look at it. It has a long thin coil that feeds into the hot water tank that has to be pulled out if I brought it to him. I don't want to have to reinstall it. I never liked that set up. I bought a Geyser rebuilt unit from Heating Stuff for $385. Tom the owner says he has replacement parts and can help if I have any problems with the new unit. My cottage is by the ocean so I really like the dehumidifying of the heat pump. I'll let you know how the new unit works out. It's supposed to be here Monday.
Thanks again guys.

Yay! Just one question: would you consider donating or selling the old broken unit to one of us idiotic hackers?