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Old 01-19-16, 09:28 AM   #21
Ron342
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Default leaks??

Hey Guy - did you find your leak?

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Old 01-19-16, 10:02 AM   #22
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No - frustrating as hell. Pumped it up with some gas (R22, couple lbs) and then dry nitrogen. Borrowed a "sniffer". Could NOT find the leak.

But it is leaking as the pressure is down again.

Perhaps I need to put in a full charge of gas. I did check the snifffer and it shrieked when it was near a small amount of gas.

I feel stupid.

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Old 01-19-16, 10:14 AM   #23
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Might try running up the pressure to a 250 or so with nitrogen and slimeing the coil (and everything else you can reach) with soapy?
And it could be in the water coil - fill it slowly with water and look for bubbles and sniff it too.
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Old 01-19-16, 10:33 AM   #24
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On 2nd thought, forget putting water in the water coil. The circle loops would just trap the gas, but do cap the ends, wait a while, then sniff both ends
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Old 01-20-16, 12:42 AM   #25
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Go to the dollar tree and buy a couple things: a pump spray bottle full of your favorite flavor of awesome cleaner and a couple bottles of Spiderman bubble juice. Dump some awesome out of the pump sprayer and refill with a bottle of Spiderman. Spray thr crap out of everything that contains refrigerant. Connect low and high side to manifold gauges, open both valves, and pressurize to big dog psig (250 plus). Keep spraying and watching. If you want, use a sniffer, just don't spray it with soapy water.

If you still can't find the leak, you will have to isolate parts of the circuit and test them separately. I like flare fittings. If you're lucky, the first part you check will leak. If not, it will turn out to be an o-ring or Schrader valve.
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Old 01-20-16, 09:59 AM   #26
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Default spider goo

Thanks for the spider man goo tip Jeff, i'll try it.
For us non hvac guys tho, how do you fix holes in aluminum tubed finned condensers anyway?
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Old 01-20-16, 10:33 AM   #27
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Jeff,

Will do. Up to 250 psi of dry nitrogen. Will check o rings first thing.

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Old 01-20-16, 01:41 PM   #28
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ron342 View Post
Thanks for the spider man goo tip Jeff, i'll try it.
For us non hvac guys tho, how do you fix holes in aluminum tubed finned condensers anyway?
With a "freebie", hobby or experimental coil, it's not extremely difficult to remove a bit of aluminum fin material around the problem area and braze. However, if the heat exchanger is more than 10-15 years old, there are probably more leaks hiding elsewhere, just waiting to happen. If the leak is buried in a multi-layer sandwich of copper tubing and aluminum fins, the repair may not be worth the effort. For a unit meant to last durably, swapping heat exchangers is the easiest way to eliminate all doubt. But easy ain't usually cheap at all.


Last edited by jeff5may; 01-20-16 at 03:19 PM..
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