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Repairing a heat pump leak? wgd 05-02-2008
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Posted by wgd on May 2, 2008, 2:31 pm
My townhouse has the original York Champion heat pump from 1983. For
many years I used the local company which installed it for service.
They were pretty good until about 6 years ago when they were bought by
another company. Now I have little or no confidence in the people they
send.

The last time I had service the guy noticed a leak in a pipe leading to
the inside unit. It is in an upstairs utility room. It had been about
18 months since the last service. The leak was obvious because over
time it penetrated the pipe insulation. See picture below.

http://i108.photobucket.com/albums/n39/wgdus/Heat-pump-leak.jpg

The service guy had been busy trying to sell me a new heat pump. That's
all they want to do. My two closest neighbors in this section still
have their original York heat pumps. They were just good units.

"Wow, a leak! This is almost as good as a new unit sale!", thinks the
service guy. And he quotes me a repair price of about $1000 to fix it!

The repair would require extracting the freon to a recovery unit.
Cutting out and replacing the joint (or repair existing joint). Then
replacing the freon. Apparently this would be about a 2 hr. procedure
for someone who knew what they were doing.

I told him no. I thought the price was excessive plus I wouldn't trust
anyone this company has sent in the last few years to perform a repair
like this.

I got a recommendation from a neighbor for an HVAC tech they use who
was recommended to them by another neighbor. I'll probably use him in
the future. But I still want to avoid an expensive repair if possible.

Here's my $4 solution for your consideration - plumbing epoxy putty.
This stuff here from Home Depot.

http://www.pcepoxy.com/puttyepoxies/pcplumbing.asp

I would clean the pipe joint with alcohol then apply the putty to each
side of the joint to seal it.

Do you think this a viable repair method? I would really appreciate
your opinions since this newsgroup gives such great advice.

PS: If you would like to read something from an HVAC service guy who is
willing to admit exactly what happens in heat pump servicing (which is
almost as bad as appliance repair) you might want to check out the link
below.

http://toad.net/~jsmeenen/heatpump.html






Posted by on May 2, 2008, 3:39 pm
let us know if the putty works,you didnt say what line is leaking,low or
high press... since epa regulated freon,it gave repairmen a lisence to
rape customers. none of them want to fix a leak anymore. just sell you a
new unit.lucas

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Posted by on May 3, 2008, 5:55 am

>By the way, nothings free and nothings cheap anymore. If you think the
>HVAC guys are ripping you off, try starting your own HVAC business.

Or buy a few $80 window ACs at WalMart. If one breaks, throw it away,
and ignore the HVAC criminals :-)

Nick


Posted by Joe on May 2, 2008, 3:53 pm

>snip<

> Here's my $4 solution for your consideration - plumbing epoxy putty.
> This stuff here from Home Depot.
>
> http://www.pcepoxy.com/puttyepoxies/pcplumbing.asp
>
> I would clean the pipe joint with alcohol then apply the putty to each
> side of the joint to seal it.
>
> Do you think this a viable repair method? I would really appreciate
> your opinions since this newsgroup gives such great advice.
>
Absolutely not. The thermal expansion differences in the epoxy and
copper make it dubious and your abiltiy to prepare a surface well
enough for a decent bond under field conditions is the coup de grace.
You're trying to contain gas molecules under considerable pressure so
get a tech well versed in this kind of work and get it done right. If
the tab is $300 or so for the job that would be OK. Maybe a bit more
in some communities. Good luck.

Joe


Posted by on May 2, 2008, 8:06 pm
bubba's attitude proves my point about pompus hvac repairmen who
wont/cant fix a leak, just sell new equipment and then dont stand behind
it. they hate their job, and customers and live life cheating the
manufactrer and customers for their own mistakes .

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