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Repairing a heat pump leak? wgd 05-02-2008
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Posted by Moe Jones on May 3, 2008, 1:33 pm
To make it simple and to save you money all they need to do is the
following:
1. Have them pump down the system.
2. After the system has been pumped down they can now open and repair the
leak on the suction line.
3. After leak has been repairs and leaked checked they only have to run a
short vacuum on the line set.
4. They then open up the line set to the refrigerant they had pumped down.
5. Top off the system.


--
Moe Jones
http://www.MoeJones.info



Posted by on May 3, 2008, 7:50 pm
bubba's attitude makes my point for me. who here would actually hire him
?

----------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm



Posted by Bubba on May 4, 2008, 8:56 am
On Sat, 3 May 2008 19:50:07 -0400, ds549@webtv.net wrote:

>bubba's attitude makes my point for me. who here would actually hire him
>?
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>http://www.minibite.com/america/malone.htm
>

First of all, you dim wit webtv idiot..........
Id never solicit business here in a newsgroup. It would be quite a
waste of time if you knew anything about marketing, WHICH you
obviously dont.
Second, YOU would never receive my services. You couldnt afford me and
Id never attempt working for you. It would only take me about 30
seconds to figure out what kind of cheap asshole you are.
Too bad you dont like my attitude but you'll just have to grow some
balls and stop waiting for someone to coddle you and blow sunshine up
your ass.
Bubba

Posted by Stormin Mormon on May 5, 2008, 10:13 am
The epoxy stuff isn't likely to hold. The pressures are a bit too high.
Should be possible to redo, with a pump down and rebraze the fitting. But
like the other guys say, might not be worth it.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
.


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 John Gilmer on June 20, 2008, 9:40 am

"
> 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.

Huh?

What is supposed to be leaking?

Is the unit still heating and cooling property? When the "service" was
done, did the guy measure the high and low side pressures? Did he add any
freon (R-22)?

Is the repair guy claiming that the "wet" stuff in the photo is compressor
oil? Or is it just a little water the condensed onto the suction line
when you were cooling the house?

>
>...
>
> 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.

I strongly suggest that you call in the HVAC tech who was recommended by the
neighbor. Get a second opinion and a 2nd bid.

Again, you didn't say why the service call was necessary. Was the unit not
heating/cooling as you have come to expect. Did the tech add any freon?

And I wonder about your wording. If a tech finds low levels of freon
(R-22) then he FINDS a leak rather than NOTICES a leak. It's sound like
when you take your car in for an oil change the tech "notices" that you need
new belts, etc.

If there is defintiely a leak rather the condensation from the insulation
not being properly placed the the $1000 is a "little" high, IMO but $500
would be in the ball park for a half day of work plus freon, etc.

>

** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **

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