HVAC Compressor Quit

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Originally Posted By: sleddriver
Originally Posted By: KJSmith
Soft solder will not hold.
Needs.


If you have it repaired, go back with MO99 or NU22 as a refrigerant.
Needs.......?????


Sil-Fos.

If that is where I think it is pressure can be around 300lbs psig.


Does that Heat pump work well in your area?
 
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If your going to have someone come out and charge it, that won't take a second to fix.
In fact, it will take them longer to remove your repair than to make the original repair.
 
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Originally Posted By: KJSmith
If your going to have someone come out and charge it, that won't take a second to fix.
In fact, it will take them longer to remove your repair than to make the original repair.
I'm interested in how you would fix this. Please elaborate. (The end of that larger pipe where the smaller dia. enters looks like it was just crimped over and soldered!?

I wound up using fine gauge solid copper wire (0.0185" dia.) to wrap as much as possible after polishing to bright copper and fluxing. Then I soldered it using a neighbors MAPP torch. I kept the flame opposite the solder which is how I solder electronics. It shouldn't leak but prove me wrong!(too bad no neighbors have a vacuum pump....)



 
No doubt you are also dealing with the R-22 refrigerant and that is being phased out in two years. Currently it is going for $90/pound. My heat pump died this week also and cost to repair is 50% of a new one but I would be left with the R22 and a 12 year old heat pump. So new one installed on Mon, got 3 quotes, apples to apples on the equipment and all three were significantly different, over $2,000 difference between the low and high quote.

I am sitting in 85 degree heat as I write this, miserable.
 
Not out to prove you wrong. If it holds you are golden, if not you pay.
Looks nice. That should be the hot gas line. High temperature, High pressure. Soft solder is never recommended there.
You can use it on the suction line, low temperature, low pressure gas... most guys just use silver because you don't have any prep.
Yes, the little line is stuck in, crimped and Sil-Fossed. Probably 1 or 2% silver, it runs like water.

To repair that hole, I would do no prep, grab a stick of 15%, heat from this side and cover the hole without getting any inside... no problem probably done it thousands of times.
A younger guy would probably bleed nitrogen through the system while doing the repair....I don't.
You might get away with 6%, but 15% is always thicker and easier.
Sil-Fos is stronger than copper.


As you know, that solder will run toward the heat ( Sil-Fos also).
The danger in heating from the backside is letting solder slip in the line and partially blocking it.
Hopefully your wrap is tight enough to prevent that....
More than likely, any that got in will bead up and travel through the system and get caught in a filter.
 
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After letting it completely cool (I didn't wipe it with a wet rag), I hooked up the gauges, turned on the power and pushed in the contactor. I ran it for about 15 sec and saw both hi & low gauges rise to 25psi. So it's now building pressure. The condensor fan is still disconnected and the cabinet is open so I didn't let it run like that too long.

What I need is a vacuum pump to pull it down, boil any moisture out, take a reading, then see if it will hold. Then I'd know I was good.

I read up on that 15% silver-phosphorus 'stick'. That's cool. Decided to go with what I had on hand rather than spending time in traffic, chasing it down.

It took a bit more than 30 wraps to cover that distance. I ensured all wraps were tensioned and tight-together. Definitely much stronger than solder alone. I tied off both ends with tension so the wraps remained tight while soldering.

First guy who returned my call mentioned something about $100 - 200/ R-22....next!

I looked on the manuf. decal inside the service panel and it makes no mention of how much R-22 is required! Odd that.....
 
It's not M-HVAC, a known system, it's HVAC, every installation has a different length lineset, so different quantity of refrigerant.
 
From what I remember, they come pre-charged with enough for 25" of lines.

Also, not all installations use the same evap coil.
In a lot of areas you go 1/2 ton over evap coil to help with humidity removal.


See if you can get someone to change it over to MO99 or NU22.
Either one should be much cheaper than R22.

Ver similar, just a slight decrease in capacity.
 
Originally Posted By: KJSmith
From what I remember, they come pre-charged with enough for 25" of lines....Also, not all installations use the same evap coil.
In a lot of areas you go 1/2 ton over evap coil to help with humidity removal.

See if you can get someone to change it over to MO99 or NU22.
Either one should be much cheaper than R22.

Ver similar, just a slight decrease in capacity.
25"?? Perhaps you meant 25'?

I thought it odd he would ask because even I realize the proper amount depends on the lineset length. Oh well....

I'll have to read up on M099 & NU22. Thanks for that. Tomorrow means calling more bidnesses. Tomorrow afternoon I'm invited to a pool party where I intend on jumping in and never coming out....

For now it's a cold shower and a blender of pineapple margaritas to cool off.
 
Originally Posted By: Spector
No doubt you are also dealing with the R-22 refrigerant and that is being phased out in two years. Currently it is going for $90/pound. My heat pump died this week also and cost to repair is 50% of a new one but I would be left with the R22 and a 12 year old heat pump. So new one installed on Mon, got 3 quotes, apples to apples on the equipment and all three were significantly different, over $2,000 difference between the low and high quote.

I am sitting in 85 degree heat as I write this, miserable.


Rip off prices. There's plenty of R22 around due to it having to be recovered. A 30lb cylinder can be had for $300 or less if you look hard. There are plenty of drop in replacements that are cheaper. I have a full cylinder in my garage collecting dust.
 
Originally Posted By: Spector
No doubt you are also dealing with the R-22 refrigerant and that is being phased out in two years. Currently it is going for $90/pound. My heat pump died this week also and cost to repair is 50% of a new one but I would be left with the R22 and a 12 year old heat pump. So new one installed on Mon, got 3 quotes, apples to apples on the equipment and all three were significantly different, over $2,000 difference between the low and high quote.

I am sitting in 85 degree heat as I write this, miserable.
The first call back I received said "maybe $100-200/#" I said that was nuts. Another guy asked if I had been given quotes from any other businesses? Third guy said "maybe $50/# but don't quote me on that".

IOW, it all depends on who you call...

What broke in your 12yr old unit causing a cost-to-repair of 50% of a new one?

If you're having to live in it while dealing with it, a fan blowing directly on you helps. So do those frozen ice things that go in the cooler. The flexible kind that can be wrapped around your leg or back also work great.
 
This is turning out to be quite a PITA....

First, finally found the manuf. plate. On the side nearest the wall. Obscurred by two metal conduit heads blocking most information. The lock rings were frozen so I had to spray and hit hard with a hammer, then pry them out, get a mirror and read right-to-left reversed...in the heat & mosquitos.

Factory charge was 122oz or 7.6# R-22.

Second, prices are all over the map! I've called about a dozen so far yet haven't spoken to all of them. One outfit has a flat rate of $400 just to vacuum + $90 trip charge + $164/ 1st # and $100/ 2+. Another wants $100 - 200/#. Another said $200/# period.

Read of one neighbors recommendation for one outfit who charged $425 to replace "a capacitor"!!


Another wants $100 to show up + $140/1st # + $120/ea add. # + $650 to repair + $200 to vacuum.....that'll blow your hair back!

Another outfit suggested using 421B rather than R22. Said he's used it alot in older systems with no issues.

I'm late for my pool party.....
 
To me, it doesn't make much sense to spend $1k+ on a 28 year old A/C.

I'd be shopping around for a replacement.
 
I agree. I won't be spending anywhere near that much to have it repaired. That was the most extreme example of what some businesses will sell to desparate people, paniced not having air-cond.

I'm neither.
 
I dont think I would charge it back up with R22. Its just to much money! Last I knew it was around 900 a jug from our local parts house. Ive heard the price has come down some but still.

There are a ton of replacements for R22. Only thing is you might have trouble getting them if you don't have your epa card.

Check harbor freight for a vacuum pump.
 
I easily found a 30# jug of R-22 on CL for $300. That's $10/#. If it was so 'rare', why is it still for sale? More than 4 jugs of it.....

Just finished reassembling that #$%^! RPITA sheet metal 'cabinet'. I enjoyed castrating all sheet metal screws to remove their 'pointy' tips and reduce them to the same only-necessary-length. Goodman (??) could have easily offset the screws 0.5" to avoid any such damage from a too-long-screw. Obviously that would have made too much sense....

This is easily something I could DIY if refrigerant hadn't been politicized by the EPA. GWMA...I'd had gauges for decades now.

Why is it I can buy R-134a off-the-shelf for the sled, but not R-22 for the house? Something very fishy about all of this...just like "The Big Short" barely 10yrs ago. Massive manipulation and screwing-over the populace to satisfy some elites political agenda....

Still shoping for a better deal

/rant.
 
What about buying the $300 R22 jug and topping your system off, then selling what's left on Craigslist to someone else who will do the same, and doesn't need 30 pounds?
 
If thats a new 30 pound cylinder of R22 for $300 id be all over that. Thats a deal!


Reason you can get R134a is because its a HFC. Its not ozone depleting. But some places are still picky about selling it. One of my local auto parts stores will only sell you two 12oz cans at a time.
 
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