Leak or no leak?

[billandpaulasmisc]

Hi, I am having a difference of opinion with a co-worker and I am wondering if I am right or he is right. His home AC stopped cooling (over time) and he had it cleaned and re-charged. He said the mechanic who charged it said it had lost nearly half its charge. I said if it lost any of its charge, then there had to have been a leak. To me this was common sense and agrees with what I know about car air conditioners. He said that he would choose to agree with his mechanic who said that all it needed was cleaning, charging and regular (once a year) servicing.

Who's right? How else might a home air conditioner lose its charge? If it can lose its charge without any defective parts, how does that happen and what needs to be done to avoid that happening?

[Stormin Mormon]

The annual cleaning is an excellent idea. Freon doesn't just disappear. if there is less in the system, there is a leak.

Problem is, some leaks are hard to find, expensive to repair, and just asking to be ignored. We don't know, in this case, if it's a simple leak that's easy to fix.

[Bubba]

You freakin moron/m, Refrigerant DOES just disappear. Its call a leak. Leaks are NOT hard to find if you use the right tools. You dont ignore leaks. They are profit just like any other repair. The only simple leak is when an idiot like you forgets to tighten the cap or loses the O-ring seal in the end of the cap. Now go pick up that boulder and bash your stupid head in. Bubba

[KJPRO]

You are... your co-worker and his *so-called* tech are complete dumbasses.

[KJPRO]

Sounds like you know my *so-called* competition.

[Petre]

I wonder how much they make in return service calls?

** Posted from **

[Luca]

Around here the kids are huffing it out of peoples units again.... The told me two kids in the hospital last week.

[KJPRO]

Plenty, but the sad thing is... most of the people calling them, think that this is a normal practice!

[Stormin Mormon]

Thank you, I'd forgot about huffing. My parts house has theft resistant valve caps. Not sure that will prevent huffing, but who can tell? They are expensive, I don't remember the numbers.

[groundcontrol8]

Thank you. Guess I'll let him feel superior for a while.

[Bubba]

Thats because you dont spend any money on anything you stupid cheap bastard. Bubba

[KJPRO]

Yep, there's no telling him any different... afterall the *so-called* tech has to be right.

[Noon-Air]

Real simple to figure out.... Have the tech do an electronic leak search. When the electronic sniffer finds a leak that big, it will go crazy even being in the same room as the leak. Its a "sealed" system and unless there is a leak, then it should *NEVER* lose any of its refrigerant charge. The system should be checked at least yearly to make sure that it has not developed any leaks. At this point in time, assuming that it is an R-22 system, your co-worker would be money ahead to replace the entire system with a new super energy efficient R-410a system. If your co-worker suspects someone stealing the refrigerant or "huffing" the refrigerant, put a dot of fingernail polish on the caps to create a seal that will be a tattletail to see if somebody is opening up the system that isn't authorized. If you think its a neighborhood kid, then also coat the caps with Prussian Blue....and when the seal is found to be broken, look for the kid with the blue fingers.

[KJPRO]

Better yet, use a little refrigerant dye... it will still be on their hands after washing. :-)

[Noon-Air]

Prussian Blue takes 2 weeks to wear off.

[Tekkie®]

Bubba posted for all of us...

He doesn't have any on the Pinto. Don't worry he'll troll around looking at cars to rip them off.

-- Tekkie - I approve this advertisement/statement/utterance.