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Another a/c thread. My R 22 charge went from 73 lbs to blowing hot in three days
Posted on 5/22/22 at 5:13 pm
Posted on 5/22/22 at 5:13 pm
16 year old Lennox unit.
A/c company came out and told me I needed a new unit but they would charge it for $1,700. I got a buddy to get me some freon and charge it for free.
Obviously I have a major leak and I never saw anything ice over.
What are my options, hire a different company to find the leak and hope I can just change out the coils? Anything other than a new unit possible?
A/c company came out and told me I needed a new unit but they would charge it for $1,700. I got a buddy to get me some freon and charge it for free.
Obviously I have a major leak and I never saw anything ice over.
What are my options, hire a different company to find the leak and hope I can just change out the coils? Anything other than a new unit possible?
8
Posted on 5/22/22 at 5:16 pm to pwejr88
quote:
16 year old
quote:
R22
I don’t think there’s a reasonable answer other than new at this point. Your friend isn’t going to be keen on sinking all his valuable and scarce R22 into your unit.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 5:27 pm to RaginCajunz
That was a one time deal. I’m not asking him to put more 22 in it.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 6:21 pm to pwejr88
As you said major loss of refrigerant that quickly indicates a significant leak - a leak that significant should be easy to find with a refrigerant detector, followed by verification with soap and bubbles, and then finding an old school tech that could/wood braze the leak in the evaporator coil or condensation coil, those being the most likely, but the not the only source of a leak. Maybe a leak at low and/or high pressure charging ports at the condensing unit.
But as you said finding someone willing to do that with a 16 year old R-22 system is not likely going to be easy, any large company with multiple trucks and techs is going to want to sell you an new system and at 16 years you are due for replacement. I would think you’d almost need a independent, one man company, that is willing to find the source of your leak and try to fix it. Wish I knew someone like that I could recommend. At least a “temporary” fix could buy you some time study and bid replacement options while not sweltering in heat.
But curious - who checked your suction/low pressure at 73 psig, and why was it checked, followed by loss enough refrigerant to blow “hot” in 3 days later? Sounds like from the title if the refrigerant was “normal” when checked, and a significant loss of refrigerant occurs 3 days later, that could be a leak is at one of the charging valves on the low pressure/suction side at the condensing unit - the schrader valve in the charging ports can get get stuck partially open releasing refrigerant at a rapid rate even with cap on. That’s easy to check with a sniffer and soap and bubbles, and a schrader valve core can be replaced, just as it can on a car tire. This is just a wild arse guess solely based on your post title.
But as you said finding someone willing to do that with a 16 year old R-22 system is not likely going to be easy, any large company with multiple trucks and techs is going to want to sell you an new system and at 16 years you are due for replacement. I would think you’d almost need a independent, one man company, that is willing to find the source of your leak and try to fix it. Wish I knew someone like that I could recommend. At least a “temporary” fix could buy you some time study and bid replacement options while not sweltering in heat.
But curious - who checked your suction/low pressure at 73 psig, and why was it checked, followed by loss enough refrigerant to blow “hot” in 3 days later? Sounds like from the title if the refrigerant was “normal” when checked, and a significant loss of refrigerant occurs 3 days later, that could be a leak is at one of the charging valves on the low pressure/suction side at the condensing unit - the schrader valve in the charging ports can get get stuck partially open releasing refrigerant at a rapid rate even with cap on. That’s easy to check with a sniffer and soap and bubbles, and a schrader valve core can be replaced, just as it can on a car tire. This is just a wild arse guess solely based on your post title.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 6:33 pm to pwejr88
quote:
Another a/c thread. My R 22 charge went from 73 lbs to blowing hot in three days
no you had 73 lbs pressure in the line, units rarely hold more then 7-8 lbs freon in total
now to your question, the leak will most likely be in the indoor coil. if its a gas unit they can put a new generic coil box that fits the unit and plenum size but it wont be cheap, then if you have the freon that will save you a shite ton of money.
if its an electric heater, then there most likely no way to get a replacement coil for it since coils for those are made to fit that specific unit only and there are no generic replacements for those.
i think they gave you a price to just replace the outdoor unit because $1700 is super cheap, too cheap for replacing the indoor unit.
if you see oil on the tubing somewhere, thats the leak, oil circulates through the system so it comes out with the freon when you have a leak so that can show where a leak is.
all that said, prepare thy anus for bad news
This post was edited on 5/22/22 at 6:36 pm
Posted on 5/22/22 at 6:58 pm to pwejr88
Your options are likely:
~Change the coil on indoor unit.
~Replace the system.
~Change the coil on indoor unit.
~Replace the system.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 7:02 pm to pwejr88
Change out the condenser/A-coil and metering device if blower motor and furnace are still in good shape.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 8:42 pm to keakar
quote:
to just replace the outdoor unit because $1700 is super cheap
$1,700 was for 4 lbs of 22 freon only.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 10:32 pm to pwejr88
16 year old R-22 unit.
Time to replace the whole thing and be done with it.
You are sitting on a money pit.
Time to replace the whole thing and be done with it.
You are sitting on a money pit.
Posted on 5/22/22 at 10:53 pm to pwejr88
quote:
That was a one time deal. I’m not asking him to put more 22 in it.
Just curious why your buddy would give you 4 lbs of this and not make sure the leak was solved first? That’s a hell of a deal to throw a way I mean, and most everyone that has R22 should know you can’t just throw it in a system that’s low and solve the problem?
Given that, can your buddy not just help find the leak and give you options?
I would not spend $1700 on a 16 year old system personally.
Posted on 5/23/22 at 9:01 am to pwejr88
quote:
16 year old Lennox unit.
A/c company came out and told me I needed a new unit but they would charge it for $1,700.
That would be $1700 thrown away and if you add in finding the leak and/or replacing the evaporator coil on a 16 year old unit, a new coil seems like a no brainer.
Posted on 5/23/22 at 10:09 am to pwejr88
I work in the refrigerant industry. If you have a R22 system that is giving you problems - replace it. The price of R22 is unreal - and it will only go up.
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