foreign copper on A coils

A.J.

We have been seeing a lot of leaks on A coils come up recently even though we handle a top name manufacture . I was telling this to one of my suppliers and he told me that back when copper price started spiking that a lot of the HVAC manufactures started using imported copper for their equipment, although he said that no one will never admit to it . I was just wondering if anybody else was seeing an increase in coil leaks .

Thanks

Jack

Pin the tail on the donkey...

Lack of QC by the equipment manuf in whatever market they are sourcing their components or manuf/selling their products. As well, it is easy to blame the commodity when it may be a process failure in manuf, either welding/brazing or bending. Btw, don't feel like the lone ranger here. I hear it is happening across brands. The goal seems to be, "Yes, we can make it cheaper!"

A.J.

leak spot

The thing that makes me think that what I'm hearing from the my supplier is right is that these leaks are happening on straight pipe no braze joints. When I try to talk to them about it they just go to their fall back position which is installer error. If I persist they just close out the conversation by telling me that I should have sold the 10 year P&L warranty. I don't know it just feels like I'm being treated like a mushroom ( being kept in the dark and feed  s--- .