Lineset Leaks

TAG

GW said:

“Annual recharge” wow that just may be a new phrase when it comes to the current state of affairs. I actually have one of these “annuals” (not a mini, not a white line set) that we keep kicking the can down the road, the coil is in a pretty tough spot, crammed in the plenum. The last two times we juiced it for free (we installed the system 10 or so years ago). 

when we make the repair we pull the whole batch and add fresh juice (after the repair)

/notesandbeats it’s just luck of the draw- we’ve installed miles of this stuff (hundred or indoor units) and have dealt with maybe 10 or 12 issues. There’s some odd batching or manufacturing thing at play. If all of this stuff failed it would be pandemonium. It seems lame that they want 75% of what you paid 5 years ago. We drastically reduce our labor- people paid good freight once, so the glitches in life: we take on some of that burden. The nicer people are with us, the nicer I am with billing (I’m talking “outside our labor warranty”) If people are mean they get to pay the full boat (extremely rare, most folks are nice, even when things are falling apart at the seams)

TAG The tech put dye and sealer in a mini system? Snap! That’s not good and I think it voids warranties.
a leak in the cassette or a leak in the line? Two different topics

then you have the good old fashioned connection leaks. We have seen several Zoom fittings leak. We switched back to old school flaring a two or three  years ago. 

Leaks:
connection
line set
evap coil

leaks in the outdoor system are almost non existent. We had a 10 year old LG multi leak but I think that’s the only one (many hundreds on outdoors units installed). 

Gary 

Mitsubishi approved the replacement head after doing the two steps and the OE installers finally seeing the leak ..... the sealer actually seemed to work as the units were cooling.

Time will tell ....

pecmsg

Not a fan of Leak Stop. That’s just lazy!

JUGHNE

The line set companies may well have stated "lifetime warranty".

Just like stated on a tube of high grade caulking.....however you need the receipt and also return the empty caulk tube.

I would imagine the most you might get out of the company is a replacement line set.
Even though replacement labor may cost thousands.

pecmsg

JUGHNE said:

The line set companies may well have stated "lifetime warranty". Just like stated on a tube of high grade caulking.....however you need the receipt and also return the empty caulk tube. I would imagine the most you might get out of the company is a replacement line set. Even though replacement labor may cost thousands.

It’s all in the fine print!

mdbirdsall

I'm on the Board of a 22 unit condo building, finishing in 2018. In the last year, 5 of the 22 units have had failures of HVAC tubing (photo) and needed replacement linesets. This has meant going from the roof heat pumps to the individual units. Tubing is buried in rigid foam insulation behind sheetrock. Ouch!

Skicrazy5

Started running into leaky line sets in 2015. Isopolar, Gelcopper and Ebrilsplit. If you used those brands god help you. Just me alone in a company of more than 30 technicians have over 500 documented cases porous copper.