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Bending the lineset tubing AFTER the installation

Dmitriy
Dmitriy Member Posts: 2
in A-C, Heat Pumps & Refrigeration
Hello All,  

I have a Fujitsu single zone heat pump that’s been up and running for a several months. For appearance reasons I’d like to clean up some of the sweeping bends in the lineset by turning them into tight 90s. I’d use a tubing bender for this. My question is this - is it permissible to bend the vapor and liquid pipes while they’re charged with refrigerant and/or pressurized?


Thank you.

Comments

  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,291
    As long as you don’t kink them. 
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 24,852
    pecmsg said:

    As long as you don’t kink them. 

    and be careful not to try to ben sharper than the minimum bend radius for that pipe size --even with a tubing bender. Typically 5 times the pipe outside diameter.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Ironman
    Ironman Member Posts: 7,548
    I wouldn’t try it. One end of the tubing has to be free to move while using the bender. Making a tighter radius means that the straight run coming out of the bend is gonna have to be able to increase in length. If it’s locked by the next bend or the termination, how can that happen?
    Bob Boan
    You can choose to do what you want, but you cannot choose the consequences.
    HVACNUT
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 16,476
    I wouldn't try it. You probably won't get the results you want
  • HVACNUT
    HVACNUT Member Posts: 6,331
    If you do attempt it, take video and post it. And no cursing. 
  • Dmitriy
    Dmitriy Member Posts: 2
    edited March 2021
    Youngplumber said:
    I agree with iron man. Very little can be done with two fixed points on either end. It's not impossible, just improbable. 
    The line set is fixed at the indoor unit and at the wall penetration to the condenser. Between these points there are 20-25’ of line set that’s loosely attached to the ceiling with nylon webbing. The whole thing has plenty of give and movement. I’d think that makes it more agreeable to bending? 
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,291
    So the line set is exposed on the ceiling?

    Can you take pictures?
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,789
    It'd have to be a pretty big wobble in the long run of pipe to give you enough length to tighten a sweep into a ninety. I'm guessing (from the image in my head, mind you) that you'll need to find at least 2-3 inches for each bend. It doesn't sound like much, but it's absolutely necessary. There is also a capacity reduction that is related to the number of bends. It doesn't sound like it'll be significant, but it's something to think about.

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