Central A/C refrigerant leak - 12 year old Lennox system
My a/c system is leaking refrigerant. Two years ago it was recharged and leaked out. Last May it was recharged with a leak stop agent. It lasted the entire summer but not through the winter.
How easy will it be for an HVAC tech to determine the source of the leak, so that I am not dumping troubleshooting money into a system that may make no sense to repair?
Any general advice for how I should best approach this?
My system is the following:
Condenser: Lennox XC16-036-230-03
Air Handler: Lennox CBX27UH-036-230-6-02
The system uses R410A
Comments
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leaks are easy to find. Cheap well that depends on where they are and how long between charging.
leak Stop sorry but I don’t approve!0 -
Easy to find with a black light if the dye already went into the system last time?
BTW - keep in mind that I live two blocks from the ocean, which is why I was unsure about how much life to expect out of my condenser here.
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you said Leak Stop not Dye!
With Dye a few hours of running the leak “should” be visible.
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it worked on dehumidifier number 1 during the season as long as it was running and circulating the stop leak. once it sat over the winter it wasn't circulating to re-plug the same leak or plug the new leaks and the refrigerant escaped.
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that’s not how stop leak works.
Personally stop leak is snake oil!0 -
there are different types. the "stop leak" that comes packaged with refrigerant usually just contains some chemicals to swell seals and hope they stop leaking at automotive shaft seals and o-rings. the stuff i used supposedly forms a resin when it contacts air to seal up pinhole leaks in metal.
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So what should be my course of action from here? I recall that the HVAC guy said he added dye when he charged the system last May.
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You can go around with a uv light and see if you see anything.
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This might be a silly question, but this needs to be done in the dark, right?
Also, how would I be able to check if it is my Schrader valve?
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there should be a metal cap tightened with a wrench over the service valves. the Schrader valves aren't a perfect seal, the cap is needed to keep it from leaking.
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How would I be able to check if the cap is doing its job? Is this a common point for a leak? Two years ago, when the unit was first was recharged, the Schrader pin had some issue and the tech replaced it.
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can you turn the caps by hand? if not it is probably ok
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Replace the schrader pins. You dont need to search in the dark unless you want to. There's going to be dye at the service ports regardless. You get cool glasses with the UV lamp to see the dye. Big Blu Soap to check the caps.
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Key Word………."Supposedly"
9 times out of 10 it doesn't. Add to that just like DYE most techs think more is better and that creates issues internally.
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Only two things belong in a refrigeration system. Oil and Refrigerant.
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