Owner is replacing evaporator coils

[Scottpat]

This owner is having to replace evaporator coils on two units(1 split system and one package system) and has had the coils leaking on refrigerator in their home. I have ruled out problematic drywall. Also has electrical outlets and switches to stop working, I don't think this is related. This home was built in 2006.

In this home I counted 17 plug-in (oil type) air fresheners throughout the home. All of the copper was shiny and clean in the panel and at light switches. No corrosion to other metals like hinges, screw heads, faucets, door stops, etc?

My SWAG is that the air fresheners are killing the coils on the a/c and the refrigerators.

Has anyone ever come across this or have any other ideas?

[Marc]

The two AC evap coils have a problem particular to that model and the fridge coils were just coincidental?

Can't see the air freshener/copper connection.

A small leak could go on for years without finally becoming exposed.

One or more faulty diagnosis by the AC techs. Findings refrigerant leaks is a major hit/miss thing often times. Biggest headache there is in AC service work.

A small AC company I once worked for had a practice among it's techs that a suspected refrigerant leak (emphasis on 'suspected') was solid reason to replace the system. That's one reason I don't work there anymore.

Marc

[Jim Katen]

This owner is having to replace evaporator coils on two units(1 split system and one package system) and has had the coils leaking on refrigerator in their home. I have ruled out problematic drywall. Also has electrical outlets and switches to stop working, I don't think this is related. This home was built in 2006.

In this home I counted 17 plug-in (oil type) air fresheners throughout the home. All of the copper was shiny and clean in the panel and at light switches. No corrosion to other metals like hinges, screw heads, faucets, door stops, etc?

My SWAG is that the air fresheners are killing the coils on the a/c and the refrigerators.

Has anyone ever come across this or have any other ideas?

I doubt that it's anything in the environment. Perhaps both the split system and the package system were charged by the same lazy tech who didn't bother to evacuate the system thoroughly at the time of installation. A bit of moisture in the refrigerant can work wonders over 9 years.

As for the refrigerator, chalk it up to coincidence. Aren't refrigerator coils made from steel? If so, they wouldn't necessarily be affected the same as copper would when exposed to a contaminant.

[jhime]

Check out - watkinsheating.com - "The Cause of Freon Leaks"

Microscopic bubbles in refrigerant may also wear copper tubing.

R410a pressures are much more than R-22.

Can never rule out human installation error.

Roll the dice.

[John Kogel]

Heavy duty air fresheners in the house?

Toxic sulphur farts, maybe? []

[plummen]

I got called out last week for a 7-8 year old tappan hp that they had some idiot topping off a couple times a year before talking them into putting a new coil in last season.

Then a couple weeks after changing the coil it wasn't cooling again,So he tried to tell them it must be a hole in the condenser coil before they told him to hit the bricks.

So anyway I went out there last week and couldn't get the hp to fire up,when I threw the gauges on it and found it was bone dry.Big surprise!

So I had a good idea of where the problem was before even looking at the service and shrader valves.

The high side service valve was covered in oil and some kind of goop inside the cap to try and stop the leak.

The clown had the service valve cranked all the way out instead of 1/8" from seated.

I showed the home owner what I found and screwed the service valve down just a smidge and cranked the cap down before pumping 300lbs of nitrogen into the system and letting it sit for a couple of hrs without the needle budging and vacuuming the system down and recharging the system.

I told them to call me in a couple of weeks when it gets hotter out to recheck the pressure and make sure its running right.

Im tired of these clown installers who cant fix anything so they just keep throwing parts like A coils at leaking systems because theyre either just too lazy or too stupid to look for leaks!

Ok,rant over.[:-party]

[Marc]

I've always left both schraders all the way out for operation. Never had a problem with it. What's wrong with doing that?

Did you mean the clown torqued them out?

Marc

[plummen]

Im not talking about the shrader valves(valve cores),Im talking about the actual service valves that are used to pump down the system and hold Freon in the condenser.

The service valves get stopped just short of bottoming out against top of the valves when you open them or they will leak,The caps are supposed to be torqued but I crank them down within reason with a decent sized cresent wrench to make sure they seal.