Anyone know of a local refrigerator shop?

[pepe.king.prawn]

I called every place in the yellow pages and from the two places that said they could maybe help me, got a nice "NO" with a bunch of rude commentary along with it and uncertainty from the other. I have a chiller I need recharged... THAT's IT! anyone know of someone who knows someone? I need it to be a shop I can take it to, not someone who wants $150 to even come out to see if they can do it in the first place.

OR: can I use the car A/C refrigerant you get at Kragen?

 

[funman1]

I think it's the same refrigerant. R134 or something like that..
Check the chiller it should state what kind it takes on a label by law..

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

I'm just about to take it apart. I don't have a blow torch... so let's hope that bbq lighter gets hot enough to melt some solder!! haha. I'm not sure I know exactly how to refill one of these things... I have a vacuum pump.. so you pump it down.. and then what? duno how to tell when it's full etc.

 

[late2wake]

the refridgerant is 134a. before you even add the 134a you need to vaccum the air inside and find out how many lbs of refridgerant you need. Try to find the manufacture info and call for specs.

You shouldn't have to torch anything!! what you'll want to do is use fill it up with a little refridgerant and find the leak first. ACs just dont run out, or go old, it there has to be a leak that needs to be rectified first. there should be a valve that you'll need to hook up a few hoses that monitors the pressure. I think theres valve before and after the compressor.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

There's a fill valve that comes out of the side of the compressor tank, that's all I can see. I'm positive there's a leak. As my friend and I were removing it from his house, we could hear a small leak which did not cease. I presume the system's pretty well empty by now. My guess is the leak is in the tube connecting the compressor portion to the heat exchanger, entailing that I should unsolder this and replace the length of tubing.

Perhaps you know... how do these drop-in chillers function? It's not clear to me how coolant makes its way to the cooling coil, since the coil is not a loop. Is there a smaller tube inside of the larger one?

 

[late2wake]

I would advise you to make sure the leak is where you mentioned before you take off tubing that may not be the cause. Most of the time, orings are the main cause of leaks. And if its weld, a lighter will not soften it up.

My guess is that the cold is transfered to the coil... like ice water against a tin can, and have the coolness transfer through the metal.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

I would think that merely having heat transferred through the metal would be extremely inefficient. a 6' tube 1/4" in diameter will transfer almost no heat along the entire length no matter how cold one end is. Do they weld or solder the joints in these systems? It's all copper, so I thought it was soldered. I can't tell if the leak is on that tube without taking it off... it has a piece of plastic flexible conduit over it, so I really can't see anything. I suppose I could pump up the system and pour soap water down the tube.

 

[late2wake]

I was actually thinking that the black insulated part carries the AC line down to the titainium coil - then the cold would travel through the remaining coil.

You're right, the word I should be using is solder.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

The insulating portion merely protects the copper from contacting saltwater. I'm going to have a shot at taking it apart this evening.

 

[pepe.king.prawn]

Bah... darn.... these systems are all brazed together. Blow torch won't cut it, need an oxyacetylene flame.