HVAC - The Leak From Hell

This leak was difficult to find for a few reasons. It was in an enclosed chase and didn't "hiss" when under a 300 PSI nitrogen pressure test. Two other techs cut several holes in drywall in search of this little gem. I was lucky enough to have had ONE experience with this floorplan four years ago: a broken low voltage control wire that I found with my toner. It was never spliced together during construction. That's how I knew to target this chase in this leak search.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• HVAC
• Weld
• Leak
• In
• Wall
• Chase
• Air
• Conditioning
• Repair

[douglas787]

I can't even guess what the repair bill was on that job. There was probably a couple of techs that looked at it for a while and thew the towel before this guy came in and found the leak. A 800,000 house with spliced up lines, I bet it was hard for the installer to solder that with a regular tip, which is probably all he had. I usually swage the lines myself, but that's just me. I feel that it is one less joint and the first joint doesn't get weakened by the heat from the second braze.

[PutSome5tankOnIt]

@douglas787 No doubt, swaging that splice would've been the way to go. Most guys (including me) don't have a swage kit. I get by with the hook tip and a mirror in tight spaces. I found another braze leak in this same neighborhood a few months ago. Same floorplan, different routing of the refrigerant lines, twice as much fun!

[death2opposeme]

least you saw a bubble... some of em, i had to use some that damn glowing injection shit.

[PutSome5tankOnIt]

@death2opposeme A leak as old as this (5 years) would definitely present with oil. That's what I was looking for. I video'd a similar leak not long ago. Same job site, same floor plan, similar video title.

[hvacdude32]

sniffing alot

[hvacdude32]

is this guy on coke?

[therohvac]

@douglas787 I agree

[yrtuag]

How did you know where to cut the hole to find the original splice?

[c243mx7tr]

Baltimore accent?

[9020powrmax]

Interesting "Captain hook" torch.. Makes it nice doesn't it especially in that space..

[death2opposeme]

@PutSome5tankOnIt true true... about the oil. but to be fair i didnt know that leak was 5years.