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Originally Posted by cswenson218

Already doing better. Last one was a confidence booster. Bottle cooler in a bar, we have been there every two months to gas it up and no one was able to find a leak. Boss told me to go find it and not come back til I did. My detector didn't pick up anything with the 134A so I recovered and put in a little 22 and some nitrogen...detector went nuts inside the cooler. Got the bubbles out, soaked it down and voila...multiple tiny TINY leaks. Felt good to have a little success on a unit three other guys couldn't find a leak on. Funny thing was....the evap was coated and looked just...pristine. Looked new, even. If I hadn't been told to "find it and don't come back" I would have just said "No way there's a leak on that thing." Valuable lesson learned, don't take anything for granted.

Way to go!!! Excellent! Just keep that attitude and don't loose your patience. Keep learning...you'll think (at some point) you've seen it all......no, no one has seen it all. Congrats man...good job!

By the way...what kind/brand of detector are you using?

H-10 is the only way to fly!

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Already doing better. Last one was a confidence booster. Bottle cooler in a bar, we have been there every two months to gas it up and no one was able to find a leak. Boss told me to go find it and not come back til I did. My detector didn't pick up anything with the 134A so I recovered and put in a little 22 and some nitrogen...detector went nuts inside the cooler. Got the bubbles out, soaked it down and voila...multiple tiny TINY leaks. Felt good to have a little success on a unit three other guys couldn't find a leak on. Funny thing was....the evap was coated and looked just...pristine. Looked new, even. If I hadn't been told to "find it and don't come back" I would have just said "No way there's a leak on that thing." Valuable lesson learned, don't take anything for granted.

Originally Posted by derekkite

I detest my Dtek Seriously I have yet to locate a leak with it. The best I can find is that there is a leak somewhere, in the cabinet as opposed to out. But actually finding it? Nope.

I find most leaks by oil residue, and if ambient noise is low enough, a plastic tube to used to channel the sounds. Precise location by soap.

I luv mine. Have had a lot of success with it.

Originally Posted by derekkite

I detest my Dtek Seriously I have yet to locate a leak with it.

I'll trade you a case of soap bubbles for it.

I detest my Dtek Seriously I have yet to locate a leak with it. The best I can find is that there is a leak somewhere, in the cabinet as opposed to out. But actually finding it? Nope.

I find most leaks by oil residue, and if ambient noise is low enough, a plastic tube to used to channel the sounds. Precise location by soap.

Originally Posted by Bobbycold

Koolkahuna, I don't look down on those who use leak detectors. I admit that for some things, most notably split AC's, they have value. I even have one, though I haven't even put batteries in it. I considered working for a large commercial AC company in Nashville, where it most likely would have been used, yet, for what work I do it never comes in handy. I figure after you narrow your leak search down to general area, unless the exact spot of leak is obvious, you still have to soap and water the area to find the specific leak spot? An another area where I feel would be better for a leak detector is on the suction side of a semi hermetic unit that has been retrofited from R-12 to R-134A. They will drop into a good vacuum, and any leak will suc the soap & water into the system. I haven't seen one of these since the service, however so I haven't dwelt on it as a major point for the leak detector.

It's all good Bobbycold, you didn't come across that way at all.
I do it the way I do it so I don't have to use, and therefore clean up, a lot of soap that, if not wiped or rinsed off, will corrode copper piping and brass fittings/valves.

A lot of good hvac mechanics "look down" on the use of leak detection dyes and they are definitely a last resort for me. However the area that I will use UV Dye is on AC systems on logging and mining equipment that is hours into the bush and downtime is hundreds or even thousands of dollars per hour.
I have a separate gauge set for dye charged systems and will only do it upon customer command as it is their equipment after all.
They want systems charged with dye before there is ever a leak so the leak can be found with their UV lamps and a whole new part can be brought up on the service trip.
I charge well over a thousand dollars for truck/travel alone to most of these sites so it only makes sense.

I still detest it though.

Koolkahuna, I don't look down on those who use leak detectors. I admit that for some things, most notably split AC's, they have value. I even have one, though I haven't even put batteries in it. I considered working for a large commercial AC company in Nashville, where it most likely would have been used, yet, for what work I do it never comes in handy. I figure after you narrow your leak search down to general area, unless the exact spot of leak is obvious, you still have to soap and water the area to find the specific leak spot? An another area where I feel would be better for a leak detector is on the suction side of a semi hermetic unit that has been retrofited from R-12 to R-134A. They will drop into a good vacuum, and any leak will suc the soap & water into the system. I haven't seen one of these since the service, however so I haven't dwelt on it as a major point for the leak detector.

Originally Posted by Tommy knocker

Luv my Dtek.

X2

Dtek and a corded H10. Each has it's own +/-, but in tandem...I just haven't found anything better.
Or maybe I just haven't needed anything better!
Run the dtek first, especially in tight/hard to reach spots and then, if needed, follow up with the H10. Zero the H10 outside first. I haven't been skunked so far...knock, knock!

Originally Posted by wicked251

We run a Dtek through every store we visit. Amazing how many leaks we find and repair before the receiver alarms go off.

Luv my Dtek.

We run a Dtek through every store we visit. Amazing how many leaks we find and repair before the receiver alarms go off.

Exactly. For you it works the way you do it.
To each his own and it's all good.

Slow and steady always wins the race.

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I've done a few convenience stores, and I can see where lines running through multiple spaces could be quicker with an electronic leak detector, yet overall, I don't have enough of those to warrant putting batteries in mine. Like I said in my earlier post, I did use them in the service, where a compressor and condensor could be as far as four decks from the reefer boxes and the lines pass thru many spaces. It did make narrowing the search down to a specific space easier, yet I don't have many units where I work where the lines pass many spaces, a couple split AC's and walkins are about it. Even the walk ins where the condensing unit is on the roof only have two spaces where that leak might be

Originally Posted by Bobbycold

If you reclaimed a full charge prior to sweating a new part in, guess where that leak most likely is? I had an understudy in the Coast Guard that could never get his heart around that one. Here is where I will get serious desent from the other posters here, but I only keep a leak detector around for those costumers who like to see them. I use soap and water to find every single leak I encounter. Back when I was in the service leak detectors served a purpose in detecting which space a leak was on, but on a package unit where all the refrigerant lines are in the same general area, relatively speaking, in my humble opinion, a leak detector is first degree useless. I'm old enough to have used the old halid flame leak detectors, where you watch the flame turn colors.

I am respectfully submitting my dissent.
If it works for you have at 'er but I could buy 3 good electronic leak detectors a year with what that would cost in soap!

If you've ever done supermarket refrigeration you know that an ELD is priceless for walking through the store and sniffing the air discharge curtain on the system with a leak.

I do this as a pre-emptive strike anytime I am at a store and have found leaks before any other indicators such as bubbles in the sight glass or poor performance.
I use ELD, soap, and ultrasonic depending on where the leak is.
:beer:

Originally Posted by Bobbycold

If you reclaimed a full charge prior to sweating a new part in, guess where that leak most likely is? I had an understudy in the Coast Guard that could never get his heart around that one. Here is where I will get serious desent from the other posters here, but I only keep a leak detector around for those costumers who like to see them. I use soap and water to find every single leak I encounter. Back when I was in the service leak detectors served a purpose in detecting which space a leak was on, but on a package unit where all the refrigerant lines are in the same general area, relatively speaking, in my humble opinion, a leak detector is first degree useless. I'm old enough to have used the old halid flame leak detectors, where you watch the flame turn colors.

I won't disagree completely. I do pinpoint all leaks, that are not obvious or huge, with bubbles. However I do use my ELD to narrow my search and save time. A small leak on a big system can take a long time to find with bubbles. Especially if its a odd ball like the stud on the bottom of an accumulator, almost impossible to find with bubbles alone.

If you reclaimed a full charge prior to sweating a new part in, guess where that leak most likely is? I had an understudy in the Coast Guard that could never get his heart around that one. Here is where I will get serious desent from the other posters here, but I only keep a leak detector around for those costumers who like to see them. I use soap and water to find every single leak I encounter. Back when I was in the service leak detectors served a purpose in detecting which space a leak was on, but on a package unit where all the refrigerant lines are in the same general area, relatively speaking, in my humble opinion, a leak detector is first degree useless. I'm old enough to have used the old halid flame leak detectors, where you watch the flame turn colors.

Look for oil, look for oil, look for oil!!! This includes moist looking dirt or dust stuck to some part of the system. Start with a good flashlight and your eyes and brain, spending ample time searching for signs of oil. After that you can go to your truck and get out the electronic and bubbles! Remember that once you start spraying bubble soap, you have lost your opportunity for finding the oil as the bubble soap looks like oil until it dries and disappears! As already stated, you won't always find oil, but with a good eye you can frequently spot some.

Once years ago on an ice machine, I noticed some odd black, dry, chalky residue on the side panel. I took notice of it because I had never seen anything like it before, and so I asked myself, what is that? Where did it come from? How did it get there? The panel had rubbed against the discharge line for years and had finally worn a hole in the tube and caused a leak! Normally a discharge line leak will leave a nice trail of oil, but not that one! Just some wierd chalky stuff! The point is, try to notice everything unusual and then try to figure out what it is and how it got there. Every system you work on, touch and feel and notice everything you can! Especially on properly operating units! You need to know what the compressor, liquid line, drier, suction line and discharge line should feel like on working and malfunctioning units! If you do this you will start to notice patterns and be able to zero in quickly on problems, and eventually it will help you to determine hard to diagnose problems too!
Best of luck to you and welcome to the field!!! If you care and pay attention while working in this field, you will find that you can learn something new almost constantly for many, many years to come!!!

Remember hot pipes expand sometimes it seals the system let it cool and I bet you find some...

Originally Posted by refrepairman

I have found leaks more than once on evap. coils on a rack system by putting the case in hot gas defrost and you can sometimes even hear the leak then. It can be a challenge but stick with it!

Or see the liquid refrigerant escaping the coil in HGD. Had a couple of those lately.


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