Goodman Heat Pump Repair Question

[1551retired]

I have a two year old Goodman Heat Pump using R-410a that had a schrader valve go bad near the A-coil. The tech came and found the schrader valve problem with a sniffer, valved off both lines at the outside unit, and replaced the schrader valve. He then opened the valves and recharged the unit. My question is was the problem repaired correctly or should the system have been reevaluated and a new dryer installed? I was told that the scharader valve near the A-coil was a common problem on this unit.

[heaterman]

If any part of the system was opened to the atmosphere, it should have been evacuated before recharging. Changing a schrader core is easy and straight forward. There are tools that allow this to be completed without isolating the valve or removing refrigerant.

[1551retired]

If any part of the system was opened to the atmosphere, it should have been evacuated before recharging. Changing a schrader core is easy and straight forward. There are tools that allow this to be completed without isolating the valve or removing refrigerant.

So are you saying what the tech did was OK? Simply removing the schrader core at the A-coil, replacing it, and recharging the system for refrigerate lost is OK? He did isolate the system by valving off both lines where they leave the outside unit. I know the tool you are talking about but he did not use it since the pressure was off the schrader core.

[Rodney28334]

There is a tool that will allow a tech to change a core with a charged system, which would have made this operation alot easier. Did he attach a pump to the service ports, before he opened the valves?

[jtrammel]

There is a tool that will allow a tech to change a core with a charged system, which would have made this operation alot easier. Did he attach a pump to the service ports, before he opened the valves?

That tool is sometimes hard to fit in a cased a coil cabinet to remove shader. Yes he should have pulled a vacuum and should have changed dryer. Vacuum is a 100% must and drier is good practice but not a must.

[1551retired]

That tool is sometimes hard to fit in a cased a coil cabinet to remove shader. Yes he should have pulled a vacuum and should have changed dryer. Vacuum is a 100% must and drier is good practice but not a must.

Thanks. That's what I thought. I just got off the phone with the tech and he is coming back out to pump the system down(vacuum), install a new dryer, and recharge. I assume this will be a good overall fix for the long run? I won't be running the system until after he does this.

[beenthere]

Did you find out if he's charging you for all of this work.

[wahoo]

You may want to check about the cost to you. If the system still had freon pressure and he didn't open it up to atmosphere, you'll probably be OK with just replacing the valve core and adding a brass flare cap along with replacing the lost freon. You could end up with a pretty hefty bill with the additional work. Might want to ask about your cost before he starts in!

[beenthere]

There's probably 100's of TXV power heads hot swapped almost everyday. No vacuum or filter change done or needed. Saves customers lots of money. Specially on larger systems.

[martyinlincoln]

Thanks. That's what I thought. I just got off the phone with the tech and he is coming back out to pump the system down(vacuum), install a new dryer, and recharge. I assume this will be a good overall fix for the long run? I won't be running the system until after he does this.

Sounds like expensive needless work to me. How long was the system open with no schrader core...2-3 seconds? He should have left a little positive pressure in the lines so it couldn't draw in air or moisture in that short time. No contaminates draw in means no need for a new drier or vacuum. If he fiddle farted around then we're all in agreement.

[catmanacman]

Goodman driers are internal to the unit from the factory unless someone added a second drier to the liquid line ,is the drier outside the unit