Old, small grocery store. Low temp rack low on charge. Walked to store with my leak detector and it goes nuts in the walk-in freezer. Narrowed down to the evap coil that’s leaking, pulled panel on end with TXV and start checking with bubbles… no leaks. Check all joints, no leaks. Thought I heard gas escaping, but couldn’t narrow it down so I got a young employee and borrowed his ears. He says it’s coming from the fins in the back. He takes a Sharpie and circles the area for me.
I start pulling the aluminum fins out, and this is what I find.
Only this one tube, and only in this one evaperator. I’m guessing that at some point in its life, a buildup of ice caused this damage, what do you think? Anyone else ever run into this?
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That's an odd one.
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Unless we change direction we are likely to end up where we are going.
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Yes. It was ice. Pump down and isolate the evap, cut back the fins to find round tubing and add two 90's, two street 90ş, and a short length of tubing to replace the flattened areas.
PHM
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Originally Posted by GenesisRefrig
Old, small grocery store. Low temp rack low on charge. Walked to store with my leak detector and it goes nuts in the walk-in freezer. Narrowed down to the evap coil that’s leaking, pulled panel on end with TXV and start checking with bubbles… no leaks. Check all joints, no leaks. Thought I heard gas escaping, but couldn’t narrow it down so I got a young employee and borrowed his ears. He says it’s coming from the fins in the back. He takes a Sharpie and circles the area for me.
I start pulling the aluminum fins out, and this is what I find.
Only this one tube, and only in this one evaperator. I’m guessing that at some point in its life, a buildup of ice caused this damage, what do you think? Anyone else ever run into this?
PHM
--------
When faced with the choice between changing one's mind, and proving that there is no need to do so, most tend to get busy on the proof.
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I have always puzzled about that - it doesn't seem that ice could 'crush' by encircling. It seems like it would have to be reacting Against something in order to push inward. But if that was the case - how come the other thing isn't also crushed? <g>
The coils that do this seem to have had the fins clogged in the area of the crushing. Sometimes a piece of paper that remains stuck to the coil. I project that maybe a clump of residual ice clamps to the fins so tightly that that ice itself becomes the 'backstop' for the inward-crushing ice's force.
But I'm not really sure - I just pondered the 'why' of it at times.
PHM
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Originally Posted by Str8Texan
It could have been ice. I can't imagine how an outside force could damage that tube and leave the tube beneath it unscathed??
PHM
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When faced with the choice between changing one's mind, and proving that there is no need to do so, most tend to get busy on the proof.
I disabled 3 passes. There are three evap coils. I wasn’t confident I could braze an ell so close to the end plate with tubing that was still out of round.
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You're a good man Gen. But you must always strictly discipline yourself to avoid over-caution. It is a weakness that must be beaten back. Stop doubting yourself.
PHM
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Originally Posted by GenesisRefrig
I disabled 3 passes. There are three evap coils. I wasn’t confident I could braze an ell so close to the end plate with tubing that was still out of round.
PHM
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When faced with the choice between changing one's mind, and proving that there is no need to do so, most tend to get busy on the proof.
This one brings up some memories for me. As a kid (15 or so) I used to work on hundreds of GE ptac units in the shop that were in warranty. They were heat pumps for hotel rooms. Some of the early ones-zoneline 4000's and 5000's - I think didn't have a drain valve in the pan for condensation draining. Water stood in the pan and then froze collapsing the bottom 2 ir 3 rows of outdoor coil tubing exactly like this. My fix was pulling the return bends and the tubes and then sliding in some new 5/16 tubing and reinstalling the return bends. If you were careful the return bends could be reused, otherwise I'd pull a few off scrappers to be reused. I may indirectly be responsible for the invention of the thermostatic drain valves they use today. I charged many thousands of $ to GE for warranty work over that and other problems!
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Originally Posted by Out in the cold
This one brings up some memories for me. As a kid (15 or so) I used to work on hundreds of GE ptac units in the shop that were in warranty. They were heat pumps for hotel rooms. Some of the early ones-zoneline 4000's and 5000's - I think didn't have a drain valve in the pan for condensation draining. Water stood in the pan and then froze collapsing the bottom 2 ir 3 rows of outdoor coil tubing exactly like this. My fix was pulling the return bends and the tubes and then sliding in some new 5/16 tubing and reinstalling the return bends. If you were careful the return bends could be reused, otherwise I'd pull a few off scrappers to be reused. I may indirectly be responsible for the invention of the thermostatic drain valves they use today. I charged many thousands of $ to GE for warranty work over that and other problems!
I'm pretty sure Amana heat pump PTAC units shut off below 35° or something like that. I wonder if that's to help prevent too much problems with ice?
Sent from the Okie state usin Tapatalk
"Is this before or after you fired the parts cannon at it?" - senior tech
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I'm tired of these mediocre "semi flammable" refrigerants. If we're going to do it let's do it right.
Unless we change direction we are likely to end up where we are going.
"It's not new, it's better than new!" Maru.
It actually didnt matter if it ran or not. Once water was in the pan from running in a warmer ambient it froze as soon as the temperature dropped a couple days later. No time to evaporate.
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Originally Posted by Out in the cold
It actually didnt matter if it ran or not. Once water was in the pan from running in a warmer ambient it froze as soon as the temperature dropped a couple days later. No time to evaporate.
I didn't think about that.
Sent from the Okie state usin Tapatalk
"Is this before or after you fired the parts cannon at it?" - senior tech
"Is this before or after you fired the parts cannon at it?" - senior tech
I'm tired of these mediocre "semi flammable" refrigerants. If we're going to do it let's do it right.
Unless we change direction we are likely to end up where we are going.
"It's not new, it's better than new!" Maru.
You're a good man Gen. But you must always strictly discipline yourself to avoid over-caution. It is a weakness that must be beaten back. Stop doubting yourself.