--173.61.xxx.xxx

Get rid of the unit and get a window unit for a couple hundred. Maybe get some electric baseboard heaters if needed if the existing unit does not work for the heat. Tell the tenant to only use the window unit for a/c. Save yourself thousands. --172.58.xxx.xxx

I hear ya... Going to start a thread with my rant soon. Glad you got the guy ac --172.59.xxx.xxx

--76.129.xxx.xx

Our guy uses a stop leak and sometimes it works and sometimes not. --47.133.xxx.xxx

Some units do function better with a "lighter" filter. Just change it more often. --172.59.xxx.xxx

It's a quick fix. If it's not cooling I go look at the lines into the outside unit. If they have frost then turn the unit off and it will be thawed by the time the AC guy gets there. It takes him all of 15 minutes to top it off. --209.205.xxx.xx

A/C needs high air flow to take away the heat, skinny filters work fine and cost less to replace. The original refrigerant should be put back in, use a better leak detector to locate the faulty part/s then make a plan to repair, it is hard to repair something you can not find. --184.59.xxx.xx

I will replace that "better quality" filter he pushed on me. Do they know they are creating problems? I told him I don't like that kind and he went on with the "oh it's better" crap. --173.61.xxx.xxx

I am old school but I us a halogen gas detector, a technology popularized in late 80's, when what we call freon was changing from di-cloroflouromethane which when released rises through the atomoshere dissolving ozone that partially protects earth from UV light out of control. Using soapy water from a squirt bottle how could she/he observe any thing in a highly active airstream? Once the airflow has ceased you may observe dripping but no evidence of any leak, although you have a cleaner coil you are chasing a small ball in tall grass - use appropriate titration solvent to match the oil carried by the refrigerant inside the system, and follow the residuals of a leak your service is being performed by a novice of novice technicians, I am certain you could do much better. --184.59.xxx.xx

Vee the tech made it sound like the soap would bubble up like leaking gas does in a gas pipe. So he had HVAC training since high school and courses at the local community college. So please explain "appropriate titration solvent". It was 410 coolant. How does one "follow the residuals of a leak"? Is there a stain on the coil? I'm still amazed at him telling me they don't clean the outside of the compressor area with a hose unless the customer asks and that's a separate charge. After years of techs making me go get a hose so they could clean the outside of the unit. I wonder what they call that course at the college? Maximizing profit at customers' expense, maybe --173.61.xxx.xxx

Not every is out to get you. Different people have different methods. As for the mansion you mentioned, no one says AC in every room. My Ts are that, we aren't buddies and I really don't want to know much about thier lives. I want criminal free, my rent paid and no stupid stuff. Everyone is great until there is a problem, then there is no respect. Distance yourself. --73.230.xxx.xx

Either way I was scared and have never tried that myself. --107.147.xx.xx

I am getting a fresh load ofgiggles from this post, when the -system- is presurized to lets say 100PSI until the air flow carries away bubbles and the drippings dry off you might see bubbles, but only a very short time and from where? the flat part or the curve? If you could freeze time and nearby air you would get a glimpse of the origin of the leak. Herd to do this freeze process, so locating the leak will be not so much the leak but the residuals of the leak, a coroner does not roll a dead body around like chicken on a rotisery but hunts for the darkest blood stain of the blood type found in the carcass, the first entry wound. with 410 the oil carried is not a mineral oil but synthetic, which does not coagulate like oil in r12 or 22 systems, it is PAG oil which burns at a higher temperature, Polyalkylene Glycol so you will find dark staining where this leak has ocured, using a q-tip in alcohol where this leak has occured will have a green tint, the time has come for this technician to enroll in a refresher course in HVAC technology, with a few supplies from your medicine cabinet you will be able to locate your leak and send the tech to 5 guys to buy you lunch. All sinister comments aside locating leaks in a r21,22 system is quicker with the halogen detector and the staining will cover a wider footprint. Now with that out of the way the repair will be very much the same, hydro test the coil after droping a blob of braze the size of a match tip and resink under pressure to verify the leak is covered up strong. --184.59.xxx.xx

Just one more thing as Columbo often says ahead of a commercial break, natural gas (methane) will burn when there is oxygen to support combustion - none inside the pipe or the bubbles formed there with soap, I think they refrain from washing the actual compressor because the heat decays the seal where the wiring goes inside, flooding here will result in moisture filling the motor windings and when compressor cools more moisture is drawn in since the dew point has now lowered however on the next power up the unit will emit fireworks, you can simulate this by placing a electric dryer cord into a pail of water and safely turning on the breaker, this if a popular video prop to simulate a volcanoe, liven up your next family picnic after dark, this may cure some relatives of the habit of smoking but is not approved by the AMA. --184.59.xxx.xx

Vee, thank you for the explanations. So if the compressor is not on at the time the dirt and dust is flooded with the hose is that OK? I am trying to rationalize why so many HVAC people in the past insisted on washing debris off the coils around the compressor. And the current fellow told me that air has a hard time flowing through dirt and debris on the coil. I can see that. --173.61.xxx.xxx

Washing the coils is very helpful, reverse flow the water to push out what was drawn in by air flow. keep the water away from the pump body where the wiring goes in the side. the advertised coil cleaner has a 3-5 percent mild sulfuric acid which foams pushing the organic clippings from between the fins, rinse out that gook avoiding the wiring side of the pump. --184.59.xxx.xx