Just found an Allied air rtu (Lennox )with a leak in condenser coil. Unit is 21/2 yrs old. Only 1 yr warranty. Anyone ever repaired a leak in microchanel ? Can it be done or does the building owner have to buy a coil? Sucks when manufacturers make garbage and don’t put warranty on it. As techs we are the ones who get the shit. Kinda like Trane making that Ameristar garbage.
Micro channel leak
actech2
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Just found an Allied air rtu (Lennox )with a leak in condenser coil. Unit is 21/2 yrs old. Only 1 yr warranty. Anyone ever repaired a leak in microchanel ? Can it be done or does the building owner have to buy a coil? Sucks when manufacturers make garbage and don’t put warranty on it. As techs we are the ones who get the shit. Kinda like Trane making that Ameristar garbage.
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13,735 Posts
Email me and i can send you vendor info next week for brazing. Clean, dimple hole, use shield plate, soft slightly carbonizing flame....
Trane has an epoxy kit, i would not trust it.
Most mfg will provide a warranty replacement, save the old one to practice repairs. Will be a handy talent in a few years.
Trane has an epoxy kit, i would not trust it.
Most mfg will provide a warranty replacement, save the old one to practice repairs. Will be a handy talent in a few years.
Fixed a few refrigeration coils with epoxy from United.
2 air cooled condensers holding for 6 years now. 1 evap at 9 years now.
Clean really well. Pull slight vacuum while Epoxying. (include the immediate adjacent tubes also.)
I dont think micro channel is junk. It's pretty strong.
All three coils had serious abuse. Hole saw LOL. (Sparky dropped it from a ladder) Screwdriver, and drill!
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
2 air cooled condensers holding for 6 years now. 1 evap at 9 years now.
Clean really well. Pull slight vacuum while Epoxying. (include the immediate adjacent tubes also.)
I dont think micro channel is junk. It's pretty strong.
All three coils had serious abuse. Hole saw LOL. (Sparky dropped it from a ladder) Screwdriver, and drill!
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I’ve fixed a York with that repair kit. It had aluminum brazing rod, a stainless steel brush to clean, and you use a low temperature flame carefully or you will risk melting the aluminum coil back and the repair process starts over again with cleaning a new section and trying again.
I didn’t know to pull a vacuum at the time so I didn’t do that. Had I have known then I would have used a spiral tip cleaner to try and clean the inside channel so there would be a small chance of the rod adhering to the inner channel. Maybe that’s excessive but it wouldn’t hurt and there’s no chance of it sticking to the inner wall if you don’t try, so why vacuum at all if that’s the case?
I didn’t know to pull a vacuum at the time so I didn’t do that. Had I have known then I would have used a spiral tip cleaner to try and clean the inside channel so there would be a small chance of the rod adhering to the inner channel. Maybe that’s excessive but it wouldn’t hurt and there’s no chance of it sticking to the inner wall if you don’t try, so why vacuum at all if that’s the case?
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14,378 Posts
the aluminum rod and micro tip oxy/acet is all i use, stainless brush to clean the area..along with a 6"x6" sheetmetal piece and tape in top and sides to hold it.. with 1/2" hole in it to keep the heat where i need it..no damage to the rest..i do the dip test with the rod so i then know its ready to weld..
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792 Posts
I used the al222 flux coated rod a few weeks ago. Small tip on my turbo torch. It was easy. Clean it really good and remove any fine around the leak. There's a few videos out there on YouTube.
I had a 20t Trane Vger. Was installing smoke detector tubes in fan section. Took the back panel off, you know the 8 x 8 ft weighs 50lbs when the wind caught it and it cartwheeled the corner into the condensor coil. Suprisingly easy to fix as posted above. Be very easy with the flame. It takes literally almost nothing to get the base up to temp and you don't want to burn a hole so stay at distance and tap tap tap with the filler. Once it flows back your flame away and in again repeatedly to precisely control the temp. Flame shield sounds like a great idea. I'll remember that one.
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27 Posts
Lddc post I have to second that one. Al822 rod and small propane torch (or mapp gas). Wire brush the area to clean it well and good to go. It has served me well and makes repairs on aluminum much easier for this old guy.
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