unless the small tubes rubbed together, I would never repair a coil. by the time you cut the aluminum out of the way and braze it, the next fitting to leak is moments away. statistically the likely hood of an additional leak to occur in short order is very high. the labor to properly repair versus replace the coil is not much more for a skilled person. if you spent xxx money for the tech to repair the leak and a few days/weeks/months later another leak developed, would you think the contractor should do something for you? most all people would. not a situation I would want to put myself in

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm doing a poor job at explaining where this leaking joint is. It's in a very easy to get to place and its like 1/4 copper tubing where the leak is. This would not require removing the coil to solder.

But I get it. You fix something and there's a dozen other parts waiting to fail so the homeowner blames you for either not fixing it right or breaking something else when you did the repair.

 

While I see the point of your question, I would like for you to consider something that is also happening in the background.

Just like kangaroo said, coil repairs are sketchy on a good day. What looks like a simple repair to a 1/4" line to you, can be a half day's worth of aggrevation and trial and error. You could overheat the manifold and a whole host of problems can occur.

What I would also like for you to consider is the tech's role with his company. Everything in business is built around managing risk. It is the same for an investment advisor as it is for an HVAC business. Risk is everywhere and the only way to maintain profitability is to manage that risk.

As a business owner, I give my techs certain guidelines to help them manage our exposure to risk. They aren't businessmen, they are technicians, so we set company policies in place for their benefit. We do not do residential work, only commercial and industrial, but the theory is the same.

Coil repairs more often lead to issues than to successful repairs. The company is most likely just managing their risk exposure.

 

EZ to do sometimes. The copper is extra thin, need to be very carefull. You may have more than one leak NOW!! The copper wares out from the inside out. Touch copper with heat and may blow large hole in the copper. No guaranty!!! Gamble?? Feel lucky???? Let's say you get lucky and repair the leak you found OK - tech pulls vacuum & vacuum will not hold- oh $hit must have another leak- now what - you spent money want to spend more?? Roll the dice it's only $$$$. A game of chance & luck- let us know what you do & the outcome. Best of luck.. Got a rabbits foot?? Cross fingers??

 

Some can be repaired and some can't. As the guys have pointed out it's very easy to get cascading failures once the heat hits the joints. If you're willing to pay for the attempted repair if it works or not go for it. Just be prepared to pay nearly double what a coil replacement would be if it doesn't work, labor being performed twice.

 

Days of fixing residential coil leaks are OVER. People are really jerks now days. GIMMEE GIMMEE GIMMEE and I'm sure you would be the same if you see a way to con a company out of a couple bucks. Oh by the way Simple fix.

 

I would have at least made an attempt to fix the leak. Not hard to do if its at a braze joint. Unless your not good at brazing.

Risk? Minimal, to none. I would have told you I'll see if I can braze it shut. If I can and it starts leaking again down the road. Nothing I can do about it, and you'll need to replace it at that point. And would have written that on an invoice for you to sign before making the attempt.

 

When I was a field tech, it was our company's policy not to repair leaking evaporators. The few times that I personally have tried have met with mixed success. There's a few things to consider: repairing the easy to get to leak may not fix it, you may have other leaks in the coil. The repair itself could weaken other joints. He may fix it now and another leak pops up in a few months, then what? I'm sure you won't want to pay another service call for him to come back and he's not going to want to keep repairing it for free.

Every company is different, but it's not unusual at all for a company to refuse to do evap repairs.

 

in my 20+ years I found that you stand a good chance of not having any other leaks on evaps less than 10 years old providing it is in a solder joint or u-bend that is accessable. Over 10 years old and my failure rate with other leaks in the same coil that were not there before is 100% with in 1 to 2 weeks. Now days evaps have a 10 year warranty so no sense in trying to fix them.