A/C Leak Possibly Found. I Don't Think this is Good News.....

In my last video, a user by the name of Jon had mentioned that in order for there to be a low charge, there HAS to be a leak. Well I decided to take his advice and see what I could find for the 1st floor system.

[@jaykay18]

Yes, that is indeed very unfortunate. Call Steve Lav, he'll come by and say "She's a leaka, momma!". That's Steve Lavspeak for "Cha-CHING!" You have choices, can just have it charged up every now and again and deal with it that way. Or have the evap replaced. Too soon indeed, I agree indubitably. As for the rust in the tray, I would consider that normal. It's metal, it gets wet, it rusts. I don't care how fast the water drains away. It's a cold environment which doesn't allow normal evaporation to the atmosphere like hanging something on a clothesline to dry. It's kept "boxed up" in a cold environment and it KEEPS getting wet as it pulls more and more humidity out from the air.

[@Sharkie626]

Yeah. I am definitely bummed by this. One of my friends apparently said I shouldn't touch the sensor to the piping as that may cause false readings. I'm not sure on that but still, I feel like the sensor shouldn't do what it did at all if that were the case. I will try the sensor one more time around tomorrow and see what happens. If it's the same thing, gonna call the guy If it's a must, I'd much rather have the evap replaced than needed to keep adding refrigerant. More money I know, but probably a better result. Hopefully I can convince my folks of that too if it came to that. I better not hear anything about "Oh gotta change the whole system". Absolutely not. It's 6 years old. The air conditioner itself, blower, and furnace work fine. Yeah you're right, it's gonna rust no matter what. I just wish they would use a metal that would not rust, or, dare I say it, make the tray plastic. Though considering it is right above the heat exchanger (a design I am really not a fan of, having the evaporator OVER the heat exchanger, but apparently that design has been used for years now), the latter is probably not the best idea. Well right now, I put the unit all back together, and it's running right now for my folks. Unit sounds fine, warmth is coming from the condenser fan, and the pipe is not icing. So I guess it's okay for now.

[@jaykay18]

@@Sharkie626 "Touch it in the back!" Try touching the sensor to just the pipe, not near a fitting, and see if it goes off. That might be an indication. It's also possible the solder used sets it off? Maybe? I have heard that as well that it shouldn't be touched to the pipe. Remember, it's a "sniffer". Of course, even with your own, the closer you are to a smell, the stronger it is. Come to think of it, you've probably tried that already, "sniffing" other joints, and I'd imagine the detector didn't register anything. I know with the one I have, it has to be awfully close to the joint to sense anything.

[@seana806]

2023 seems to be the year where almost every air conditioning system seems to be failing and unfortunately I am one of those people. The compressor on my folks unit is on its way out since it’s pulling a lot of amps which basically burned the spade connectors of the wire. Maybe the compressor can be replaced but since the system is basically 20 years old, might as well replace it. In your case, it seems that the solder is starting to fail causing leaks in the system.

[@Sharkie626]

Did the run capacitor ever get replaced? That really made a difference for the 2nd floor compressor when I replaced that.

[@seana806]

@@Sharkie626 I believe so, probably was last September. A majority of homes here in the southwest have the central air conditioning system installed on the roof, even in Arizona where my sister lives homes are like that.

[@BRISTOLFORCE2009]

Sean I agree I’ve seen at least 2 replacements this season so far, one on my channel likely due to a microchannel leak, it’s insane