HVAC: How To Pump Down Refrigerant

How to pump down refrigerant into a condensing unit without recovering.

[@Tony_Dellechiaie]

Great video! I appreciate your videos big time. No bullshit or filler. You always cut right to the point.

This is a great video, and has a lot of info. But I hope you will do a HEAT PUMP SYSTEM, that DO HAVE THE PRESSURE SWITCHES. And elaborate a great deal, about these switches, and how they will make it an issue when you are pumping down a system, and how to get around doing it. Thank you so much for this education.

[@BUY_YOUTUB_VIEWS_679]

You should get a medal for this.

[@elgkas9928]

Great start for a Monday, a new video from Jersey Mike 🙂

[@KrishnaGunnam-fs7tm]

Gm, The pressure switch is a very important point.

[@user-yf5sg9eg1i]

Keep up the great work , very helpful videos

[@sermore77]

Keep rolling new videos👍🏼

[@gotchaplumber]

Does suction side guages appear like pulling vacuum?

[@gotchaplumber]

Is it okay pump-down system or gas & heat pump?

[@elgkas9928]

If the units were being replaced, is there any potential issue that could result from reusing the freon if there was leak sealer from a previous repair

[@JerseyMikeHVAC]

Leak sealer is considered a contaminant and would likely void warranties on the new equipment. But new condensing units come pre charged with new refrigerant anyway.

[@elgkas9928]

@@JerseyMikeHVAC Thanks Mike. So if a customer called you to pump down their unit prior to disposal, is there any way for you to determine if the freon is contaminated? Would you utilize that same freon to top off a customers a/c during a service call or would you only use new freon?

[@JerseyMikeHVAC]

I only use new refrigerant because there's no real sure way of knowing if it's good or not. Usually you'll know it's bad for sure if you had a burnt out compressor or something like that/but I'll only reuse refrigerant in the same system it's already in if I'm replacing an evap coil or txv or something like that.

[@chadrayl9648]

How do you do this with 410a?

[@JerseyMikeHVAC]

It's the same process, but a lot of them have pressure switches now that would have to be bypassed. Only thing with 410a is you're going to have higher pressures so sometimes you might not be able to get it all into the CU. Once in a blue you get most of it and have to reclaim the rest.

[@chadrayl9648]

So if you can’t get it all, and since it’s a blend, how do you know what you lost? I was always taught to recover 410.

[@chadrayl9648]

Also don’t some compressors have relief valves?

[@JerseyMikeHVAC]

Fractionalization is very minor in a pump down situation and the system is going through the same phase transitions as it would during normal operation. It's not going to knock the ratio out to any noticeable extent at all. Your pressures would be whack if that were the case and you'd know right away on the start-up. Never had that issue. If virgin refrigerant had to be used on every evap coil replacement, I don't think many customers would ever put out the money to do it.

[@JerseyMikeHVAC]

Yeah. Not saying every CU can be pumped down. Sometimes it is just easier to recover.