sounds like you've got my luck!
Im pretty sure they are sealed like a refrigerator
Most small appliances including fridges and such use soldered tubes, filled and sealed and soldered, he needs a line tap and a can of 134 or whatever is compatible. Easily recharged at home. I never looked in mine but I really doubt there are service ports.
I would try to charge it with 134a, I do air conditioning and refrigeration, if it were mine I’d do what’s stated above and pressurize it with nitrogen, fix the leak and weight in the charge.
would the UV dye be a better/easier option that Nitrogen? and how do you know how much if any oil to put in it? the compressor would burn up w/o enough oil, right?
The cans are ready to go with oil in them already. Nitrogen will show small leaks faster, you count on the oil to leak when looking for dye and could take hours or days to show up. You also need the compressor to run with dye and some systems will use a low pressure cut out when low on refrigerant. Nitrogen is smaller then air, what doesn’t leak with air, might with nitrogen.
No need to change oil in compressor, you can use dye but as stated above it will take longer to show,the system is small, if you bring the pressure up to max 75 psi you should be able to find it with soap. Only way you won’t find it is if it’s in the evaporators coil thats In the tank. In the case of it being in the evaporator youll need to re0lace the evap and tank
And to add to that, since you’ll be already installing a piercing valve to gain access to the refrigerant you might as well use nitro and check for the leak. Also be sure to put the unit under vacuum before recharging with 134a
And this is the most useless comment on the thread, how far down the road? 5-10 years? If you half ass anything, it will cause problems. Of course it’s a simple explanation, you think this guys knows refrigeration in and out? Based on your comment, I bet you sure don’t.
Cool story, I agree, whatever..
