once the inside of a unit is contaminated, is the project a lost cause?

868 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by NoL, Dec 5, 2009

Jaggar

Discussion Starter · Nov 25, 2009

I began putting together a phase from an old punctured air conditioner, over time i gathered all the required materials to put together a phase loop. However when it came down to brazing, everything went wrong....

I bought a chillie evap and tried to braze the cap tube to the top of the evap.. that worked out well until... the cap tube snapped off. We ended up brazing over it and drilling a new whole and then succesfully brazed inserted the cap tube a second time...

When trying to braze the slip ring around the evap..... one of the sides melted in and then we had to cover that up with brazing material. since everything was going bad we gave the project to an exwelding family member who ended up just silver soldering everything over the time frame of a year...

the entire interal loop was exposed to air for the longest time. Everything was exposed except for the R22 oil compressor.

about a month ago i got a phone call about the project i thought was lost and turns out everything is silver soldered together... but im having doubts as how this thing will react if i put it under a deep vauum and try to charge it..

is it safe to try and charge a system thats been exposed for such a long time and silver soldered together without purging? also the condition of the evaperator... i just dont know.. thoughts?

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NoL

· #2 · Nov 25, 2009

Oh no a horror story.
Let's see.
Silver solder, no go.
The snap ring around the outside? Snaps on, not brazes on.
It's supposed to be removable.
If it's been sitting exposed, you need to replace the oil, flush it well, bake it out if at all possible (12 hours of baking at 300 degrees after a flush with acetone). Then replace the oil.

Honestly, sounds like your [email protected]$# hit the fan and you might be able to salvage the evaporator.

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Jaggar

Discussion Starter · #3 · Nov 25, 2009

the compressor is fine. that hasnt been exposed. except for now but only exposed to a closed loop.

everything else hasnt had anything run through it just... been sitting around.

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Jaggar

Discussion Starter · #4 · Nov 25, 2009

well what would u do.. should i just throw it out or start from step one.

id have to

1: deconstruct everything

2: remove all pieces with silver solder in it... this uncludes the evap which i dont even know if its still functional

3: acetone bath everything except the compressor which is still good btw.

4: reassemble

5: find a way to actually braze the thing w/o melting everything and also find a way to purge the insides while brazing.

then go to the charging process.

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NoL

· #5 · Nov 25, 2009

I'd honestly scrap it, especially if you didn't purge before.
And done wrong acetone will destroy everything.

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cathode

· #6 · Dec 4, 2009

I vote for attempting to repair/salvage the unit. Whats the worst that happens? Thats right, the worst that happens is.... the unit is dead. Now what's the best case scenario? You get it working again.

Now consider if you just tossed it as junk, your best case scenario is... the same as the worst case scenario of trying to fix it.

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NoL

· #7 · Dec 5, 2009

Actually the worst case scenario is the windings or other systems burn up and start a fire

Thats the risk with all electricals. Now add in the toxicity of many refrigerants.

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