I punctured an air pipe buried in the wall during a crown molding jop. Air is hissing out; it has no odor. There is no water leaking. Does anyone know what this pipe is used for? It is uninsulated copper, about 3/8 inch dia round and is next to a 3/4 copper pipe which is insulated. The pipe run from the outside colling-fan unit into house, up the wall and into the attice where they attach to the blower unit. The house is new, about 5 years old. Many thanks in advance.
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uhh-oohh time..it's for the AC unit I am betting...this is not a good thing............ya need to get to it and silversolder or plug it.
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It aint air, its R22! Probalby a little oil with it.
You punctured your liquid line to the HP/AC. Unless you are DIY HVAC (having to ask says no, you are looking at probably $500 to $1000 depending on your area to get the AC running for Summer. Assume you are not using it as HP as you'd have no heat.
Turn off the breaker to your AC.
You will have to evac the Hvac system, fill with N2, braze the hole closed with silphos, pull 200 micron vacuum for a few hours and refill with R22 per lablel on condensor.
Only about $40 worth of R22, but will guess the hvac guys will stick you for near the above amounts for brazing and service call, etc.
Hope you got a friend with a EPA license - did similar fix for a neighbor for the $40 cost. . ...
Edit PS: since all the lines are run, you can probably get by with silver lolder and propane torch to close the hole, so you don't have to buy an oxy acet rig. If you want to DIY, you first need to get the EPA freon license ($25 and 25 question test on the internet, probably requires a few hours study to pass first time), $400 for recovery equipment, $200 for vacuum pump, $70 for gauges. Then read some more on refill proceedures. Unless you have a GOOD digital bathroom scale or other scale accurate to a few ounces, you will need a good scale to refill also. For laughs or self-flaggelation, go to HVAC-talk.com and post this question (if you have a thick skin<grin?>
Edited 1/22/2005 5:29 pm ET by JUNKHOUND
Thanks very much. I'm gald to hear that it should only effect the AC because we're getting a major blizzard with up to 18inches of snow (here in tri-state NY, NJ, CT).
I have a follow up question. Why do you recommend turning off the breaker to the AC? Won't that turn off the air handler/blower unit.
There SHOULD be two separate feeds, one breaker (typically 220v) to the A/C or HP, the second breaker (also usually 220v) for the air handler. Killing the feed to the A/C will ensure it isn't actually used, but shouldn't disrupt your air handler (or heat, assuming you have a gas/oil furnace, or electric coil backup for the HP, if you have that.)
BTW, how's the snow so far? We've gotten about 4" in the SE part of Conn.
Edit, BTW, welcome to BT, don't forget to fill in your personal info, if you haven't already.
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Edited 1/22/2005 6:06 pm ET by NickNuke'em
Thanks very much for sharing your knowledge. Since I dont know exactly which breaker goes to which unit, I'm leaving the circuits on. There are two air handlers, one in the basement and one in the attic and the pipe I punctured runs from one of the outside cooling units into the house and up to the attic.
I'm guessing we have about 6 inches here in northern westchester county. The local weatherstation is calling for 12" to 24" by sunrise.
Look in your breaker panel. You will have some doubled-up breakers where the two levers are tied together in the middle. These are the 240V breakers. You will have one each for electric stove, electric water heater, air conditioner (outside unit), and maybe a hot tub or some such. If you don't have any of those other things then there will be only one double breaker and it will be for the AC.
just go outside and pull the quick disconnect for the unit that you hit that will leave it off until the hole is fixed.i think your biggest problem is your going to have to get to it. after that soldering it really is no big deal. just pull a vacum on it before you close up the wall just in case. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
junkhound i have searched the internet for the epa test, do you know of a site? all i find is study guides or where to take them locally. thanks larry
hand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.
Edited 1/22/2005 7:01 pm ET by always overbudget
Try http://www.imaca.org
I spent about 2 hours reading and re-reading the manual before shelling out my $25 for the test (open book) and printed a copy of their manual before taking the test. Passed first time, spent about 1/2 hour on the test double checking answers with specific paragraphs in the manual _some stuff very specific like colors on reclaim cylinders, etc. I simply drew a vacuum on some old propane cyl for a few hours and then closed and painted to match EPA requirments for my reclaim cylinders. With the IMACA license card, Grainger for sure will sell you R22 (or R12, etc).
NOTE: read all the EPA regs VERY closely. I'm grandfathered in for a lot of the stuff. The IAMCA only gives you a 609 card, which does NOT allow you to do R22 work FOR HIRE. If you want to profit or run a businees off HVAC using CFCs, you will have to take the 608/610 etc tests which are much more difficult and not on the internet that I know of.
You could probably take the 609 test 'cold' with a printed out manual and pass in less than 1 hour total .
thanks i look it up and see how i can do . i just need it to work on my own stuff, and buy r-22. i still have 2-30lb r-12 but they are becoming pretty obsolite. thanks i'll let ya know how it goes. larryhand me the chainsaw, i need to trim the casing just a hair.