Post by turbokinetic on Jun 22, 2021 13:03:35 GMT
I will have to look into getting one of those micron gauges eventually. I did look into them a little bit after you mentioned it, and they do make some really nice equipment. I'm sure after I get through this one and really grasp what all needs to be done with this one, I'll be a little more confident about how far down this rabbit hole I have any business being in!
LOL it's not a matter of how far you want to go down the rabbit hole.... you go down the hole as far as necessary to locate the rabbit... the frosty frozen rabbit!
A plumber has a business a couple of doors down from me, and one of his guys stopped over to see what I was up to this afternoon, and even though he installs central air systems he really has no interest in this thing. I've never understood the lack of curiosity about old stuff, especially if you have a background in the subject at hand. I can understand not wanting to fix other people's stuff, but I'm usually interested in seeing how it works.
I believe that's a case of apathy. Been in the field too long and the excitement has worn off. Really sad when you think about it. I would hate to have a job where I didn't find my career subject matter exciting and engaging any longer.
I did borrow a pump of my brothers and it will pull that thing down to -30 and it will hold vacuum, but not pressure at all. When I get to about 40 pounds of pressure, that solder I put over that crack is not holding. There is a pinhole on the backside where I didn't put much solder on. I'm not smelling much So2 anymore and I'm thinking this might be the time to sort that line out?
That's un/fortunate... unfortunate because it leaked and requires a re-do - but fortunate that it did this now and not after you had it charged and back on the cabinet! I hope you'll drill out the line and start completely over fresh with a new piece to keep from having any solder joints right at that stress point at the bottom of the float.
I thought the line next to it was cracked as I saw a little bit of oil dripping off it, but it was a pinhole on the back of the line coming out of the float that sprayed a little bit of oil there. Someone did do something with that line a long time ago, but after I scraped it clean it looks ok. It had some nasty black sticky stuff all over it and an old drip of solder on the topside of it and with that mess gone it doesn't look like it's a problem.
I've watched Mr. Turbokinetic's video on drilling that out and replacing it about a dozen times now, so I think this is probably as good a time as any to go ahead with that, unless you guys think I need to do something else first.