Refrigerant Pump Down: Step-by-Step Guide
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 เม.ย. 2023
- How to pump down a condenser.
The reason you pump the system's refrigerant into the condenser is to minimize refrigerant loss.
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Since I follow you , I learned a lot, thanks Tady.
Excellent news brother. Thank you so much for watching
that's how I do it. I wish I would have found these videos when i started about three years ago. I learned more of three of your videos than I did listening to a guy saying he's done this for 42 year😂
Same bro fuck going inside and dealing with thermostat.
Never heard of anyone forgetting to open the valves 😅 doesn’t surprise me though haha nice video bro! 👊🏼
Thanks bro
Great !!!
They taught this at school, but the instructor did it just flying without explanation in a refrigeration box.
Yours was more thoroughly!
Some day I would do it that confident.
Hope your boy is back on his feet !!!
❤
Excellent!
I usually pump down with the unit still running I close off the high side first then as the low pressure side drops I close it off then quickly shut of the unit kind of the same method you just closed off the high side while the unit was off I didn’t even know you could do that great video
Sweet content keep up the great work and keeping techs informed!! Your content is better than trade school by far haha!
Glad to hear that thank you so much please keep watching
very nice explanation. you're a good instructor
Thank you my friend I appreciate you watching
Please consider joining and becoming a member
Very informative and clear video. I’m an apprentice and although I’ve learned how to do this I often forget the step process for it. I have to do things several times before I actually nail down the method
Glad it was helpful!
Best explanation available via internet. Thanks for being thorough and understandable.
Wow, thanks! your welcome 🙏
This was explained so well, thank you Ted💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
My pleasure!
Great video teddy !! I loved closed loop systems!!!!!! Wahoooooo
Great video. Thanks for sharing 🎉
This is great, the best video on this subject I've found. Newbie question. When the service valve is open you're only reading pressure on the high or low side of the system. When they are closed they are only reading pressure on the evap side. Correct? At this point you'd do your nitrogen purge, repair, pressure test, evac and recharge? Question 2: Can you do a video on how to release the refrigerant into the system once the repair has been made? (Or is as simple as opening the valves and turning the compressor on?)
yes and yes, and it's very simple to open the valves and turn the thermostat to cool
Great job tad very informative video
Thank you brother tom
Good video, I just joined to be a member and I have watched a lot of your videos. I live in Maynardville Tn and had a hvac business about 7 years ago and came down with cancer. I've been in the commercial part installing duct work for a Shoffners Mechanical and was a foreman for many years. I enjoyed working for myself and watching your videos helps me remember things that I would have forgotten. Keep up the good work.
Thank you Jimmy
Really appreciate you becoming a member
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Pump down Instruction simplified!
Hi my friend
The way I do it when I get to 0 I close the valve and I pull out the disconnect 😅😅😅
Awesome ted!!
Glad you enjoyed it
Yo bro im going to be watching a lot of your videos to keep myself on top of this residential heating and cooling game.
You're explanations help my smooth brain understand these concepts. I definitely have some holes in my knowledge, and these videos are helping a lot to fill them in.
Awesome thank you so much for watching my friend
Please consider joining level three members get access to all my members only videos about h v a c
Oooo ill have to check that out.
I woulda partially closed the vapour line so you can time it better when the pressure drops to zero.
Question. How do you keep the compressor from bypassing internally?
If you had extra long line sets along with the extra required refrigerant, are there any concerns about it all fitting in the outside unit? Hmm, now that I think about it, I guess not. I imagine that the accumulator tank is sized to match the max line set length. Am I right about that?
When using a drill on the service valve, just set the clutch on the drill to like 5. You will be fine.
Good advice thank you
One important thing that didn’t apply here but does apply to many systems. Micro-channel coils are increasingly more common, and many of those can’t be pumped down without risking coil rupture.
I also recently had a technician attempt to do a “reverse pump down”, thinking he could trap the refrigerant in the air handler by closing the suction service valve. As you can guess, that didn’t work out the way he expected. Can it work? Yes, kind of, but only on a heat pump, but there’s a whole different process he was unaware of and hadn’t been trained on.
I need that info for reverse pump down - Do you know? Or the procedure? Ppl think I’m crazy for even asking! But a long time ago in school I remember the instructor said it could be done but needed to be careful! He never showed us how tho!
@@tonywiggins8073 it’s done in heat mode. You close the small service valve, which will be liquid that was just condensed by the air handler. In heat mode the large line isn’t suction, it’s discharge, so you’ll need to put your gauge on the common suction tap, and close the large service valve when it gets as low as it’s going to get. It’s going to subcool and stack liquid refrigerant inside the air handler and trap it there when both service valves are closed.
You don’t have a receiver or accumulator in the air handler so it’s only going to hold as much as the coil holds. You will still need to recover the rest to a recovery cylinder. Will From being able to change the liquid line filter dryer unless it’s on the compressor side of the service valves. Best case, you’ll be able to “reverse pump down “about 60 to 70% of the refrigerant, at most. And, again, don’t even try it with a microchannel coil.
@@PeteGaughenbaugh1 Well I was close! 🤣🤣Just trying to figure out the procedure on my own & how the HP cycle worx! But I didn’t know about the micro channel problem )Good to know). So look like I’ll be recovering it bc it’s a Goodman micro channel ! 🤬. Thank you for the information! 👍😎
Learned this the hard way early on with another guy. We tried to pump down a york microchannel and it blew the compressor
I usually like to close the Suction valve then backing it off 7 turns before I start the pump down. Great video!
That's a good idea!
What the reason for your method?
The long winded racheting to close the Suction valve, ie pump down is reach just a few cranks and its closed, kill power done. On the other hand you perform pump down then start closing the Suction valve you'll be cranking for a while to close it. It's just a way I actually learned from HVAC GUY CURTIS I tried it and it worked well.
New DIY'er here - I had a new precharged mini split I installed and electrician came in to update the breaker, put a 240v breaker in when appliance was 115v (it was my fault). We all know what happened after that. Since the Unit is now a toaster I am assuming I can do the same steps here but with a Vacuum to pump it down into the unit right? I was hoping to use the unit itself to store the eco R-410 and store it when I uninstall and save the refrigerant. I bought the same pre charged unit just at the right voltage, assuming its not "Dirty" and can be resused down the road when this one eventually leaks? My gut tells me no :), my heart wants to believe it will.
Thanks for video , I work on refridge drinks machines so only small compressors and systems . But I would like to move on to more air con stuff after I am qualified would this be possible or do I need to learn all this again about air con systems ?
Totally possible you already have a Experience
i cant get the high side to turn down,probally the lastguy who worked on the unit stripped the valve. what can i do to pump it down now.
Say a 410a unit came pre charged for 15'. The run to coil is 50' total. Leaving an additional 35'. You initially had to add 1lb 5oz of additional refrigerant to the system for the additional lineset.
Would you be able to pump down that additional 21ounces into the condenser as well?
Usually no, it’ll take what it will take but most of the time the pressure wont go all the way to zero if there was an additional add of refrigerant. You’ll have to recover the rest.
Any vid, info, or procedure to do a reverse pump down to the indoor coil & line set to do a compressor change out??
use a recovery machine
@@TaddyDigest Haha - I know how to do that, but I’m interested in how to do a reverse pump down! And how to do it properly! Knowledge is power & it’s always to learn new tricks and techniques! And you seem like the guy to go to! You really know your stuff! 👍 A Master at his craft! 👍👍
Hey Taddy, this may sound like a dumb question but how would I wire in a float switch to a indoor unit that has a board. Would I just tie one end of the float switch's wiring with the red wire on the R terminal on the board. That would kill power to condenser. Then for the transformer wire to kill power to thermostat, I would see where it goes into the board?
I will do a video on that for you
Saw on u tube that u should not pump down a scroll compressor because u can burn out the compressor
How do you release the refrigerant back to the system.
Do i open up suction line first?
yes
What if it’s a heat pump? Still just run it in cooling? Don’t the reversing valves in yorks energize in cooling ?
yes they do
What would you do with the condensers that don’t have a board with the low pressure switch but seem to have a little pressure switch built-in to the compressor? And even holding down contactor manually it still cuts out compressor on low pressure?
That's impossible
If you hold down the contact or it can't shut the contact or off
@@TaddyDigest ah ok so with those style compressors with integrated LPS you can’t pump them down?
Hi and thanks for your videos, I have located a small leak on my 20 year old evaporator is it safe to just open the condenser lines to release the refrigerant back to the system, after repairing the leak, I don't have a vacum pump.
You definitely need a vacuum it down You need to put nitrogen in it first and then vacuum it down
Go check out a couple more on my videos. The most recent will show you how I pull a vacuum
Thank you
Do u leave both side of gages open during?
no sir
@@TaddyDigest serious question, just high side open?
With a scroll compress the internal release won't let it pump down all the way that's what I came across I may be wrong
This was a scroll compressor
@@TaddyDigest You risk damaging a scroll compressor when doing this....
Was that R22 or R410?
410A
I was told u can’t pump down 410, bc of the scroll compressor & the high pressures
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
You also should of had the indoor fan running while doing this... I mean... technically you can get away with what's shown, but you're missing a few steps that COULD cause issues with someone else. Best to show every step thoroughly.
Tell me what the indoor fan does
Am I missing something
You think the indoor fan has something to do with the refrigerant pumping into the Outdoor unit
@@TaddyDigest Yes sorry. So you need some heat load into the refrigerant to be sure it all boils off. This is just a 99.9% guarantee you get it all. You're method is... I'd say 90% guarantee. Just playing it safe.
Got it thank you for clarifying my friend
@@TaddyDigest No problem. Great channel.
I know you are a good technician and I truly like your videos, but this time you messed up. 1st, you heated up the compressor by letting the suction line pressure go to vacuum for an extended time, remember compressors are refrigerant cooled. 2nd, the compressor sucked up all the air existing inside the blue hose and I am sure you did not purge it, and even if you did, your pump down sucked up potential air exiting previously inside the system. You should always stop the pump down at a positive 15 to 25 psig, and this means just a tiny bit of vapor that you end up releasing in the air when you open up the system.
So you're telling me that a refrigeration system is an open loop instead of a closed loop system
That's what you're insinuating
I don't understand
> this means just a tiny bit of vapor that you end up releasing in the air when you open up the system.
I can see the logic of what you suggest, but the practice is likely an offence contrary to 40 CFR § 82.154 and 42 USC 7671g(c)(1), with criminal penalties as prescribed by 42 USC §7413(c)(1). Something similar applies in the EU, UK, Canada and, I gather, even China and India.
@@StrixTechnicaright on point. I know someone who didn’t know any better and got arrested for releasing into air