A.C. 101 continues with a discourse on schrader valves and refrigerant leaks by James H. Klovach a.k.a. Kung Fu Maintenance.
Schrader Valves Plus Caps
OK so I charged my unit up here. Everything is running good. You want to listen for any leaks here. I don’t here any here at the schrader valves. Schrader valves are the most common place for refrigerant to leak from. Ninety percent maybe eighty five somewhere in there percent of the time that you have a refrigerant leak it is going to be at your schrader valves. So you always want to make sure that you put these schrader valve caps back on. This is like a second gate to keep the refrigerant in the system.
Refrigerant never runs out in a system unless you have a leak. It’s not like a battery where it uses up the energy. It doesn’t use up the refrigerant. You should not have to charge the unit in a perfect world but anyway. If you do it is because you have a leak somewhere in the system. Again eighty five percent of the time eighty eighty five whatever. Just making it clear that most of the time your leak is going to be from a schrader valve. Second most common place is in the evaporator coil because the conditions the evaporator runs. It’s always moist. You know you got copper metal all the conditions that work for rust and developing a leak. You’ll see a lot of rust a lot of times on the evaporator coil. Anyway when I put these schrader valve caps back on I just finger tighten them and than just maybe a hair just a quarter turn past tight with my pliers. With my leathermen. Just to tighten the caps on. Make sure that second gate is in place. Keep the refrigerant in the system.