Air Conditioning Repairs That Stop The Evaporator Coil From Leaking In Your AC

If your evaporator coil is iced over, your AC will probably shut down eventually if you don't have the problem fixed. You don't want to run your AC with the coil iced over anyway, so you might want to shut it off and just run the fan so the ice melts faster. One reason an evaporator coil ices over is because of low refrigerant. When the refrigerant is low, that signals there's a leak.

The evaporator coil is a common place for a refrigerant leak to occur. However, the air conditioning repair contractor has to examine both coils and the refrigerant lines to determine where the leak is located and how many leaks there are. Here's how a leak in a refrigerant coil needs to be repaired.

Cover A Hole In The Coil

If there's a hole in the coil, the hole needs to be patched. First, the air conditioning repair technician has to sand the line to get rid of all the oxidation so the brazing will be successful. A hole is repaired by brazing. This involves heating the copper coil and then heating a copper strip so the strip melts and covers the hole. The melted copper also has to cover a border around the hole so the repair adheres to the copper and stays put when the refrigerant is under pressure.

It's possible for a hole to be in a line that's behind the evaporator coil fins. When this happens, the fins have to be snipped away. These are thin aluminum strips that allow air to flow around the coil. They are permanently attached to the copper lines, so the strips need to be cut away so the air conditioning repair technician can work on the hole. Once that's done, they follow the same process of heating and brazing to cover the hole to stop the leak.

Tighten Loose Connections

Refrigerant could be leaking from a connection that has worked loose. This is a quick repair since all that's necessary is to tighten the connection and the leak stops. If a connection is loose, the repair technician may see bubbles around the area of the leak. This makes it easy to find the leak so the technician knows where to start making repairs.

Replace A Damaged Pipe

Copper refrigerant lines are somewhat fragile. They can be bent easily if something heavy bumps them. A line might be bent when the unit is shipped or manufactured. It may not be possible to straighten the pipe, so the air conditioning repair technician may cut out the damaged section and put a new pipe in its place. This is done by slipping the new pipe over the old one at both ends and then sealing the ends by brazing. The melted metal seals the joint between the pipes to keep refrigerant from escaping. 

For more information about AC repair, contact a local company.