Recalled Dehumidifier Leak Search Part 2
Комедия
Come along for the next forty minutes or so and tilt at the windmill of the leaky recalled dehumidifier with UXWBill. Will some better tools and different methods lead to an answer? Watch and find out! (The maximum pressure my nitrogen regulator can handle is around 350 psi, and that's what I brought the system up to with trace refrigerant gas in the mix. It took every bit of that to get the slightest response from the leak detectors. Being as this was an R-410A system, I believed applying that much pressure to be safe.)
The previous video: • Looking for a Refriger...
I believe the leak has to be in the coils. I checked the rest of the line set anyway and found nothing.
Yes, dehumidifiers are a real thing. Most of them are air conditioning systems where the cooling effect has been deliberately short-circuited (evaporator and condenser coils in the same airflow path). The cold evaporator coil will cause moisture to condense out of the air, where it can then be collected in a bucket, pumped away or sent to a drain. Other approaches to dehumidification exist, such as small heated rods and desiccant chemical types. There are even some small dehumidifiers built around thermoelectric (Peltier) elements.
Tools used (not affiliate links; links may go bad over time):
Inficon Tek Mate G1 -www.valuetesters.com/inficon-...
Fieldpiece DR82 infrared leak detector: www.valuetesters.com/fieldpie...
Bacharach/MSA H-10 Pro: www.valuetesters.com/bacharac...
Testo no longer sells the 550 digital manifold shown in the video. They have newer models.
Harbor Freight Two Stage Vacuum Pump, updated since I bought mine: www.harborfreight.com/3-cfm-t...
Time stamps of interest:
0:00 - Introduction (what, why, how, backstory, etc.)
5:44 - Nothing's Ever Easy!
6:31 - Still Not Easy!
6:50 - Nitrogen only charge.
7:20 - Test pressures, nitrogen only.
8:03 - Timed pressure test start.
8:37 - Timed pressure test results.
10:40 - Nitrogen release.
11:16 - Leak detector gallery.
14:23 - Recovery cylinder with R-134a.
15:11 - Leak detector quick tests.
16:38 - Inficon Tek Mate G1
21:34 - Fieldpiece DR82
25:03 - H10 Pro
27:33 - Results of higher pressure and more leak searching.
29:25 - Vacuum pump test.
32:13 - Vacuum pump hose configuration.
32:46 - The next morning...what happened?
36:30 - Vacuum confirmation of the leak(s).
37:08 - What do the numbers (microns vacuum) mean?
I welcome corrections, amplifications, suggestions, and similar ideas to make the video better or increase all of our knowledge. Just be nice. And yes, I hold both my EPA 608 universal and 609 MVAC cards. I also hold certifications from a trade school for residential, commercial installer work (though I am not hugely confident in my skillset as an installer, especially for ductwork and sheet metal design/fabrication).
Пікірлер: 46
I canvassed the "neighborhood" looking for early comments, and I guess they all leaked out.
@JohnSmith-xq1pz
29 күн бұрын
I believe I see one off on the horizon. The new thing seems to be comments on how early views have fallen off. It would be nice if Google cleared up the bot accounts
You can always trust a piece of test equipment named "Testo".
An unexpected Bill AND a Keykeeper video in the same week? Is it 2010 again??!?
@uxwbill
24 күн бұрын
Not unless you've been driving at 88 miles an hour in recent times. 😛
It's not a pointless endeavour to find out why something failed, it's learning process to find out what the manufacturer did wrong and let them know, and if they don't care to fix their failures in design (because build-to-fail is profit), you also learn to not buy their products because they're not worth the time or money... :)
I love how my mental prediction was right, the key keeper posted a video yesterday and here we are with another UX wild bill video. Love your content man.
Pointless? I enjoyed every second of it, William. I'm subscribed since the year 2013 and I just love every bit of content you throw at us. Much love from germany, my friend.
@uxwbill
28 күн бұрын
Thank you for watching and sticking it out through all of these years.
I’ve had couple of these leak down in the last 6 years. It’s actually funny they just dropped like flies suddenly. Not only is the copper thin, I’ve also wondered how much people in the assembly process are actually paying attention to possible rub through points on these. The H-10 is a workhorse!
Thanks for giving me motivation to go outside and do things.
Hello, uxwbill!
Video is brutally informative, As always Looking forward for more
@uxwbill
28 күн бұрын
"Brutally informative" is definitely not the first phrase that would have come to my mind, but I like it.
Nice video.
i swear there always dehumidifier being recall is there any good new ones being made anymore
nice and kinda relaxing
Welcome Back.
[Insert constructive commentary my brain can't come up with here]
nice see new uploads
Me: got out of HVAC/R in any direct capacity a couple of years ago (got dragged into industrial electromechanical work and the pay has been keeping me there). Me: will still absolutely watch a uxwbill refrigeration related video for like ~40 minutes because I did fixate on the subject for a couple of years after all (I still have you, a research scientist, and Technology Connections to indirectly blame/thank for getting me to go to school for HVAC/R in 2018 and at least get my universal 608 so..). Of note, I might be getting my hands on an ultrasonic leak detector since I'm going to be patching a new compressor into dad's old air conditioning system (what better time to find and patch the leak?). It's a slow leak (like, has needed recharged with R-22 once a decade), but a leak is a leak, I'm not going to let us be at the mercy of someone else's slopsmanship 33 years ago. Will report back when I get my hands on it (I'm eventually getting an AccuTrak, one of their Pro Plus kits) and try it out.
@uxwbill
28 күн бұрын
I'll offer my condolences for my part in encouraging and contributing to the pursuit of HVAC/R study...and certainly for putting up with my longwinded videos. ;-) I'm pretty sure I have told the story of trying to break into the HVAC/R world, first by trying to find a decent company to work for and when that didn't turn out on several different occasions, trying to get into it myself. That didn't really turn out either. My mother found an IT job advertised that I never would have considered myself truly qualified for, which just goes to show how thoroughly broken my crystal ball is. The pay is outstanding and while everything has its ups and downs, I genuinely enjoy the job. At some point in the future, I could see myself making another effort to get an HVAC (and maybe R) business off the ground, at least as a sideline or something to do in my later years. (I'm also working harder than I ever have to lose weight, because wow did getting up on rooftops and such really drive home the fact that the only shape I'm in is "round".) All of that aside, which you might or might not have even wanted to know, I am definitely looking forward to hearing how the Accutrak works out. (I do drop by your channel every now and then, in case you were curious.) I too was looking at the Pro Plus kit.
@bakonfreek
28 күн бұрын
Funny, that’s kind of how I got into industrial work (I mean, obviously they didn’t drag me in based on my IT chops considering my accreditations consist of “I failed computer science focusing on programming, twice”, but my dad got what looked like junk mail, saw it mentioned industrial refrigeration, suggested I apply, and they didn’t keep me for that since that leg of the plant kind of requires a 3rd grade engineer license, but they put me on as a mechanic in case I decided to get my license and, well, now they want me to be an electrician so.. that electrical stuff just about carried me through HVAC/R classes and it’s carrying me at my day job so, make of that what you will xD). I tell ya, even being the beanstalk I am, roofs were not easy for me, though that may be less about roof climbin’ and more about my diet at the time being basically entirely Casey’s pizza and Walmart’s finest gourmet insulin. I may end up making some kind of video about the ultrasonic leak finder at some point in the summer when I get bored (of course, I gotta get it first, but industrial mechanic pay is better than a lot of local HVAC/R companies pay installers and even techs in some cases so, that battery of tests should be somewhere not too far off in the pipeline). In my reading on that device, I see it looks like it can even be used to find a slow leak on a tire (which makes sense given what it actually does) so, given my luck with tires on Dead On Day Guarantee Expires vehicles (like my old Dart or my present Avenger), that’ll be mighty useful.
Maybe you could try and remove the coils from the system, pressurise them with nitrogen and submerge them under water and hope that some bubbles show. Kind of a last resort option.
@uxwbill
28 күн бұрын
That's something I am planning to do in the future. In the comments on the previous video, I am pretty sure someone mentioned they had tried that and came up empty handed.
Thank god I live in a cat neighborhood.
not your most exciting video. but if your new to the hvac field, perhaps not a bad way to hone your skills. as always good to see your doing well. see you next time.
@uxwbill
29 күн бұрын
Leak searching can be a very boring task. For the short time I worked in the field, my longest leak search was in a walk in cooler. Edit for the curious: it was several hours of looking in the cooler box and on the roof, for a leak I never managed to find.
Have you ever used UV dye to find leaks?
@uxwbill
29 күн бұрын
Yes, though only in automotive applications.
I know nothing about these leak detectors, but I've watched quite a bit of videos by HVACR videos where he's using leak detectors. I didn't realise they have a suction pump on them, is that to draw any traces of gas towards the detection components?
@uxwbill
20 күн бұрын
Yes, that is exactly what the pump inside is for.
Bill check out the hvac guy he has tested and recommended different tools
What happened to blog tv? And will you ever have a live stream again? Just curious
@uxwbill
29 күн бұрын
BlogTV hasn't existed for more than a decade. The few live streams I do are unannounced.
@andic6676
27 күн бұрын
Do you still fix computers?
@uxwbill
26 күн бұрын
@@andic6676 Day job.
Try some of that AC stop leak garbage in this unit
@uxwbill
29 күн бұрын
I don't plan to do that, because I want to figure out where the leak or leaks may be. Also: that stuff is predicated on the notion that the refrigerant will be circulating as the system operates. This system is never going to be used again.
Insert pointless comment here :P However, watching the video, I wonder if that dehumidifier (almost typed rehumidifier) is a "death by a thousand cuts/leaks" situation.
@uxwbill
24 күн бұрын
I definitely think it is!
How’s your mother doing Bill?
@uxwbill
28 күн бұрын
Just fine.
Error 404 vintage technology not found
@uxwbill
29 күн бұрын
I do more than just computer stuff.
@JohnSmith-xq1pz
29 күн бұрын
@@uxwbill Indeed. I've watched every video on your channel and rewatched the computer videos to the point of memorizing much of it lol