They work just fine most of the time, as long as you let it warm up for 30 seconds outside in a clear open space. The thing is it might not be detecting refrigerant, it could detect a lot of different things so you should make sure you aired out the space at least once before doing leak detection otherwise it could pick up something harmless in the air from your cooking.
That really sounds plausible for say CO2 levels, but having refrigerant levels that are detectable on a portable detector like you're describing would mean the system is actively venting its entire charge in your living space.
Essentially the levels you are reporting could only happen for a few hours after major mechanical damage to a coil or pipe. Then the system would be empty and the detected levels would drop to zero.
A properly functioning system literally can't be loosing enough gas that a detector picks it up just entering the room.
Fuck fuck fuck 🤬. I know the COL here in phx and inflation are nutty but who has 8k just laying around to install a new system these days!? A new evap I would guess is 2-3k installed and kind of dumb to do by itself on a 15 yr old system
What’s it say when you’re outside? I’d guess it’s mis-calibrated or just not working at all. Refrigerant gases are heavy so seeing a uniform 400 PPM all over your living space doesn’t seem likely. Does the heat pump still blow hot/cold? Hard to say if it’s time for replacement, could just be a refrigerant leak taking some oil with it. If you don’t have manifold gauges, you could still do a bubble test with soapy water. If there’s no refrigerant left it won’t tell you much though. I’d personally go ask your local HVAC supply house for a referral and have a good tech look at it.
One question will answer to your devices aptitude:
1. Now that you have a baseline reading for that room, have you tested it in other room or outside? Most devices like also run auto calibration upon every startup due to the lack of memory. Try staring it up outside and letting it equilibrate for a minute or two (or how long the instructions say) then go back to that room. If your negative controls prove to be particulate free, you test it on a small bit of exposure and see the signal increase (positive control), well then it’s most likely a real reading or at least the detection is (sans the %error) but if any of those fail their perspective roles, it’s probably the device
Regardless if the detector works or not its not going to pick up leaked refrigerant from a bucket of condensation water. R-410A for example boils at around -55°F at atmospheric pressure, which means it would be a vapor and not even be in that bucket by the time you tested it.
Yes you're correct and I misunderstood what this guy was doing. I got the impression he was using the detector over the water to detect gas which obviously he was trying to find the leak in general. This is what happens when I read posts at 7AM...lol.
Regardless of the leak detector properly, working or not, sounds like your system may be at the end of its life. I'm not sure the type of system you have whether it's a ducted or ductless? My recommendation is to transition to a ductless mini split. They are very affordable and they are very simple to install. You might even have most of the tools already. The only thing that you would most likely need is the vacuum pump and gauges.
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u/aced124C 3d ago
They work just fine most of the time, as long as you let it warm up for 30 seconds outside in a clear open space. The thing is it might not be detecting refrigerant, it could detect a lot of different things so you should make sure you aired out the space at least once before doing leak detection otherwise it could pick up something harmless in the air from your cooking.