AC Leaking, not drain pipe

[Kwasaki]

10 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

That is likely to be the compressor oil, as R22 boils at -40 STP

other refrigerants boil at higher temperatures r134 at -26 STP

So any liquid will not be the refrigerants 

Fair call maybe ???? but yeah it seems you know much more than me when it comes to air-cons what you post here is of no interest to me.

 

As I have posted when disconnecting the copper pipes in OP's pix on the outside compressor air-con unit after shutting off the valves, when removing the pipes there was liquid, so go figure. 

[Polarizing]

On 8/22/2020 at 2:25 PM, Crossy said:

 

Assuming the supply goes to the indoor unit, yes. It's not really good practice, but it's not going to be a hazard.

 

Make sure you don't connect to the inter-unit wiring or your outlet will go on and off with the compressor.

How can I test for which wires are coming from the supply?

[Yellowtail]

Given the (apparent) proximity to the drain pan, it could be water leaking from the pan or the connection to the pan into the insulation as well. I would check that connection, particularly as you have been handling it. 

 

I would also check the grade/level of the pan and drain pipes. It has been my experience that many ongoing condensate leaks can be solved by reconfiguring the drain pipes 

 

[andygrr]

Looks like normal condensation to me. 

[RBOP]

From the pictures looks like condensation from the coolant pipes. Maybe not enough insulation. Wireing looks quite messy and questionable. I had an argument with an aircon guy about grounding.  He said as long as the outside unit is grounded your inside unit is grounded via the copper piping..????..hmmm. 

[snowgard]

On 8/22/2020 at 9:59 AM, worgeordie said:

how long ago did you have it serviced and refilled ?

regards worgeordie

AC never must be refilled!!! Only if there is a leak in the cooling system!!!  And to find this leak and fix it is much more difficult.

It's just a lie from the service teams if they tell you they cleaned and REFILLED your AC. Only to charge more.

[AAArdvark]

I have been fighting this issue for months now.  Multiple different techs have tried without success.  But here are the main possibilities:

1. No or little insulation on the drain line.  Causing condensation on the tube.

2. Dirt on coils 

3. Clogged drain line Needs to be blown out and/or bleach pored down the drain line.

4. Improper installation - make sure the unit is mounted so there is a very slight tilt towards the drain.

5. The one that my techs have not found yet.

[digger70]

On 8/22/2020 at 10:10 AM, BritManToo said:

My outside unit is on the wall about 10' off the ground.

I'd need a ladder to touch it.

 

Presumably the OP switched the fuse off at the main house fuse box before putting his hands in it.

Playing inside electrical units with live electricity connected is never a good idea (earthed or not).

 

Gotta love Thai twisted wire connections placed such a way that water can drip on them, what could possibly go wrong.

Why would anything go wrong ?Clean water Isn't a Conductor.  

[Iron Tongue]

I'm not an HVAC tech, but I've replaced refrigerant in my auto and home cooler so I've seen and handled both Freon plus new R22 refrigerant.  Played with the canisters and poured it into a bucket to see what the effect would be.  If not in an airtight container, refrigerant will quickly change from liquid to gas by boiling-away.

 

They are held in your AC in a sealed system and will always want to escape completely if there is even a tiny leak or hole.  When gone, the A.C. will only circulate warm air, and is usually the way people know their AC (or fridge) is out of refrigerant.

 

What you see is water condensation, it means your refrigerant is fine.

[rwill]

It is normal for there to be condensation.  That is why you have a tray in the indoor unit and a pipe to drain it outside.  If the drain line gets plugged up it will cause the tray to fill up and start running out into your room.  Also if the refrigerant is leaking and gets too low it will start causing the condensation on the indoor coil to ice up.  You may notice water and/or ice blowing out from the unit.  In severe cases the ice will build up and the blower wheel will start hitting it.

[1FinickyOne]

pretty cool, there is a piece of finger in there... I doubt mine have any human parts... 

[Lacessit]

Freon is fairly low toxicity, it takes a substantial amount in the atmosphere before it is an asphyxiation risk.

https://www.vieleandsons.com/media/R22.pdf

[xtrnuno41]

Your insulation sucks, moist air is getting in (in your insulation), condense on the pipes and then you have dripping water.

Metal cases which have power inside should always be grounded. Like washing machines, fridge but also a metal light.

If there is a chance you can touch it, it should be grounded. Of course the ground should be working properly and fitted right.

Sure love the way they connected your wiring . No connection box for the wiring?!

Not long ago, there was a boy in Thailand, who died touching the "internet  box" from the school, just newly built. Metal box with NO GROUND.

If it had, the boy would probably still be alive. If it had ground, then it wasnt working, too easy thinking about grounding, safety.

If they didnt had ground, then why didnt they use a plastic box. Ok Thailand.

[johng]

5 hours ago, digger70 said:

Why would anything go wrong ?Clean water Isn't a Conductor.  

Only 100% pure water is  a  non conductor of electricity

 

Quote

Since the water that we use in our daily lives is bound to have impurities, it’s best to keep all electrical devices away so that they never come in contact with water.

 

[Kwasaki]

On 8/23/2020 at 5:39 PM, Kwasaki said:

Fair call maybe ???? but yeah it seems you know much more than me when it comes to air-cons what you post here is of no interest to me.

 

As I have posted when disconnecting the copper pipes in OP's pix on the outside compressor air-con unit after shutting off the valves, when removing the pipes there was liquid, so go figure. 

Anyone here other than guru's undone the 2 copper joints from the outside air-con unit after shutting the 2 valves off and not seen fluid when the pipes are disconnected. 

[Polarizing]

1 hour ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Your insulation sucks, moist air is getting in (in your insulation), condense on the pipes and then you have dripping water.

Metal cases which have power inside should always be grounded. Like washing machines, fridge but also a metal light.

If there is a chance you can touch it, it should be grounded. Of course the ground should be working properly and fitted right.

Sure love the way they connected your wiring . No connection box for the wiring?!

Not long ago, there was a boy in Thailand, who died touching the "internet  box" from the school, just newly built. Metal box with NO GROUND.

If it had, the boy would probably still be alive. If it had ground, then it wasnt working, too easy thinking about grounding, safety.

If they didnt had ground, then why didnt they use a plastic box. Ok Thailand.

man! the other day i checked the wiring and it is so badly wired, the sad thing is I don't know how to access the wires. Red to blue, blue to green... 2.5 to 1.5mm, the bigger problem is  that i dont believe any thai AC "engineer" could ever fix this for me. But when i found a way to access the wiring ill put them in a box with new connections!

[digger70]

1 hour ago, johng said:

Only 100% pure water is  a  non conductor of electricity

 

 

Even normal tap water doesn't conduct . it only conduct when you put salt in it . we done all these tricks at Tech School learning to be a electrician.

[johng]

14 hours ago, digger70 said:

Even normal tap water doesn't conduct

You must have very pure tap water. ????

 

[digger70]

3 hours ago, johng said:

You must have very pure tap water. ????

 

Why so Negative ,Just Normal tap water You know the test ,just do it.

I used 220 V  100w W Bulb Bg Mug and some salt to make it work 100% nearly touching probes.

[johng]

3 hours ago, digger70 said:

Why so Negative ,Just Normal tap water You know the test ,just do it.

I used 220 V  100w W Bulb Bg Mug and some salt to make it work 100% nearly touching probes.

I don't need to do the test ( I watched it on Youtube)

+  I already accidentally  fried the mainboard of my aircon  with over zealous

power washer ( using tap water ) the water got into the board and even after a few hours with the power off it wasn't dry, as soon as I turned power back on the "magic smoke" was released.

 

Before that  the power washer (with tap water) also killed the compressor fan..I'm a firm believer that tap water conducts electricity.

 

How about you try  an experiment   take a big bucket of tap water and  throw your toaster in there whilst its toasting....????   if you could share the results that would be great????

Please exercise extreme caution whilst throwing  toaster so as not to let your body ever touch the water and/or toaster at the same time. 

 

P.S the above is a joke  do not try the toaster experiment at home !!!!

 

 

[digger70]

1 hour ago, johng said:

I don't need to do the test ( I watched it on Youtube)

+  I already accidentally  fried the mainboard of my aircon  with over zealous

power washer ( using tap water ) the water got into the board and even after a few hours with the power off it wasn't dry, as soon as I turned power back on the "magic smoke" was released.

 

Before that  the power washer (with tap water) also killed the compressor fan..I'm a firm believer that tap water conducts electricity.

 

How about you try  an experiment   take a big bucket of tap water and  throw your toaster in there whilst its toasting....????   if you could share the results that would be great????

Please exercise extreme caution whilst throwing  toaster so as not to let your body ever touch the water and/or toaster at the same time. 

 

P.S the above is a joke  do not try the toaster experiment at home !!!!

 

 

That's Not a joke , When the Toaster is On with Something in it  being bread or Steak the water is Contaminated and makes a Short .

The Test with the Bulb is different you are making a Circuit to make the Power go from Pos to Neg. 

the bulb isn't in the water. The toaster Has the Element And the Pos & Neg in the Water . BANG

[Polarizing]

On 8/27/2020 at 6:06 PM, digger70 said:

Even normal tap water doesn't conduct . it only conduct when you put salt in it . we done all these tricks at Tech School learning to be a electrician.

So taking a shower during a thunderstorm is not dangerous? Its a myth?

Edited August 28, 2020 by Polarizing

[digger70]

15 hours ago, Polarizing said:

So taking a shower during a thunderstorm is not dangerous? Its a myth?

Why should that be Dangerous if you only use water /Gas water heater. 

Maybe if one uses an electrical water heater there maybe a slight chance that one could be  charged up if the Lightening hit ones Power line coming in the house. ⚡

[lopburi3]

22 minutes ago, digger70 said:

Why should that be Dangerous if you only use water /Gas water heater. 

Maybe if one uses an electrical water heater there maybe a slight chance that one could be  charged up if the Lightening hit ones Power line coming in the house. ⚡

Almost everyone in Thailand uses an electric water heater for the past several decades.  Gas killing units were replaced by the electric type years ago in most homes.

[Polarizing]

5 hours ago, digger70 said:

Why should that be Dangerous if you only use water /Gas water heater. 

Maybe if one uses an electrical water heater there maybe a slight chance that one could be  charged up if the Lightening hit ones Power line coming in the house. ⚡

I didn't do extensive proper research but if you google "shower thunderstorm dangerous" you can read about it. It goes through the plumbing? 

[xtrnuno41]

In pure water there are no loose ions, pH is 7 neutral.

When you add ions in the water then the water becomes conductive, depending on the ions you put in.

There are good conductive ones and less conductive ones. Ions are or + or - charged.

The more + ions , the better the conduction is.

If you put ions in water (like salt = Na+ & Cl-) and two wires with dc power, the + will go to the negative pole and the - will go the positive pole and the current is  conducted. The water becomes conductive. 

If you do with ac then the poles vary 50-60 times/second. Depending on frequency of AC power.

 

With the airco, you wil still have ions solved in the condensed water, think about the copper pipes which will bring in Cu ions. You see the copper pipes are black, so already corroded and formed a CU salt/oxidation. CU oxide solves not good in water, but formed salts better, as with CO2 you will get CuCO3 or with chloride CuCl2 and solves better in water.

Also In the air is CO2 which will give H2CO3, a bad conductor, but however conducts.

So the + ions in the condensed water take tall and therefor conducts the power better. 

[digger70]

36 minutes ago, Polarizing said:

I didn't do extensive proper research but if you google "shower thunderstorm dangerous" you can read about it. It goes through the plumbing? 

More likely through the incoming power lines and possible through the Earth wire as well, But here in Thailand we have PVC pipes.

We don't have the Metal water pipes like some other countries.

The metal pipes are bad ,full of residue that contaminate the water and that makes the water a conductor.

[digger70]

6 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

Almost everyone in Thailand uses an electric water heater for the past several decades.  Gas killing units were replaced by the electric type years ago in most homes.

Yep but a lot of times one doesn't Need to use the Elec  Heater.

The Gas is fine if the Unit is Outside ,Safe as a House .

[Yellowtail]

3 hours ago, digger70 said:

More likely through the incoming power lines and possible through the Earth wire as well, But here in Thailand we have PVC pipes.

We don't have the Metal water pipes like some other countries.

The metal pipes are bad ,full of residue that contaminate the water and that makes the water a conductor.

Does the residue in pipes not come from the water? If not, where does it come from?

[lopburi3]

10 hours ago, Yellowtail said:

Does the residue in pipes not come from the water? If not, where does it come from?

Rusting iron of the old galvanized iron pipes that used to be used for water.  Not much of that remaining anymore.