Leak sealant product

[FEISTY]

Greetings from Chicago !! There is a product being sold that is intended to seal " pin leaks " and those impossible to find even with u/v dye ghosts. Think it's called HVACR SEAL. One time use can similiar to an auto ac recharge can. Anyone have any experience with this stuff and opinion on how it works? Worried that it would plug up solenoid valve orifice or txv valves. The company says good for ALL *****S. Any help is greatly appreciated....as always. Have a great day. FEISTY:cool:

[Karl Hofmann]

Many, many years ago I tested the automotive stuff with a view to being an importer.... the word is NO

Hell NO!!!

Where doesn't that stuff clog up?, including your recovery equipment

[The Viking]

OK, I'll take the bait and use the F word in god's house...

I have used this on 2 separate occasions, both a great success.

Case one R407c:
Large VRF system, installed by others who used the drawings as toilet tissue. It lost approximate 15 kG each year, impossible to find the leak (a large portion of the pipework is hidden in walls and under concrete).

As a last resort, I decided to try this snake oil. Well that was just over 2 years ago now and the system is still running sweet, valves and all. (and VRFs got loads of electronic control valves)
In-fact, the only breakdown it suffered since is a solenoid head and I can't blame that one on the leak sealant.

Case 2 R22:
One of our customers had ordered new units for their server room but the new units were on a 10 weeks delivery. During the wait one of the old units lost half it's charge (we had checked it just weeks before so it was quite a substantial leak)

(Note to legislators: this refers to a rumour I heard, of course I would never charge a unit after a leak without first repairing the leak and properly pressure test the system!)

The cost implications of doing a "proper" repair and the fact that the standby unit already were down, made us bodge it with leak sealant.
Again the leak stopped (It had the full charge in it when it were decommissioned and then it had been running longer after the repair than it had between service and the breakdown), we experienced no problems with our tools after the decommissioning and the customer were happy.


But I think it's important to point out that it should be used as a last resort, not as an accepted method of sealing all leaks.

[FEISTY]

Quick note of thanks for the informative reviews of the leak seal products. I have never been a advocate of " easy out " solutions but I have a nuisance leak in a small R134 reach-in cooler. Callbacks are not good for the rep. and hard on the books. This one is 4 trips in and 5 is the magic number. Will give it a try and be glad to report back with updated opinion. Thanks again and this proves why is great to have techs willing to share ' the good with the bad
". Have a good and safe day !!