Pre-charge Query

[aXeR]

Hi Guys,

Having measured my intended pipe run, I estimate that I'm going to need 16-17M of tubing. This is greatly annoying as I'm going to need to buy 30M coils (rather than the cheaper 15M coil counterparts) but additionally the unit I'm preferring (for a variety of reasons) is pre-charged for upto 15M of pipe work.

Do I try and find a friendly A/C engineer who is happy to weight in the additional refrigerant on a system they did not install for a reasonable amount or is extra refrigerant not necessary for a ~10% overrun?

Thanks, Jon

[aXeR]

Thanks for that, anyone got any tips as to where I can find an A/C engineer who will be happy to add additional regriderant, do it properly and not charge the earth? (I'm in Sittingbourne, Kent ME9)

[aXeR]

Ooops, I meant refrigerant of course :D

[jonjon]

Your looking at 30-40 quid per hour and any decent engineer will want to do a full commission on the system I'd say your looking at 150-200£

[monkey spanners]

aXeR, how much would you think is a fair price for what you want doing? I am always interested in learning about customers expectation so I can better meet them.

[aXeR]

Hi,

Purely to supply and introduce the additional refrigerant (properly) based on my meterage, I would imagine something in the region of £60-100 assuming the refrigerant amount isn't huge and the engineer is local.

To test the integrity of my pipe work, expel any moisture, gas etc I would think jonjon's suggested price doesn't look unreasonable although naturally, as the customer, I'd prefer nearer to £150 though :D

In an ideal world, I'd like to install both units (i.e. affix indoor unit to wall, affix outdoor unit to brackets), chase wall, install the pipes as I want them (with lagging) and then have a professional cut the pipe work to size at the outdoor unit, bend it, flare it, oil it, connect it, test for leaks and then gas accordingly for the correct pipe run.

I see that the forum states that adverts are not permitted but are people allowed to send me a quote for such works?

Cheers, Jon

[monkey spanners]

Hi,

Purely to supply and introduce the additional refrigerant (properly) based on my meterage, I would imagine something in the region of £60-100 assuming the refrigerant amount isn't huge and the engineer is local.

To test the integrity of my pipe work, expel any moisture, gas etc I would think jonjon's suggested price doesn't look unreasonable although naturally, as the customer, I'd prefer nearer to £150 though :D

In an ideal world, I'd like to install both units (i.e. affix indoor unit to wall, affix outdoor unit to brackets), chase wall, install the pipes as I want them (with lagging) and then have a professional cut the pipe work to size at the outdoor unit, bend it, flare it, oil it, connect it, test for leaks and then gas accordingly for the correct pipe run.

I see that the forum states that adverts are not permitted but are people allowed to send me a quote for such works?

Cheers, Jon


Thanks Jon. I expect anyone who decides to take on the work will as a minimum want to pressure test for leaks with nitrogen before (vacuuming and) charging the extra refrigerant as needed, to comply with F-Gas regs that we should all be working to. Just to point out its not as simple as puffing a bit of gas in though it can appear that thats all thats needed.

[aXeR]

Oh I'm well aware that doing things properly is much more involved then carelessly wacking extra charge in. My figure of £60-100 is based on me having already leak tested and vacumming down but I can understand an engineer might want to do this themselves so that would undoubtedly add to the cost.