moved into a new home this past weekend and realized that our a/c unit (which was installed less than a year ago) is not cooling the house. The fan and thermostat work, there's just lukewarm air coming out of the registers.

Called up the company who installed it for service. They said the coolant (5lbs of it) was basically gone. Said that the cause could be one of two things. Either there is a leak, or someone stole the coolant. The tech did a recharge of the coolant and but some kind of additive to it to see if there is a leak.

How likely is it that some jerk off (possibly the previous owner) fucked with this unit. Again, it was installed in September of last year so it hasn't even been through one cooling season. Wtf?

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If it was Ike, the copper would be gone.

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Hawaii (fuck) You

Installed in September? I'll bet the problem is one of these things...
1. The installer who took out the schraders when vacuuming the lines didn't install them correctly. Possible.
2. The installer didn't hold vacuum long enough, and the brazing is bad. Most likely.
3. There is a massive leak in the coils. Not likely. But possible.

They probably added a dye stick. I hate dye. I bought myself an electronic leak detector. Basically, you're going to run out of refrigerant again. And you'll have no cooling again. And they'll come back again. And still have to fix the problem.

No one stole your refrigerant. That's silly. You need some pretty special equipment to do that. I've seen coils stolen. Never refrigerant.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Have an inspection before you bought this house/condo?

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

Inspectors are almost completely clueless on HVAC.
Trust me. I know what I'm talking about. I know you deal with a lot of inspectors. So do I.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

They turn on the HVAC and let it run. The are qualified to anaylyze all mechanicals. They dont suggest what is wrong or how to fix them, they just say if something is working or not. if it is not working the report would say it is not cooling properly and call Darkside.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

No. What they'll do is turn on the AC. If the compressor and fan comes on that passes inspection. No matter if it's providing 20 degrees delta or 3. They turn the heat on. If it starts it passes. No matter if it's short cycling after 10 minutes because of high static. It's running. You know how many inspectors have claimed cracked heat exchangers because the flame wasn't "pure baby blue" and the real problem is a dirty burner? Dude I see about 3 maybe 4 dozen just like that a year.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

Have you asked Darkside, I hear he knows something about HVACs.

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Not hard for an inspector to run the AC and Heat at max and put a thermometer in the register.

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Elections have consequences.

You know, I had a customer once tell me that Obama's "people" took her refrigerant. She was convinced that Obama took it. No shit. Even when I showed her a massive leak in the evaporator that was bubbling my leak detector gel (Read: soap bubbles, significant leak) she still blamed Obama. It was... psychotic.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

It's not hard. But that doesn't really tell you much. You can have a real nice delta of say 30 degrees and a massive undercharge if the coil is about to freeze up. I'm tellin ya, inspectors are pretty useless.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

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no the entire a/c condenser and the copper would be gone along with the furnace and hot water heater

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Will bad brazing show as a leak? I'm not sure if I'm being fucked with or this company is trying to find a way out of their warranty but the tech showed me the caps (probably the wrong term) that screwed on top of the coolant valve (again wrong term I'm sure) which were plastic rather than copper and said it showed signs of being tampered with. I have no fucking idea if that's true or not as I didn't see him take these caps off. Now I'm starting to wish I'd watched him do everything...

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They dont just see if it starts.

Inspectors serve a purpose. It becomes an issue when first time buyers freak out by the inevitable 2-4 pages of bullshit they report.

had one that reported.

-2nd toilet doesnt flush well
-Closet doors dont close evenly

Buyer wanted new Toilet and new closet doors.....LOL

I went in and WD-40'd toilet handle and added screw to closet door to tighten it up.

This took a week of attorney communications, 2nd inspection and deal closed.

I tell people to list it "AS IS", and state there will be no price reductions as you need to nip it in the ass before it almost always happens.

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"That's what the internet is for. Slandering others anonymously." Banky
“Been that way since one monkey looked at the sun and told the other monkey ‘He said for you to give me your fuckin’ share.’”

That's what I'm saying... if it was a new unit just installed the 410a is cheap and not really worth stealing. It's like $20/lb at most unless they're selling it retail which they're not, so they went thru all that trouble for $100 and left several lbs of copper? Nah.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

STOP TALKING HOCKEY!

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Yeah they do. I've been on shit tons of inspections. I think with $200 and a weekend course you can be an inspector.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

The best fix for bad brazing is a good chunk of Field Turf.

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"All crowds boycotting football games shouldn't care who sings or takes a knee because they aren't watching." - Nas

plus most people with the equiptment and knowledge to siphon out 'freon' would likely be able to get a job

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

no shit. i dont know what it takes to be honest.. pretty sure you have to give amazing blowjobs though

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the world will always the world. your entire existence is defined by your response.

Move.

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Who do you think I am, Dennis?

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T his sort of makes it seems like the installer killed the Schrader family with a vacuum.

Uh......huh

Dealing with nonsense like this is why our firm quit representing people in residential real estate deals.

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