[tykent]

I have recently bought a split unit air con system for my about to be converted garage for a very reasonable price. Having received it, it seems not to be just a case of connecting up and going as there is purging of air etc involved. I am happy mounting the indoor / outdoor unit etc but has anyone had any experience of connecting these units together or even better any air con installers in the Surrey area who fancy being hired out to do the commissioning?

[Gary Lightfoot]

Do you know what refrigerant it uses? Does it need brazing in, and do you have all the pipework for it?

Gary.

[tykent]

Gary

Details of it are here

All connection pipes are there etc. I can see how to connect to pipe to the outside unit but the inside unit has the pipes coming out that have caps on them. When I started to lossen a cap I heard a hiss of gas / air escaping so quickly tightened it up again. The only quote I could get from a local air con company is £600 to install and commission (the unit only cost £279)

Ty

[Gary Lightfoot]

That seems quite expensive for just a days work to a proffessional fridge engineer, though I don't know what rates they charge these days.

Was the cap you removed plastic or a metal compression fitting of some sort? If it's a push in cap, then the pipes are under vacuum.

If the gas is pre charged, then I'm wondering if it's held within the condenser, and the pipes just have nitrogen (or vacuum) in them - otherwise you would have to pump out all the charge, connect up the pipes, vac down the system and recharge. That also means not testing for leaks which should be done with dry nitrogen.

407c is one of the newer gases, and is quite expensive. Do the pipes all bolt together or is brazing involved?

Gary.

[tykent]

The pipes are all brass compression and just bolt together. I think the compressor is precharged and that the internal unit is just a vacuum. No brazing is required. All the instructions are in German but they did supply some English instructions but not for the exact model. As far as I understand (I think) you can connect up and somehow purge the system of air using the valves. I have ordered a 'set up your own air con' video from a self install supplier so that may help.

I was really hoping that an air con installer may frequent these forums and be willing to do a bit on the side ! !

[Mark Grant]

Hello Tykent,

The indoor unit is filled with nitrogen for leak testing at the factory.
so it will hiss when you remove the caps.

Dont remove the caps until you are going to connect the pipes, as moisture from the damp english air will enter the indoor unit pipework.
The caps are there for a reason !

To do a good job you need a vacuum pump to remove air and moisture from the pipework before releasing the refrigerant form the outdoor unit.

As gary says, 407C is fairly expensive, you dont want to waste it !

It will last for years if installed correctly, if not they can fail due to leaks etc.


sent you an email


Mark.