air conditioner gas leak

**ceagle** · 28th September 2007, 08:55 PM

I have a ducted air conditioner, it is fifteen years old, in that time it has had about four gas leaks.Each time I had it re-gassed I was assured that it shouldn't leak again.
The last time I had it re-gassed I was charged $600 [$360.00 for the gas alone]
My dilemma is whether to try and persevere with attempting to find the leak or bite the bullet and purchase a new unit, although the unit works well until it runs out of gas.
I was told by a mechanic that nitrogen would have to be pumped into the unit to detect the leak,but I feel that this would probably cost me close to $1000 based on the previous charge.
Am I throwing away good money after bad ?

**Bloss** · 29th September 2007, 01:17 PM

Am I throwing away good money after bad ?

Yep - after 15 years that is past the economic life of an air-conditioner.

If you want to stay with refrigerated A/C the newer models are much more efficient and the cost has dropped dramatically.

But . . . they are still expensive to replace and even more so to run so I reckon you should be looking at more environmentally friendly, but effective ways of cooling such as evaporative coolers (if you are in a hot dry climate), fans, air chimneys, upgraded insulation, external shading etc.

With a little bit of research I reckon you can stay as cool, help the environment and on top of that save heaps too. The way energy cost are going any change to sustainable cooling now will return you well for a long time - and a big amount.

**Timmo** · 30th September 2007, 11:28 AM

Originally Posted by Bloss

Am I throwing away good money after bad ?

Yep - after 15 years that is past the economic life of an air-conditioner.

If you want to stay with refrigerated A/C the newer models are much more efficient and the cost has dropped dramatically.

But . . . they are still expensive to replace and even more so to run so I reckon you should be looking at more environmentally friendly, but effective ways of cooling such as evaporative coolers (if you are in a hot dry climate), fans, air chimneys, upgraded insulation, external shading etc.

With a little bit of research I reckon you can stay as cool, help the environment and on top of that save heaps too. The way energy cost are going any change to sustainable cooling now will return you well for a long time - and a big amount.

Don't waste your time and money on a swampy (evap cooler) in Sydney.

You will find the copper pipes in the unit have work hardened and will continue to crack so you will be throwing good money after bad.

You already have the ductwork in place so a replacement shouldn't be too bad. It will still cost a few $k but the result will be a new unit with about a 5 yr warranty.

**Ashore** · 1st October 2007, 08:03 PM

Timmo's right mate the ducting is a big part of the cost and a new system will be far more efficient and the running costs will be a lot less

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