How to find leak when the A/C system is empty

Thank you sir. 20 PSI out of the compressor was plenty for me to hear and see soapy bubbles from a spray bottle to find leaks

As a refrigeration mechanic for over 50 years I know as does every other refrigeration guy, you NEVER introduce air into a refrigeration system. The reason being, air contains moisture. Moisture will ruin the system. The only way to pressurize the system is with dry nitrogen and is not a D.I.Y. operation. Don't follow this guys advise.

Go buy a 1/4 “ flare to 1/4 MIP adapter any refrigeration supply house will have the flare adapter and screw it in your quick disconnect air fitting ..Screw it on to your yellow hose.. no Air leaks .. Problem solved

To keep your air fitting from leaking, use a 1/4 flare to 1/4 pipe thread and connect that to the air hose quick connect (male or female, whatever you have handy will determine the 1/4 flare fitting)

You need an old redneck for this kind of knowledge. You're awesome dude!

Good explanation. I would also suggest to first bleed the shop air tank of any water in order to minimise suspended moisture in air put into systems.
(All air compressors have a water bleed valve at the lowest part of the tank)

Nothing better than OLD school !!!!!!

hi
CAUTION
Do you have a desiccant drier and micro filter on your shop air . The answer is 99.9% NO [some spray paint shops do ]

U just inserted dirt and high moisture into A/con system . Rectify by using flush, blowing down with nitrogen then evacuating over night . A short cut is never what it seems .
A REFRIGERATION MECHANIC WOULD NEVER FILL A SYSTEM WITH COMPRESSED AIR

Compressed air will add moisture to the system. A better choice is Nitrogen.

Wouldn't this be the best way to find a leak over dye?

Great video.TY

Wow, this is awesome!

I have three quick connects and none of them fit anywhere near the yellow hose. What can I do. They're all too big. They don't even screw in a tiny bit

Perfect way to go about it. Makes plenty of sense. Where is the link for the listening system please?

What PSI do u recommend on the air supply side

I discovered my truck AC had a pretty major leak when one day it worked and the next had nothing It was a pretty bad leak as vacuum applied was lost in a few minutes of leakdown time.

Thought of how could I pressurize the system w/o wasting refrigerant. Thought of using my air compressor, searched internet, found your video and your video did the rest. One suggestion, somewhere along the line I got a cheapo plastic ac can valve/adapter and used that to connect to the air compressor and since it was plastic I used a bit of thread tape and screwed the air compressor adapter in hard cuz did not care about ruining the threads since I have 2 other can valve/adapters that are both brass. Used long fuel funnel as my hearing aid, found the leak fast, lol. Thank you again for good ideas. Wish I could post a pic of the refrigerant can valve I screwed the compressor fitting into, it worked a treat, including having the ability to turn the air on or off.

One problem using shop air..moisture will kill pak oil..and the whole system

So helpful! Thanks

Excellent video

Soapy water after the air helps you see smaller leaks

Why don’t you do the same thing and use a bottle of soapy water that would work. You’ll tell where the Leak is

Very professional and clear. Thank you.

Shouldn’t be using compressed air for a/c work, the moisture is terrible for the system and will damage it in the long run.

A/C system now compromised as the introduction of moisture creates a flash gas effect on the liquid line due to a restricted filter drier. This will lead to inefficiency, damaged expansion valve and a shortened life span for the compressor. Use only oxygen free nitrogen to pressure test a refrigeration system.

use nitrogen if you have it instead of compressed air because the compressed air is full of moisture that will saturate the ac system drier dessicant.

Only on an American car would you find such a massive failure of the hardline smh

Wouldn't the wet air from the air compressor damage the AC compressor system??

Air and moisture is damaging standard norm is nitrogen

Good points made but one thing you failed to explain is do you keep the high-side and low-side shut or do you open one at a time to see if the leak is coming from high side or the low side I would think that you would start off on the low side and then jump to the high side or vice-versa whenever it is your choice and then I would think that before you mess up other holdings within your system and you just want to fix the leak to make sure that you have not a lot of air pressure coming through because some people's air compressors are set for 175 PSI all the way down to your most common 120 to 150 psi's you don't want to go past the recommendation of what the auto manufacturer recommends going through that pipe for the high or the low side so that is something I wanted to point out this is a good tip but also you need to pay attention to how much are your phone through the system and are you having the high and the low side open at the same time and I feel good that is definitely necessary because you have all wings and you have things within the compressor and if you do one at a time with just say 15 or 20 lb of PSIthat's not going to be enough to hurt anything but at least enough to let the artscape through in here it I mean you can hear air of seeping through at two or three PSI that's not going to be enough to hurt anything but at least enough to let the air escape through in here it I mean you can hear are of seeping through at two or three PSI inside at a time at a desired low PSI pressure and that should solve your issue something it was failed to be demonstrated here but otherwise pretty good

Thank you for this brief and top notch presentation.

Shop air works to find leaks but unless you have good dry shop air you’re introducing moisture into the AC system which is never good. I do not recommend using shop air to pressurize the system I would recommend using dry nitrogen to pressurize the system much better choice .

Thank you so much! I was able to find my leak right away with this method!! 😊

This is exactly the information I needed. Thank you for sharing!

Use Nitrogen. it's inert. And no compressed air. Yes air is 80% nitrogen but it has oxygen & moisture. Moisture, hfc,cfc trace amt & oil = Acid. Hydro flouric Acid. Acid eats up rubber and aluminum. This why we vacuum evacutesystem. To boil away moisture. Wht does Desiccant bag inside receiver dryer do? Remove capture moisture.

Worked for me thank you ❤

Question
What size is the quick male disconnect.

I used this technique three years ago...now my ac is out again.

Could you please share the name of the listening ears?

Thanks.

Thanks a lot for this film. I also need to check most likely empty AC system. I even thought it is not possible. What a brilliant idea. I have one car in which AC stopped blowing cold air. It is our back up car, and since the attempts to repair it at dealer failed, we let it go like that without AC. It was 10 years ago, so most likely the AC system is empty, if it was a leak there. Dealer was complaining w/leak on the compressor seal they installed. They replaced the compressor like 2-3 times, but again it failed. Last time they wrote that the compressor is leaking at the central seam. Probably they had defective compressors or smth. I plan to attempt to repair that AC, since learned a bit about cars.

Don't make it harder and more complicated. Plasma cutters are equipped with a filter for moisture, sooo...yea. Nitrogen, Argon..??? Must be gone

Great video and advice

Just what I was looking for! Your my kinda guy!

Thank you sir!

This the best vidio i saw to catch the leak without waisting freon and more easy you dont have to look for dye in looking for dye it tough this is good thanks well explained everything

Eastern Phoebe calling in the background….Northern Cardinal at the end….

I was just wondering about using compressed air as we will vacuum after anyway. I graduated HVAC program for residential and commercial but would like to work on car ac as well. I appreciate the video.

You should never use shop air. It has moisture which is a killer for AC systems. Nitrogen is the gas to use. Too much bad info on here.

That's a really good way to saturate the system with moisture and it's going to need a deep vacuum in microns to get the moisture out. Next time you do an oil change add a quart of water and see how long your engine lasts. Lol

You just failed the EPA 608 certification