Air con pipes

I have a punctured air con pipe on my car. Is it possible to solder air con pipes and if so what sort of solder should I use. Any info would be appreciated as the pipe is about £300.00!!!. Rather spend that on a new pillar drill.

Have a look for a firm called Pirtek in your area. This is the kind of stuff they make up for you to a pattern, or they might be able to repair.

Martin.

costly job i'm afraid as you will need a new pipe and the system recharging with gas at around 2500psi

regards

peter

These pipes are made of thin wall aluminum, not the best stuff to weld, also the system works at very high pressure 250 PSi is often seen in hot weather and the car is in traffic.

I have had some expensive pipes repaired by a local hydraulic company replacing the flexible part of these pipes but not the solid aluminum ones.

If you do manage to repair the pipe the system will have to be evacuated and regassed, adding any oil that might have been lost when the pipe failed.

If the pipe has been damaged for some time, it will be necessary to replace the reciever/dryer in the system.

HTH

I would buy the drill and sweat the few days of the year the sun comes out

Did a job for the body shop a while ago on an air con pipe off one of their loan cars and they didn't want to fork out £350 for a new pipe.

The pipe was alloy 12mm diameter with 1.6 wall thickness, managed to TiG it, didn't look all that neat but i was frightened that the pipe might collapse and block.

Well worth the 15 minutes it took [ pipe was off the car ] and this was with one of those £500 Chinese Tig welders. been an ace machine, in fact just off to weld a broken alloy motor housing up now.

John S.

If the pipe is alloy you could use "Lumiweld" it's quite a bit like soldering.

I have in recent times used it to repair the sump threads in alloy motor cycle sump pans, motor cycle clutch levers many things even the living room alloy door stop.

Bought mine a few years ago so there are probably more modern products around now but I know this works.

I doubt your lumiweld would stand the pressure. As John S says, get it TIG welded.

The pressure in auto AC systems is nowhere near 2500 psi as stated above. Typically it is around 200-300 psi on the pressure side and 30 -40 psi on the suction side of the compressor.

I would not recommend soldering or welding a cracked line yourself, unless the refrigerant has been completely lost or the system evacuated by a refrigeration pro. Even if you do get a good weld, the line will have ash and debris in it afterward that if not cleaned out will destroy the compressor when the system is re-started. If the refrigerant has been lost for a while the line and possibly the whole system will have dirt contamination which should be purged by a refigeration pro before refilling and restarting the system. The weld may have a slow leak which can only be detected with a pressure test, and a weld may corrode fater than the parent tubing due to lost coatings at the weld.

After any repair to auto AC the system must be purged, refilled and the whole system pressure tested, and the pros have specialist equipment for that. It ensures all components of the system including the compressor and seals are leak tight. Not sure about UK, but in North America there are affordable small low-profile shops in smaller towns that will do these repairs at reasonable cost. (there are also many big city large AC shops that advertise widely but overcharge for services and do bad work or bill when no work was done) Often parts from an auto wrecker can be used to replace damaged lines rather than welding or soldering with their attendant risk of contamination and future leaks.

Just my $0.02, your mileage may vary.

JD

Tha ally pipes I would try to source from a breaker, 2nd choice get them made up locally, 3rd choice make up from copper pipe, just as easy as brake pipes. My choice is ditch the air-con.

Thanks everybody for your replies. Try scrapyard on monday and if not I will try brazing. If that doesn't work I'm afraid I will have to bite the bullet. Can't do without air con once I've had it!

Nick H