Re: "Outside Temp" adjustable?

[James Marriott <marriott@micron.net>]

Gerard wrote:

snippage WRT AC operation

> compressor is running or not. As is to be expected it comes on for
> about 2-3 seconds, then switches off and then keeps cycling like this.

snip...your refrigerant is very low, I'd guess

> When I looked at  the evaporator there is a large metallic canister
> in front of that big black box I now know as the evaporator. A pipe
> runs into it that leads back to the radiator area (ie. from the
> compressor). All the pipes are covered in a sticky black goo, which
> I think is just insulation. But it is particularly sticky at the point
> where it enters the canister. I think this is the damn thing that
> has leaked. About 1.5 months ago I took this thing in and had the gas
> replaced. The guy checked the evaporator area by spraying bubbles
> all over my equipment in the firewall, didn't seem as if he found
> anything. So I paid my US$50 to put in the gas. One week later it was
> dead and has been dead since.
> 
> I guess the next thing for me to do is take it into a specialist and
> have him check for a proper leak, right?

Try to find a place with 20th century tools, namely a halogen sniffer.
Sized like a DMM with a metal pencil sticking 7 cm out one end. They
come at the princely sum of ~250 USD. What an a**hole to leak check AC
with SOAPY WATER!?! It's not a Goodyear, ferkryssake!

You pay much less for refrigerant (if it's R12) than we do. Here it's
~$40-50 lb, so ~100 USD for a full charge. Anyway, take it immediately
to the shop that's going to do the repairs, or the recharging if you do
the repairs. You may still have a little R12 in there which can be
sucked out and "saved" by the shop until your repairs are complete and
you're ready for a recharge. Consider replacing the receiver/dryer--if
that's not the part with the leak--as they can get contaminated by a
leak.

hth,
James
Boise, ID, where the _high_ was 5 dC today