Question For HVAC guys

[A1971Blazer]

My house unit developed a leak and lost all the refrigerant...I had a tech come out and repair and refill it...

the king valve was where the leak was and all he did was apply some "gorilla snot" and tighten the cap down..pulled a vacuum and refilled with 17 lbs of R410A.....charged me $895.00....

my question...is the R410A refrigerant that expensive....I looked on Ebay and a 25lb bottle was around $150...

[71meangreenc10]

What was his labor rate? I would get a second opinion for that repair technique from another company for what he charged. You will be shocked at what some of these companies charge for labor. It is all about the mark up......If you can buy R410A online for less than $125 than they can get it cheap too. Just depends on where his source of supply is coming from but, shouldn't be that much more in cost.

Smitty

[100%Chevy]

He should guarrantee his work!
Call him and tell him it didn't work and he needs to replace the valve.
For that amount of money,he should do it right-No half-azz patching!
If he doesn't repair it at no cost,call the BBB and report him!Is he licensed?
And,don't use the same guy again.
I'm a retired electrical/ac contractor and I hated going behind idiots like this!
Mike.

[Jrainman]

OK you got ripped, there is no way your residential A/C system hold 17 lbs of refrigerant .

even if you had 300ft of lineset (copper Tubing ) you could not have 17lbs in your system.

Do yourself a favor look at the tag on your unit write the make and model number down call the manufacture of your condenser and ask them how much that system holds with 50ft of linset , most house on average have about 35 ft of copper (lineset) and see what they tell you

at best your system hold 6 lbs of refrigerant. and that is bone dry with a vaccum put on the system , typical HVAC ripoff service company

[jjzepplin]

I do all my own hvac. How hard would it be to have put in a $2 valve. Recharge would be about $75 if done right. At his prices I have saved myself tens of thousands!

[67cst68sct]

r410a systemw use more refrigerant than r22 but that seems about right i have put 24lb in a 10 ton system. we charge 20 bucks a pound for r410a 92hr should not have taken but 2 or 3 hr

[Mack B]

Originally Posted by Jrainman

OK you got ripped, there is no way your residential A/C system hold 17 lbs of refrigerant .

at best your system hold 6 lbs of refrigerant. and that is bone dry with a vaccum put on the system , typical HVAC ripoff service company

This was true years ago, not anymore with the high efficiency systems today. I had to replace a txv that cracked and emptied a 7 year old 15 seer 5 ton system today. 17lbs on the nose.

Op the factory charge is on the data plate, this is what the condensor holds and will typically get you within 2 lbs of total charge. It sounds like his repair method was the easy route, if it was the large brass cap on a service port it's typical and has worked before though.

I'm a small 2 man shop in south Alabama, we get a 25lb drum of 410A for around 150, and sell it $25.00 a pound. Repairing leak (assuming simple brazing), vacuuming system would be around 2 hours. Also assuming you actually needed that amount of refrigerant cost would be around $550.00

I know this is comparing apples to oranges, just giving my insight on this. Hope it holds up, sir!