Appliance Repair service calls come in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Changes are common to the home appliance industry where new designs are expected annually.
There is a new change set into effect however coming to a Suffolk County Long Island kitchen near you. (We think it’s a good change, a bit time consuming for the repairman, but good…..)
When an appliance repairman is needed for a sealed system refrigerator repair, it is and has always been considered a labor intensive service call.
Sealed system refrigerator repair most often involves working with the compressor, evaporator, filter drier the refrigerant and a whole bunch of tools:
- A torch for brazing
- Manifold Gauges
- Vacuum Pump
- Micron Gauge
- Tubing Bender
- Tubing Cutter
- Swaging Tools
- Digital Charging Scale
- Inert Gas for system purging
- 3-5 hours of patience (very valuable asset and tool)
- A bunch of hoses, fittings, valves and more……
Let’s talk about system purging
Refrigeration, like society, family and relationships work best when the various components (members) are all working together as a team.
When working with R-134A (the refrigerant used in home refrigerators for the last 30+ years) the system needs to be clean.
Actually home, commercial and industrial refrigeration all need a clean dry system to work as designed.
Home refrigerators use something called a fixed bore capillary metering device. This component helps meter or restrict the amount of refrigerant that may flow at a given time into the evaporator.
To help you understand that a bit, if there is debris inside the refrigeration tubing, the metering device (which is a filter and an extremely small diameter tubing) will likely get clogged.
When an appliance repairman or refrigerator service technician is working on a sealed system, purging the system is a critical step but often overlooked step.
Critical but overlooked?
Well, it’s not overlooked by everyone…..
Purging helps refrigerator repair service techs in 3 different ways:
- Clearing restrictions (as mentioned above)
- While brazing (using a torch to join the tubing)
- Pressure testing newly brazed tubing for leaks
“Boss listen, you gotta understand, purging to check for leaks takes a long time and my day is already packed with people who need help…….”
While it may be true that purging does take a bit longer than not purging the system, it will be needed / required moving forward more than ever.
The years 2019 and 2020 brought a new change to the home appliance repairman and the appliance industry as a whole.
Newly manufactured domestic home refrigerators are now fitted with a new cooling agent.
The new star of the refrigerator show is – R-600a (AKA isobutane)
On a macro level the largest benefit to using the new refrigerant would include it’s very low Ozone depletion scores.
The use of R-600a in a home refrigerator however means more tools to complete the work and more safety checks along the process. (Love tools? Learn about some refrigerator tools we love)
While yes it’s true refrigerator repair will now take a few more steps, including regular purging, it does not appear all that bad. (optimist**)
“God is the only true constant in the world, but if there was at least one other, it would be change.”
Well that’s it, we hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about the change / update to the refrigerator repair world coming to a Suffolk County NY kitchen near you.
If you or anybody you know has a refrigerator that is no longer cooling, not starting or simply needs a trained repair service technician near Westhampton or Hampton Bays Long Island NY—-
East Appliance Repair can help.
We help with Sub-Zero repair (& other brands too) in Quogue, Sayville, East Islip and many other Suffolk County NY towns.
Thanks for reading our post where we went over a “Appliance repairman update“
If you have a refrigerator in Long Island that is not working remember:
“This too shall pass.”
Email: info@eastappliance.com
Phone: 631-263-1961
East Appliance Repair Inc.
“Helping Long Island families make the best possible decisions with their home appliances.”
