Minisplit lineset evacuation without a pump?

[Raisedonadeere]

Just a few months ago someone contributed to a minisplit install thread about a product that essentially was a can that will pressurize a hooked up lineset, then purge it somehow.

I thought it was an easy to remember name to remember and I started seeing it advertised several places but now that I am wanting to look into using it I cannot come up with the right search term.

The picture of it looked similar to a automobile refrigerant can, a little larger, and it was called quickvac, or quickevacuation or quick purge or some such variation.

I have all the essential tools to do my garage minisplit install but this product sounded like the perfect thing for a fresh install where only the new clean lineset is being purged. The product was priced at around $35.

 

[Black Oak]

I'd be afraid to try it .

 

[fitter30]

No need to get down to 500 microns at a minimum or a triple evacuation.

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[Raisedonadeere]

On a fresh install, the only thing being evacuated is the lineset itself and the evaporator which are new and free of compressor oils that could combine with moisture. So the moisture is not bound up as it later becomes in a running system.

I have no doubt that there is not technology available that would do a safe purge using some inert gas that would serve as a pressure test and then could be bled off prior to releasing the compressor gas into the lineset.

I recently saw something to suggest that someone has packaged such a solution for use in the minisplit install market. Just wanted to check it out. Hope someone recalls that post.

 

[Terry D]

No need to get down to 500 microns at a minimum or a triple evacuation.

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Why is that?

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[kinglake]

https://www.pioneerminisplit.com/products/kwik-e-vac-line-set-flushing-kit-for-mini-split-air-conditioning-systems?variant=31863667195946

 

[Terry D]

https://www.pioneerminisplit.com/pr...r-conditioning-systems?variant=31863667195946

Im not sold on it, i still believe the old fashioned way is the best. Pressure test for leaks, pull it down in a deep vacuum

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[rlitman]

That appears to be ludicrously overpriced (600% markup?) R-152a. If that works, you could buy a can of it in a "dust off" container, and use a side can tap.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

It's the "modern" equivalent to what some of the Old Timers did- push refrigerant through the system and out a service port instead of a proper evacuation. AFAIC, it's also a total ******** lazy *** hack, just like when the Old Timers did it.

Tommy

 

[Raisedonadeere]

I would pay $40 a pop for any hookup that was as quick as running that qwik-e-vac process, - - if it works. Nowhere does it claim to replace pulling a vacuum on a complete system, or old systems that have been running that would have oil coating the lines with the various gasses trapped in the oil that require deep vacuum to be purged.

Someday manufacturers, to satisfy a market, will produce installation ready linesets, and systems that are dry and ready that do not require anything more than a inert gas purge and pressure test before releasing the refrigerant into the system.

My question will be does Kwik-E-Vac work? The product advertisement literature says it contains, Difluoroethane which has zero ozone depletion potential and a very low global warming potential. So it is not the same as pushing r22 through the lines in that regard.

But thanks for the info rlitman, about the "dusrt off" side can tap and that indeed, Kwik-E-Vac is the gas sometimes packaged as R 152a and is used in duster products so, yes, the price is purely in scam territory.

But if it worked it would be worth the price. Lazy people do try and do things that are bad sometimes but also lazy people have developed many good improvements to the human condition so I will keep watching for something a lazy man discovered because he was too lazy to do some complicated, labor intensive process.