Air Con for Electricians

[skirby]

I've had 3 enquiries about domestic air conditioning so far this month. It's probably because the sun has been out for 3 days but I'm thinking that this could be a sign that I need to diversify.
Does anyone have experience of using the pre-gassed DIY units which have been around for a while and if so which makes are the best. I have some plumbing experience but don't really want to get involved with soldering and gassing up etc. as my van is already scraping the tarmac. I am Part P so doing the supplies should be the easy bit.
I would appreciate some advice.

 

[empress]

fitted a few of these pregased units which are straight forward no soldering required.
joints are all compression and pipes are pre- set lengths.
you also need a 22mm condensate pipe which has to be piped outside from the head unit

when gassing up from main unit you neeed to check and double check with leak spray all yer compression joints as if ya lose yer gas its a real pain to get someone to recharge unit.
wiring is straight forward.

 

[skirby]

Thanks for the reply Empress.
The installation sounds straightforward enough.
I would be interested to know which make is the easiest to install and reliable.
I'm sure there are some dodgy ones around so I guess it's probably best to go for a well known manufacturer of AC units.

 

[benji]

What about the F Gas regulations

yours benji

 

[skirby]

Hi Benji
Am I correct in assuming that only AC units using the (now banned) R-22 Gas will be a problem.
Newer units would use non ozone depleting gasses such as R410A.
I can see red tape ahead. I thought electrics was bad enough!
Info from Refrigerant gas phase out (January 1995 to 2015).

 

[cornburn]

I've fitted a few and had leaks on the first one, major problems. Fortunately manufacturers fault so only cost my time. Made a contact with a local engineer with his vac license so any future one's he'll test and commission for me for £30, see if you can find someone local who just services, fixes etc and doesn't install them - you might be able to find someone similar and is well worth it for peace of mind so they can check with their guages instead of just fairy liquid.

It's a very grey area, all these DIY units don't comply really as it's illegal to purge the gas into the air. They fill the external unit with gas and the internal with air, then give you a set time to open the valve for, which is supposed to release all the air and have you close it at the exact moment air is out of the system and before any gas gets into the atmosphere. This is of course impossible to do so I wouldn't be surprised if the red tape tightened up in the future.

Re where to get them from, do a quick search on the net for a centre that does air conditioning and you'll find that there's a company with a very similar name who let sparks sign up for reseller accounts, shaving about £150 of the cost of the units from my local wholesalers. 12000BTUs very reasonable. Good luck

 

[benji]

In 2009 i bought a can of refridgerant to re -gas my car a/c ,the guy at the company who sold it said that in 2010 you would have to be registered to work on a/c systems

yours benji

 

[skirby]

Thanks Cornburn.
I've had a look at the website and the training courses and it's given me food for thought.
One of my customers has purchased a pre-gassed unit and wants me to install it.
I'm quite looking forward to the job and will let you know how it goes.