Air Conditioning Leak Detector Dye

Did you know that Spectronics brand air conditioning leak detector dye is the ONLY oil additive that is approved by Copeland?

Aside from refrigerant, refrigeration oil, and nitrogen, there is nothing else (that I know of so far) that Copeland approves of introducing into air conditioning and refrigeration system piping.

I try to make sure that I always have a variety of Spectronics air conditioning leak detector dye around for those leaks that bubble solutions and electronic sensors just won't locate.

The dye is available in different sizes of charging bottles that can be used to charge directly into a system.

It is also available in different varieties for the different refrigeration oils.

Make sure you use the correct variety for your system.

This is the procedure I use to charge a bottle of air conditioning leak detector dye into a system:

When I set up the gauges, I use an extra hose.

I attatch the high side hose normally, and set up the center hose to charge in liquid refrigerant.

I set the extra hose up to charge into the low side, attatch the outlet of the bottle of dye to it, attatch the low side hose to the inlet of the bottle of dye, and charge a shot of liquid refrigerant into the low side of the system.

You may have to modify this technique, depending on the size and design of your unit.

To be safe, use a charging orifice so the refrigerant will flash into the system instead of going in as straight liquid.

Pumps are now available especially for charging in air conditioning leak detector dye, and they'll save you time and aggravation.

To get the best results with the dye, come back at night so it will show up nice and bright when you illuminate it.

If you're sure the leak is indoors, and you can turn off the lights, it should work fine.

I've done the same thing myself, and found the leak during the daytime.

To illuminate the dye, I've used the Spectronics UV lamp and it worked great.

These days I use an Inova UV X5 LED flashlight, and although it isn't quite as powerful as the 110V Spectronics lamp, I've used it successfully, and it's worked fine.

I hope these tips will help you save time on your next leak detection job, and please, feel free to contact us with any specific HVAC questions you might have, including questions about air conditioning on Guam, and refrigeration on Guam.

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