Vacuum pump for A/C servicing?

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Spook50

Spook50

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I bought the exact same one last year. Tried it only once on my rig. It pulled a good vacuum, but I still had a leak somewhere. I just ordered some extra pump oil, since it comes shipped without any, and the sight glass was just below full after filling it and using it. There was no info on the oil type or spec so I ordered theirs which kinda of pi$$ed me off.
 
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I considered the Harbor Freight pump. Haven't had the greatest luck with their stuff recently though, so I've held off on that.
 
I make a living with vacuum pumps. At work we have pumps that range from 50 liters per minute at 10 microns of mercury to turbomolecular pumps that pump down to 10-6 Torr. The cheapo air powered venturi effect pump at harbor freight for $20 is plenty good to pump down your AC system. So is the $105 pump shown. It depends on how often you need to pump down your AC system.
 
Pin_Head said:
I make a living with vacuum pumps. At work we have pumps that range from 50 liters per minute at 10 microns of mercury to turbomolecular pumps that pump down to 10-6 Torr. The cheapo air powered venturi effect pump at harbor freight for $20 is plenty good to pump down your AC system. So is the $105 pump shown. It depends on how often you need to pump down your AC system.
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That just depends on how good of a job I do swapping out all the O-rings in my system when I get around to getting it apart! :hillbilly:
 
When you talk about using a vacuum pump on your AC system, you're talking about sucking air out of a recently opened system, not sucking the refrigerant out, correct?
 
I think the best deal in a cheap vacuump ump for AC is the Nalgene water aspirator. It pumps down to about 10 millibar and costs $15.

The point of vacuum for AC is to get the water vapor and air out and you can do this by purging the air, adding a squirt of refrigerant and repeating the evacuation. If you repeat it a couple of times while the vacuum is running, there will be no more air or water vapor.
 
GLTHFJ60 said:
When you talk about using a vacuum pump on your AC system, you're talking about sucking air out of a recently opened system, not sucking the refrigerant out, correct?
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Correct. All my freon leaked out a while back through what I think was either dried up o-rings or an evaporator leak, so yes it'll be used to leak check and draw it down once it's all back together.
 
Is anyone aware of a DIY method to evacuate a charged AC system for servicing?
 
None that I've seen. I've looked around in the past and all I've found are pro level machines with specialized pumps and large tanks for the recovery.
Honestly I'm surprised that there isn't a more well known DIY method, especially since R12 is so much more expensive and is a fluorocarbon.
 
I have the 2.5 CFM HF pump. Only use it occasionally but works just fine for me
 
You can use an old refrigerator compressor as a vacuum pump...
 
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