Less than 1 year old, leaks, problems

Location: Missouri
Unit: Central AC/Heat pump (single stage I believe)

I had a whole new system installed late last summer and shortly after it was installed it didn't cool very well. We noticed a leak in the garage overhead of the coolant lines. I was not there to see what they did but I was told that they fixed the line but with some form of chemical in the line.

It is mid summer the next year and the AC is not working well again. Someone dispatched and said the filter was clogged and that the system should be ok. I got home, as my wife was the one there , and found it still pumping coolish air.

I opened the inside unit and found the evaporator iced over. I used a hair dryer to get all the areas I could from the top and ran just the blower for an hour before turning the system on. It still didn't do worth a crap. After a while I got back into the unit and felt the lines next to the evaporators and it didn't seem cold.

From what I can guess, I am low on coolant but I am also concerned about the whole that they fixed last year. Does any of the inline chemical seealents do any good or can they cause problems in my lines and compressor. I really hate the fact that they did this as I fear they may have shortened the life of my unit. What is the "right" way to use this stuff if it can be used so that I can quize the company and find out if they really jacked me or if they did it right?

Suggestions and thoughts???

 

When you say you noticed a leak in the garage what do you mean, a water leak?

Are the refrigerant lines ran in a ceiling?

Are they the existing lines or new with the install?

 

They installed a new compressor, lines and inside unit. The whole shabang. I have drywall ceiling in the garage but the lines are simply hooked onto the ceiling so they are exposed for me to see. What we found was a wet floor stain above the lines. There must have been a slight hole in the black insulation that surrounds the coolant pipe as this is where it started coming from. Shortly after this we discovered the AC started failing to cool. 1+1 equals coolant must have come from the line and this is when they came out and had to fill coolant again and "fix" the leak which I was informed was doen with a liquid in the line leak stopper.

 

OK, if anything, what you saw was a water stain from the suction line condensating IMHO.
If there were a refrigerant leak in an exposed line set only a total hack would use a line sealant, for that matter no reputable company would ever use it.

Somethings not adding up here, did they say the leak was in the line set?

Did they do any kind of leak check?

Who is the manufacturer of the equip?

 

Only 2 things belong inside any refrigeration system. The proper refrigerant and the proper oil. I'll give some ground on the dye stuff but I don't like it too much. Internal sealant? NO WAY! The stupenadals left a leak behind them which means they never got a good evacuation from jump street.