Refrigerant Leak?
Seeing Smoke?

Have you ever mistaken refrigerant for smoke? I have.

Recently while scanning the many refrigeration units at a packing plant I thought one of them was on fire. A column of white smoke was blowing out of the top.

A leak on the condenser coil while the unit is running can create a mess. The fine mist of oil looks exactly like smoke and quickly covers everything around.

If the leak is on the liquid line it will probably look like a white foamy substance.

Look for the same on leaking gaskets, cracks on lines, or rusty spots on a drier.

Best way to clean it up? Use a few cans of brake cleaner that can be purchased from your local auto parts store. It works great and leaves no messy residue.

For bigger cleanup jobs use a degreasing solution. But make sure you rinse the condenser coils thoroughly.

Unlike the evaporator coil, the condenser coil does not have condensate rinsing away the excess.

It's amazing how quickly dust and dirt accumulate on an oily surface. Before you know it, you're once clean equipment is a greasy mess!!!






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