Hehe, goog thing is that mostly these teach when happen, 'specially if component that goes "boom" is expensive. Luckily, most expensive component I've killed so far was arduino UNO, which was scenario when I killed a wire (wire smelled much worse) when 'scope ground loop occured....*zap*Stories?
I could write an encyclopedia set on the odd stuff I have came across in my life time while doing day to day design/redesign or repair work.
Oh my your AC stories make me jealous, right now its as hot as the UK ever gets and my car AC doesn't work, recharged it last year but gone again over the winterit's either compressor seals or a leak somewhere, sadly I don't have the kit and repair places charge a fortune to even look, then it takes a year before you know if they did they actually found the leak! Joys of a 10 year old car never mind it's only this hot for a few weeks a year.........
I have a old thermal leak detector that I got when we upgraded at work/ It has to use NiCd AA batteries. Regular AA's won;t fit.
The company wont even talk to me as a consumer., so it's pretty decent.
Usually, the deal is to use Nitrogen to test a new system's integrity. Under N2 pressure you can use "bubble stuff". Smaller leaks require a small Freon charge. The integrity test, is to pressurize and wait a few hours and watch for a pressure drop. You can do the same with vacuum. Vacuum it down, turn off the pump and wait. If this was a house AC, lines would be soldered under N2 flow.
Usual car leaks are hose crimps and the evaporator. Leaves like oak + water can mean corrosion. Replacing the evaporator (the inside coil) isn't fun. The dryer should be replaced whenever the system is opened.
The biggest difference with R-12 and R134a is oil compatibility. O-rings need to be greased in the right oil.
Being your car is only ten years old it more than likely uses those crappy snap together quick connects for everything in the AC system and they are on of the worst designs ever for leaking.
A basic refrigeration manifold is pretty cheap these days compared to any auto shop bill. Same with a box of automotive AC system O-rings and the tool that unlock s the quick connect fittings from your local auto parts store.
As for DIY basic AC system service ideally having a vacuum pump is handy but if you don't mind doing a light charge and purge a few times to displace the air out of the system once you have had it open recharging your AC is not hard to do.
For a reference to how easy it is to do an AC system fix and charge just look at the DIY videos on YouTube Vs the pro guys videos . According to the pro's everything needs to be done in as expensively way as possible ( and only they can do it of course) but as the DIYers like me will show its pretty basic work if you know the theory behind the procedures.
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