Little help with a R134a leak in a heat-pump dryer?

Hi Guys (and gals),

I've got a heat-pump dryer that runs but doesn't heat. This dryer is based on an R134a circuit using a BSD104DV-H3AX compressor documention.

I've disassembled the dryer and found a bit of refrigerant oil and an obvious problem on the line from evaporator to compressor Overview, and closeup. There is a tiny pinhole at the bottom of this "bite."

Based on the shape of this "bite" my assumption is, the coil next to this line was wedged against the pipe during assembly and wore it away under vibration Seems to fit.

Anyway, I confirmed this was leaking by throwing a bullet piercing valve on the high side of the compressor, wetting things down with soapy water, and got bubbles at this one location.

So, now the question is how to go about fixing this over here in Germany. I'm a handy DIY guy, and the hardware stores here have a good selection of solder and butane or butane/propane canisters for copper water line soldering and such but refrigeration is something no homeowner here really does. The mentality of "leave this kinds of things to the professionals" is practiced much more here. But anyway...

What I haven't found are any fittings for this 8mm tubing that would let me cut this section out to solder one in its place, either 90° or straight. So...

• Given it's a pinhole and there's a lot of surface around it, do you think I can clean up the surface and hard-solder the hole shut?

• What about taking a piece of copper pipe slightly larger, splitting it, wrapping around this area, and soldering that to the pipe to give seal it off with more structure?

• I assume 8mm compression fittings (which I can find here designed for either water or propane lines) wouldn't be ideal, but maybe worth a try?

Or another idea?

Obviously, once the hole is plugged, I need to pull a vacuum (I have an 800mbar vacuum pump available), and charge with 134a, which I don't have, although I can get a can of the stuff or maybe I could get an autoshop to do the recharge...

Any help appreciated, and any questions welcome.

submitted by /u/Leitnin
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