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<p>What little I know about it ...</p>
<p>Yes, the basic concept and tasks are dead simple.</p>
<p>To keep mere mortals from actually fixing things like this there
appear to be two show-stoppers.</p>
<p>The first is getting access to a reasonable quantity of the
correct refrigerant ... all three aspects - the 'access' part, the
'you do not need a 25lb bottle of it if you can actually get it'
part and the 'correct ' part.<br>
<br>
You may need an EPA 608 certificate to get the refrigerant. That
may still be available by going to this site ...
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://ww2.epatest.com/epa-608/">https://ww2.epatest.com/epa-608/</a> ... and taking the on-line test.
I did that many years ago and they sent me the card in the mail.
I've never actually used it but it seemed to be what was required
to get refrigerant if you need something other than the R-134A
topper cans available at the local hardware and auto parts store.<br>
</p>
<p>The second is the fittings on the hoses. It seems like categories
of refrigerant have threaded fittings that are different from
other categories of refrigerant. I know the old R-12 fittings on
cars are different than the newer R-134A fittings which may be
different than whatever they are currently using. The HF gauge set
is listed as R-134A and that defines the threaded fitting on the
end of the hoses.</p>
<p>And you now know about as much as I do.</p>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 5/7/21 2:02 PM, Scott Hall wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAK73_u4T9MPRoVRZkTLofqrR8wv-J_A8OaGO-EG=xG1KYJjY2g@mail.gmail.com">
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<div dir="ltr">I just spent the morning calling maybe twenty
different results under "Appliance Repair" on Google to fix a
Sub Zero refrigerator that came with the new house.
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Literally every one Just Doesn't Want to be Bothered. The
Sub Zero dealer WILL take my money--$700 for the part--and
another $800 for the labor. This is an undercounter fridge
that I can just toss, and Google tells me the part is $150
online. I don't like it $1500, especially when it looks like
their labor rate is $400/hour (including drive time) and the
part has a 400% markup.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Separately, I have two 1950s-era Coca Cola bottle vending
machines. They have sentimental value so I don't want to toss
them, but a while back I tried calling around to have them
repaired because they don't cool. That was worse than trying
to have a refrigerator fixed. </div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>These are all just compressors attached to evaporators,
etc. The vending machines are stone ax-simple and the cool
thing about the Sub Zero is that it is, too--all the parts are
designed to be easily replaced and are either out in the open
or behind easily-removed panels. I actually like this thing;
it's like the opposite of our Mazda on which even an oil
change made me want to trade in the car (seriously, Mazda, why
locate the oil filter *under* the exhaust manifold and make
only accessible from the top of the car? I know you guys are
in Hiroshima, but that was a LONG time ago. Let's move on.)</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>And watching the Sub-Zero guy do his thing, he used a
Harbor Freight vacuum to pull vacuum on the system, and the
gauges looked like HF stuff too. And I feel like if I can
rebuild a car engine, I can probably handle this.</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>Anybody get involved with this stuff? At this point I feel
like I'd be less frustrated in learning to fix these myself
than I am trying to get someone to come out and fix them. </div>
</div>
<br>
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