To be edited when I have time. A bit of info, thoughts and notes from today:
The heat pump was purchased as installed, but not used from new - it was plumbed in but not drained for winter leading to frost damage to the lower part of the heat exchanger by the person who I bought it from. Picked it up and had a look and I think to myself that I may be able to fix it.
A new heat exchanger is about £750.
I was very lucky to find the refrigeration circuit entirely intact and weighed out the whole charge upon recovering it. Excellent.
About 60ml of oil came out on refrigerant recovery so that will be put back in before strength, pressure, leak checks. Then it is triple vac and charging time.
The compressor resistance across all three windings is good and an insulation resistance check came out fine too.
I managed to get all the stainless steel reinforcing bits into the upper casing, having to stop now and then to let the tool cool down and get sidetracked by other tasks. The two ends of this upper part then had the tails clipped and then I used my brother’s die grinder to create a groove for the welds and also take off some of the oxidised uPVC (the shiny bit) for correct welding. Although this has gone quite wide, the weld gun will be used to restore the sheen after.
The fractured end of the upper section has had a taper ground in ready for the base to be reattached.
Next, finish the main case grinding and prep then weld. Followed by the base, joining them together and checking for leaks.
