My idiot friend was screwing brackets inside an ice cream freezer with self-tapping screws, and one of the screws pierced a copper line containing refrigerant. Apparently it made a crazy hissing sound and super cold gas came out of the hole. It happened outside and nobody was injured or anything, just shocked.
I figured since I know how to sweat a copper joint, I could fix the tiny hole in the copper line, and then get an HVAC tech to refill the lost refrigerant.
The plan is to cut the section of pipe with the hole in it, slip on a coupler, and solder the joint.
I know I have to be extra careful to not get anything inside the copper line, but aside from that, does this seem doable?
Also, which kind of solder should I use (60/40?), or should this be brazed?
Best Answer
2nd vote for having the service guy fix the pipe. He has a bag of tools and couplers all the right size (you won't find what you need at Home Depot), and will have done this kind of thing a couple of hundred times. Your main expense will be the service call and the gas, they might not even charge for the 5 minute repair.
Don't touch it with solder - solder requires flux, and doing both a decent job on the joint and not polluting the inner works is rather difficult. The service guy will know how to do it and/or have flux that won't damage anything.
Is idiot friend going to man up and pay the bill?
Make sure you call a commercial company. It may look like a domestic fridge on the inside, but there may be enough differences to be annoying.