I have noticed the refrigerant pipe that is inside the condenser, the one that connects to the compressor, was sweating the other day. I did read on here as far as energy efficiency goes it does not need to be insulated.
But please see the attached image, the pipe is turning green. Is that corrosion? Should I just insulate that small section? putting the insulation right up against the connector junction?
Short refrigerant pipe sweating, need insulation ideas
hvacinsulationpipe
Related Solutions
You may be looking at the problem backwards, the freezing lines could be a symptom of the problem not the cause. Start by looking for blockages in the system that would cause lower air flow / heat exchange.
- Dirty filters.
- Clogged ducts.
- Closed dampers.
- Closed/Blocked vent covers.
- Dirty coils.
Basically if the system cannot exchange the heat/cold, it will not function properly and could lead to over heating/cooling.
Frozen lines could also be caused by high or low levels of refrigerant, so you'll want to get a service person out to check the refrigerant levels.
Here is a really good image to visualize how it works.
This is the answer to your actual question:
"insulating the coolant pipe inside the actual AC unit itself."
As you correctly observed, if the outside pipe "should" be insulated (it should), then the inside pipe "should" also be insulated for all the same reasons everyone pointed out. However, the key is "should" vs "must." For argument's sake, say the outside pipe is 99 ft long and the inside pipe is 1 ft. Then the 99 ft pipe will absorb 99 times more heat from the outside air. So it's very important to insulate the outside pipe because it will absorb a lot of heat. It's not so important to insulate the inside pipe because it's so short it doesn't absorb much heat. Your AC would be slightly more efficient if you insulated the inside pipe -- but you get 99% of the benefit from insulating the outside, and only 1% of the benefit from insulating the inside pipe. Practically speaking, it's not enough benefit to make a difference.
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Best Answer
The corrosion/patina on the copper might seem like a bad thing because you're used to rust on steel, but it's not the same process. Rust on steel doesn't form a good bond on the metal, it expands, and it flakes off, exposing more steel that then rusts and flakes off, etc. It's a destructive process.
Copper an aluminum corrode much, much slower because the compounds they produce are bound tightly to the surface of the metal and actually create a protective coating that prevents further corrosion. Aluminum loves to bond with oxygen, so bare aluminum rapidly oxidizes (corrodes, "rusts"), but that forms a hard layer of aluminum oxide that keeps more oxygen out. The process is similar with copper, but with different compounds.
Those AC components are produced like that with full knowledge that it will have rain and condensation on it all the time. The patina won't be an issue and doesn't need anything to stop it.