Hi Joe,

No I don’t take any offense at all. You are in fact quite right. Regarding DX, & beyond the obvious (power, call for heat, control board, belts, etc.), the refrigeration circuit is where I’d want to have a look.

BTW: I’m not an HVAC technician, although I am an accredited geothermal installer. I design and consult on geothermal projects, conventional (HDPE/liquid) & DX (I have been train on Earthlinked).

SR

Schrader valves seem to figure uncommonly often in this year's tales of woe, which seems odd for such a simple device.

Schrader valves should not require a cap to operate leak-free. Caps are to keep moisture and debris out of the valve assembly and service port threads.

Manifold should stay in truck until other possibilities are exhausted with ALL systems, not just DX, IMO.

Posted By engineer on 17 Mar 2011 09:52 PM
Schrader valves seem to figure uncommonly often in this year's tales of woe, which seems odd for such a simple device.

Schrader valves should not require a cap to operate leak-free. Caps are to keep moisture and debris out of the valve assembly and service port threads.

Manifold should stay in truck until other possibilities are exhausted with ALL systems, not just DX, IMO.

I think we have seen valves blamed......I'm not sure that's the same as them failing. I remember one instance where the "cheap caps" were blamed but it was also reported that leaky manifold gauges were left installed on that unit.

Earlier in this thread we agreed with your manifold gauge suggestion. The DX direction came a little later.
j