ATLANTA — At the AHR Expo, RectorSeal LLC highlighted several new products designed to combat leaks and corrosion, both on the inside of the unit and from salty sea breezes on the coast.

RectorSeal introduced three new refrigeration leak sealant products to its AC Leak Freeze product line for permanently sealing microleaks in residential and commercial a/c systems. AC Leak Freeze’s nano PRO Series now includes ultraviolet (UV) dye for leak detection and a leak sealant designed for the lower refrigerant volume of mini splits.

“We’ve had a leak sealant, but everyone kept asking us to add a dye,” said Jerry Myren, regional sales manager, HVACR. “They want to see exactly where it’s going to leak. Now we have a leak sealant and a dye with UV.”

The dye expedites leak troubleshooting by identifying exit holes, skipping the repair step of leak detection with bubble liquids, electronic sniffers, ultrasonic detectors, or a separate dye injection. The factory-sealed PRO Series applicator eliminates dye contact with the service tech because its low-loss connection safety fitting doesn’t release refrigerant, sealant, or dye into the environment or onto hands, clothing, and tools. The PRO Series applicator doesn’t require an R-410A system pump-down, and its applicator withstands an industry-high burst pressure of up to 3,000 psi.

GulfCoat is a spray-on solution that helps fight corrosion from salt spray in areas near the ocean.

“AC Leak Freeze is the internal protection for formicary corrosion,” said Myren. “Now we’ve got GulfCoat, the external protection for formicary corrosion.

“Before, contractors would have to send the whole unit out to some specialist before they could install the unit,” Myren explained. “Some manufacturers offer a corrosive costal unit. But you’re getting it from the distributor, they’re getting it from the manufacturer … at a premium price. Modine is the largest company involved with the dipping of the equipment for this corrosive protection. So we talked to Modine, and we now offer [the Modine solution] in an aerosol, so you can get that protection in the field or in your shop.”

One can of GulfCoat coats a residential unitary split system, mini split, or light commercial HVACR unit of up to 2.5 tons or a maximum 8 square feet of coil space. The water-based synthetic polymer blue or clear coating, designed for new and existing HVACR equipment, passed ASTM B117 test standards for salt spray and multiple marine and industrial ASTM test standards for resisting UV rays, acid rain, high concentrations of urban vehicle emission air pollutants, and other outdoor contaminants that prematurely corrode unprotected coils and components. GulfCoat’s finish also helps maintain system static pressure and airflow efficiency.  

For leaks in the home, TripleGuard — a smart, electronic water leak monitoring, detection, and prevention system product line — guards against infrastructure water source leaks in residential and commercial real estate.

TripleGuard consists of two products: the TripleGuard Active appliance leak shutoff, designed mainly for single-source protection such as water heaters, and the TripleGuard Smart kit for cloud-based monitored facility leak protection.

The TripleGuard Active is a one-piece actuator valve that monitors and detects water heater leaks. Its single 10-foot-long, umbilical cord-connected sensor, when placed in the water heater pan, automatically deactivates the cold water shutoff valve when detecting a water leak presence.

“The majority of leaks that flood the house are hot water tanks, and we have one specifically for a hot water tank,” Myren said. “If it senses water rising, this will shut it off. About 13 seconds, and the water’s off completely.”

The TripleGuard Smart kit is battery operated and comes with a hub and a web/smartphone app for remote monitoring.

“It does work with wireless, but it has an RF frequency, because what if you lose electric power? It has a radio frequency to communicate with these,” Myren said. “Since all of these are battery operated, it never goes down.”

The web app tells the strength of the battery, and 30 devices can be connected to one system.

Also in RectorSeal’s AHR lineup was Hot Block, a reusable heat absorption putty.

“When you’re going to sweat a fitting, lots of times, the heat transfers down and ruins valves,” said Myren. “Sometimes, they use a wet rag or a spray-on, one-time use. This putty can be contoured to wherever you’re at, and if it dries out, all we have to do is add a little water to it, and it comes back to life.”

Hot Block separates surrounding areas from potentially conductive brazing/soldering temperatures of 850°F and reduces them by up to 90 percent. It doesn’t degrade from welding temperatures of up to 3,000°. Besides absorbing heat, Hot Block can also prevent nearby drywall or wood from igniting; existing fitting joints from unsoldering; or flange bolt/nut threads, valves, and sensitive equipment from residual spark damage.

Publication date: 2/18/2019

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