Refrigerant leak detection on the Sunshine Coast - find it first, regas second.

Why a top-up-and-walk-away job is the wrong answer

About a third of the calls we get on the Sunshine Coast for "needs more gas" start with the customer telling us the last bloke just refilled it twelve months ago and it is empty again. That is not surprising - if a system loses charge it is leaking, refrigerant does not get consumed in normal operation. Filling it back up without finding the leak is paying for gas that will be on its way out the same hole within months. Beyond the wasted money, refrigerants R32 and R410A are scheduled greenhouse gases under the Ozone Protection and Synthetic Greenhouse Gas Management Act 1989. Our Australian Refrigeration Council (ARCtick) licence does not permit us to knowingly recharge a leaking system - doing it risks a six-figure penalty for the licence holder and an unlicensed sub-contractor breach for everyone involved.

So we run a proper detection job first. It costs more on day one, it finds the leak, the repair makes the regas the last thing you need to spend on that unit for years. Done once, done properly.

Stage one - recovery, pressure test, electronic sniffer

First visit, about 60 to 90 minutes on a typical residential split. We hook up to the service ports, recover whatever refrigerant is left in the system into a recovery cylinder (this is logged in the ARCtick national database). Then we charge the system with dry nitrogen to about 4000 kPa - well above operating pressure - and shut it in. A 30-minute hold tells us whether there is a fast leak; we listen with an ultrasonic detector and do a soap-bubble pass on every visible flare joint, the indoor and outdoor coil headers, and the service valves. About 40 percent of leaks are found right here on the first visit.

For the rest, the leak is small enough that nitrogen does not push out fast enough to detect in one session. We move to the electronic refrigerant sniffer - a heated-diode sensor that detects fluorocarbon molecules at parts-per-million levels. We sweep every joint, the indoor coil face, the line set where it crosses through walls and roof spaces, the outdoor coil and the service-port cores. Another 30 to 40 percent of leaks turn up here.

Stage two - UV dye and the patient wait

The remaining 20 to 30 percent - the slow weeps, the pinhole leaks that only open up when the system is running hot - need UV dye. We inject a fluorescent dye into the system through the service port, weigh in enough fresh refrigerant to bring the charge back to nameplate, and run the system normally for 10 to 14 days. During that time the dye migrates with the refrigerant to wherever it is escaping. Visit two is 30 to 45 minutes - UV torch on every joint and coil in a darkened service position. The dye glows bright yellow-green at the leak site. We have never failed to find one this way.

Where the leaks actually are on Sunshine Coast aircons

After a few hundred leak jobs around Maroochydore, Mooloolaba, Caloundra, Coolum and the hinterland, the distribution is fairly consistent:

Flare joints at the outdoor isolation valves (~35%)

The flare nut connecting the line set to the outdoor service valve sits in the weather. Twelve years of thermal cycling, fan vibration, and on coastal jobs chloride attack on the brass nut, eventually breaks the seal microscopically. Most are dry to the touch - the gas escapes invisibly. Repair is straightforward: recover, cut off the old flare, reform a fresh 45-degree flare with a torque wrench to manufacturer spec, evacuate and recharge. Around $120 to $180 for the labour, plus the regas.

Indoor coil pinhole - formic acid corrosion (~25%)

Formicary corrosion is when trace volatile organic compounds - household cleaning sprays, formaldehyde from new furniture, vinegar - combine with condensate moisture on the copper coil tubes and chew tiny crater-shaped pits, eventually breaching the tube wall. The fix is coil replacement - on a five-year-old unit that is sometimes worth doing ($800 to $1400 fitted), on a twelve-year-old system it usually pushes the conversation to replacement.

Schrader service valve cores (~15%)

Inside each service port is a small spring-loaded valve core, basically the same component as the valve in a car tyre. After thousands of pressure cycles the rubber seal weeps. Replacement is a five-minute job (specialist tool to swap the core under residual pressure) but the regas is the bigger cost. About $80 labour plus the regas.

Copper line-set rub-through (~15%)

Where the refrigerant lines pass through a wall penetration, run across a roof void, or sit against a vibrating outdoor unit chassis, decades of low-amplitude vibration can wear through the copper. Repair is a section replacement and a flare or braze join. $180 to $320 labour depending on access.

Outdoor coil pinhole (~10%)

Again coastal - chloride corrosion can pit a U-bend at the bottom of a condenser coil to the point of breach. Coil replacement only, $900 to $1600 fitted depending on brand.

The honest itemised quote

Every leak job we quote is broken into three lines: detection, repair, regas. You see each cost. You sign off on each one. If the detection finds nothing in stage one and you decide not to proceed to stage two with dye, we stop and bill stage-one labour only. If the repair is uneconomic on an older system, we say so before any money changes hands - there is no point spending $1600 fixing a coil on a 12-year-old unit when a new install delivers a new warranty, better efficiency and rebate eligibility under the QLD Climate Smart programs current in 2026.

Service area & booking

Refrigerant leak detection across the Sunshine Coast - Maroochydore, Mooloolaba, Buderim, Caloundra, Kawana, Sippy Downs, Nambour, Noosa, Coolum, and the hinterland from Maleny to Yandina. ARCtick refrigerant-handling licence on every job, QBCC licensed contractor. Book via the quote form or email quotes@sunshinecoastairconservice.com.au with your suburb, brand, and a quick description of the symptom (warm air, ice on the suction line, running constantly without cooling).

FAQs about refrigerant leaks on Sunshine Coast aircons

Why won't you just top up the gas?

Because under the Ozone Protection Act and our ARCtick licence we cannot knowingly recharge a leaking system. R32 and R410A are scheduled greenhouse gases. Topping up without fixing the leak is also a waste - the new gas is on its way out the same hole. Find it, fix it, recharge it once.

How long does the two-stage leak test take?

Visit one is 60 to 90 minutes - recovery, nitrogen pressure test to 4000 kPa, sniffer pass and UV dye injection if needed. Then 10 to 14 days of normal running for the dye to migrate. Visit two is 30 to 45 minutes - UV torch sweep to find the dye, repair quoted.

Where are the leaks usually?

Roughly: 35% at outdoor flare joints, 25% indoor coil pinholes (formic-acid corrosion), 15% Schrader valve cores, 15% line-set rub-through, 10% outdoor coil pinholes. Flare and valve repairs are inexpensive; coil pinholes are major and on older systems often push toward replacement.

What does an honest regas quote look like?

Three line items, broken out separately: detection ($280-$380), the repair itself ($120 to $1400+ depending on cause), and the regas including vacuum-down and weigh-in ($280-$420). Typical flare-joint leak job total is around $700 to $900. We refuse jobs that would cost more than half the price of replacement on an older system and say so up front.