This one was a little different. We found ourselves in a small cake room, tucked away in the basement of a city pub. Nothing fancy—just a compact setup designed with one purpose: keeping the cakes cool. No food storage here, so temperature control is crucial. The goal is simple: keep the cakes fresh, minimize waste, and avoid heavy cooling that drives up costs.
But the client had a recurring issue—constant gas top-ups. Not ideal, and definitely not cheap.
A Closer Look at the Setup
The system itself was interesting. The evaporator sat at the back of the room, connected to a glycol tank (the “B system”), with an additional cabin outside the cake room. The temperature range was narrow, just enough to do its job.
Nothing looked broken at first glance, but a closer inspection revealed the usual suspects:
- TX Valve: Often a source of trouble, but this one wasn’t the main culprit.
- Compression Settings: Solid, no cracks.
- Adjustment Screw & Seals: This was the giveaway.
Over time, expansion and contraction—hot to cold, big to small—put strain on seals, fittings, and brass connections. Metal fatigue does the rest. Internal seals eventually give way, and in this case, the adjustment sealing cap had failed. It was a tiny, almost invisible leak, but enough to cause a steady gas loss over months and years.
The Fix
There was also a small access valve that allowed gauges to be connected. Between that and the compromised sealing cap, the system was losing just enough refrigerant to be a constant headache.
The repair itself wasn’t dramatic—more “minor but important” than “major overhaul.” We replaced the faulty seals, addressed the micro-leak, and re-secured the fittings.
Result
The leaks were gone, the system was stable, and most importantly, the client no longer has to keep topping up gas. A simple but effective fix that saves money, reduces waste, and keeps those cakes right where they should be—cool and fresh.
Sometimes, it’s the smallest leaks that cause the biggest frustrations.
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