Had a phone call earlier from a guy I'm helping restore a soft dash LSE Classic. One of the alloy air con pipes got damaged when it was all being pulled apart and it's broke. He's found that they are almost impossible to get as the soft dash is a sort of mish mash of Classic, P38 and Discovery parts. He's asked someone about it and they have offered to make a replacement in copper. The question is, is there any reason why they are made of alloy in the first place and is he going to have any problems with a copper pipe? I said I assumed they were alloy as it was cheaper and some fridges use a copper condenser so I would think it would be OK. Anyone know of any reason why it isn't such a good idea?

Why not go to Pirtek with the bits and ask them to make up a new one?
As far as copper goes, should be OK, but there are regs around wall thickness etc
Page 12 onwards in this doc has guidelines for copper tube in commercial refrigeration installations
http://www.ior.org.uk/ior_/images/pdf/BRA-IoRGuidetoGoodcommrefpractice-Part4-%20System%20Installation_2_.pdf

Not sure Pirtek would do it. I asked my local place about an AC hose for the Masser and they told me they don't do AC hoses, only hydraulic. This is also one of the rigid alloy pipes rather than a hose too.

Regs look a bit complex but the wall thickness on 10mm microbore is about the same as the original alloy so I don't think that will be a problem, it's mostly a case of will the refrigerant eat the copper rather than anything else.

According to the internet, which is never wrong (!) R134a refrigerant is commonly used with copper pipes.
Here's some blurb relating to life tests in Heat Pipe/ R134a applications...
https://www.1-act.com/compatible-fluids-and-materials/

Copper is pretty much always used in fixed refrigeration installations of all sizes with (so far as I know) all refrigerants, including 134a.

Not sure why it would be a problem on a car, possibly the relatively largeish size pipe might suffer from vibration and hardening/cracking more than alloy?

We've been through this before on LPGforum Gilbert, I think the findings were the gas is OK with copper but some pag oil isn't?

Mentioned how I'd replaced an electrolysis corroded aluminium section of pipe (where it meets steel car) with rubber pipe and fittings sourced from a hydraulic firm. That pipe was thick though, probably not an option for behind the dash.

Is it on a straight bit of pipe that its broken? Theres a product called splice lok available which allows you to cut a section out and replace with the splice lok if its a simple break.

I found the same with Pirtek and A/C hoses, I did get one made up by a air con firm though where the original had a hole worn through it by rubbing on a bracket. the correct original wasn't available so they had to adapt one off an earlier car with the usable bits from mine to make one good one.

Unfortunately not, it's broken on the tight bend. It takes the place of pipes 5 and 6 in the pic below but as the car is a soft dash, it's later than this.

BrianH wrote:

Is it on a straight bit of pipe that its broken? Theres a product called splice lok available which allows you to cut a section out and replace with the splice lok if its a simple break.

Having read about Splice lok type products years ago in a mechanics mag they came to mind when I discovered where the front to rear brake pipe was leaking on the ML (a common area of the pipe to fail where it's more open to road splash just forward of rear ns wheel), rest of the pipe not in bad condition. Haven't used Splice lok yet though.

How about trying this firm (http://www.bee-cool-aircon.co.uk/services/ac-pipe-repairs/)

I don't think I'd be much concerned about using copper pipe either, though would probably at least look into potential pag oil compatibility issues again before going that route... and, never know, the firm above might not be much dearer than the copper pipe.

When I fixed the Peugeot with rubber pipe it was a case of either just bodging the pipe break under the bonnet or replacing the full pipe which ran through the bulkhead (and I seem to remember also under engine mounts etc), so the alternative would have been a much bigger job, dash out etc.