Defective from the start (refer component), Innovative Technology lemon dry box

Another defective refer component, service valve of Innovative Technology box

Well, once about one year rolled around from the last refrigerant refill the same behavior surfaced again so more 409A was added.  This time the refer only worked for about 3 months.  I had Accord Air come out and sure enough there were no less than three leaks!  One leak was due to a rusted accumulator (see below).  Notice all the wonderful rust on the box components.  I was told that this was never insulated correctly and that was part of the problem.  The next leakage point (you guessed it) was the service valve (see above)!  It must have been leaking (slowly) long ago (like when the box arrived).  But the real surprise (not) was that there was a major leakage at the thermal expansion valve (top most picture).  This was still wrapped in the original cork tape insulation when Accord Air started their work.  According to the technician (whose bill exceeded $1,000), there was an external retaining clip and some sort of adjustment nut that had both been tampered with from the day the unit was made!  When I confronted Innovative Technology, Inc. with the fact that the manufacturer had sold me faulty components from the beginning their reply was “oh well, the unit is 8 years old, what do you want us to do.”  I recall these same jokers saying more than a year before that they stand behind their products.  Yeah, more like they do so as to hide from the customer once they find out they’ve been sold a lemon!

Another picture of the defective accumulator

The Lemon Dry Box (defective refer components, accumulator)