How to Evacuate Home AC Lines

If you want to replace the pipes in your home air conditioning system or recharge the condenser, you may wish to evacuate, or bleed, the valves yourself. Doing this will remove all of the pressure from your air conditioner system, so that it can be safely repaired. You will need to attach a set of conditioner manifold gauges to the vacuum pump, liquid line valve and vapor line valve. Bleeding the entire unit could take more than two hours.

AC manifold gauges

Instructions

- 1
  Turn off the air conditioner. Find the service valves on the AC pump. The larger line going out from near the top of the pump is the vapor line. The smaller line near the bottom is the liquid line. The valves are located on the lines.
- 2
  Fit the blue hose coming from the manifold gauges to the vapor line service valve. Fit the red hose coming from the manifold gauges to the liquid line service valve. Fit the yellow hose coming from the manifold gauges to the vacuum pump itself. Check the valves on the hoses coming out of the manifold gauges to see if they are closed.
- 3
  Open the valve on the blue hose and turn on the vacuum pump. Watch the pressure gauge attached to the blue hose. Turn off the vacuum pump and close the valve when the gauge reads 0 psi. Repeat with the red hose. Unplug the hoses when finished.

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