Aircon Capillary Tube
A capillary tube is a refrigerant metering part used on some systems. If it is restricted or not working as expected, cooling can become weak or unstable.
What This Part Does
A capillary tube helps meter refrigerant flow in some aircon systems.
It controls how refrigerant moves into the cooling side of the system.
If the flow is restricted or unstable, cooling behavior can change.
How You Would Notice
Users may notice weak cooling, unstable cooling, or icing patterns that do not make sense from the room side.
These symptoms can look like refrigerant or airflow faults.
The symptom alone cannot confirm a capillary-tube issue.
- Weak or unstable cooling
- Possible icing pattern
- Symptom overlaps with gas or airflow faults
It Might Not Be The Capillary Tube
Refrigerant leaks and airflow faults are more common causes of weak cooling and icing.
Some systems use an expansion valve instead of a capillary tube, which is a different metering path.
We confirm the system type and fault path before naming the capillary tube.
How We Check
We first confirm the system type and cooling pattern. Then we check the more common airflow and refrigerant fault paths.
If those do not explain the behavior, we assess the refrigerant metering path.
We compare the findings with expansion-valve and leak-pattern causes where relevant.
We recommend capillary-tube repair only when the metering-path fault is confirmed.
What We Find And What Happens Next
Metering-path cases usually narrow down to leak issue, airflow issue, capillary-tube fault, or another component in the refrigerant path.
| Finding | Next Step |
|---|---|
| Refrigerant leak or charge issue | Repair leak path and retest |
| Airflow issue causing icing | Fix airflow path and retest |
| Capillary-tube fault pattern | Metering-path repair assessment |
| Different refrigerant-path fault | Continue diagnosis on that path |
About The Repair
Capillary-tube repair is a refrigerant-path repair and needs correct diagnosis before any work.
This is not a first-guess replacement because the symptoms overlap with more common faults.
We confirm the metering fault path before recommending repair.
After Replacement
Cooling should become more stable if the capillary-tube fault was the main cause.
If the same pattern remains, another refrigerant or airflow fault may still be present.
We retest cooling behavior after the repair.
When We Tell You To Wait
If cooling is acceptable and the pattern is not repeating, short-term monitoring may be reasonable.
If weak cooling or icing keeps happening, earlier checks are better to avoid repeat stress on the system.
We will tell you when the pattern looks like a metering-path issue versus a more common fault.