Another fiasco?

I have spent the last few days with Ron, working on the refrigeration. We found the leaky valve that was causing the problem behind the stove. It is the servo type valve that I had to wire direct to get the refrigerator side to work, a while back. To get the system working, until I can find a new valve, we decided to bypass it with a short piece of tubing. In this way I could either have a big double freezer, or a big double refrigerator. One or the other, but not a combination. Hey, it's better than no refrigeration, right?

CULPRIT VALVE

We didn'have any of the correct solder or flux to join the the 1/4" tubing, but Ron said what we did have would work, so he sweated the pieces together. When I looked at it, I mentioned that I could see small holes in the solder around one connection. He said that that was where he knocked off some excess solder and it was okay because it sucked into the joint as it is supposed to.

VERY TEMPORARY REPAIR

A new larger Parker Liquid Line Dryer that I had was installed to keep the system totally dry. It took 24hrs to vacum out the system, due to the pump having to be shut down to cool off. Anyway the system was leak free and holding maximum vacume pressure.

FILTER DRYER

The slow process of recharging the system with R-12 was started around four in the afternoon. It was decided to complete the process the following day. I was excited about once again having refrigeration.
The refrigeratior was cooling down nicely and I was instructed how to take temperature readings, so as to know when to shut the system down for the night.

REFERANCE

About  fifteen minutes after Ron left I heard a loud noise like air blowing out of a tire. Upon investigating the source, I discovered that the joint in the sweated fitting that was previously in question was the culprit. So now I have to repair/replace it and start the process all over again.

LEAK IS CIRCLED

Ron informed me that R-12 is no longer available in Mexico. It is unfortunate that I lost what we already put in the system. When the connection blew, it filled the boat with a heavy fog of R-12. I had to stay out for about an hour before it was clear enough to return. Unfortunately, I did breath a lot of it prior to being able to evacuate.

SEA-COCK & THROUGH HULL

Today I will try to have a tubing replacement made at a refrigeration shop in town, using the correct materials. I hope!