Air conditioner woes

[5030]

My outside the home condenser is also direct drive (circulating fan) mounted vertically in the center of the condenser heat exchanger. If it squeals, it needs replaced or taken apart and the bearings renewed. They are rebuildable btw.

One thing I've learned is you keep the condenser clean by soaking it down with a diluted mixture of Dawn dish soap and let it sit for 30 minutes and hose it out with a garden hose from the top down. A clean evap unit is much more efficient.

 

[2manyrocks]

Some condenser coil fins are so thin that they can bend if one isn't really careful.

For the OP, Congrats on standing your ground with the HVAC company. I have replaced motors and capacitors over time. They go bad. Hopefully your unit can be repaired inexpensively.

 

[setxjeff]

Washed the condenser out while I had the top off to replace the fan.

 

[Tinhack]

Washed the condenser out while I had the top off to replace the fan.

I do that at least twice a year. Once in ~Spring when the AC season starts (January/February) and in May when it really starts to get hot.

 

[5030]

In the fall after cooling season is finished, we cover the outside condenser with a boot.

 

[Dftodd]

In the fall after cooling season is finished, we cover the outside condenser with a boot.

Mine reverses direction to give us heat

 

[ultrarunner]

Heat Pumps just starting to make inroads in the region of Natural Gas...

Being around commercial HVAC makes me suspect Heat Pumps will never be as trouble free as Gas Furnaces...

I still maintain a handful from the 1920's which makes them 100 years in service... and no electricity needed.

 

[tfuller]

They probably are not 100% wrong. It most likely is on its last leg. So even if you get it going again I would start budgeting for a replacement sooner than later. On the bright side you will most likely see an energy cost reduction with the new unit.

 

[fuchifarm]

Always replace the capacitor with the motor as a capacitor is $10 or less. Always keep a spare capacitor on hand for every fan as they are cheap and they often go at the worst possible time. A spare relay will also keep you from being down long for not much money. A set of gauges and a $25 multi-meter with temp probe and you can diagnose most all your hvac problems with a little youtubing. Of course to be legal go take the refrigerant handling test it is easy and the cost is not bad like $80 per year which you would spend on a tech coming and doing basic start of season checks/cleaning.

 

[Sigarms]

They sent a tech and a salesman. The tech diagnosed the problem; a Bad cooling tower fan motor.

I've been doing HVAC for a long time. If someone told me they had a "Bad cooling tower fan motor" I'd respond by saying "WTF are you talking about Willis"

Not all HVAC companies are bad.

That said, if the unit is 15 years old (made in 2007) you got a good run for the year the equipment was made.

I had a outdoor unit with a bad outdoor TXV that was 14 years old, and I did replace the system (outdoor TXV way more labor intensive along with refrigerant over a condenser fan motor).

My other 13 year unit took a crap. It was the capacitor. Replaced it and it's working fine. However, even on my end, when a unit gets over 12 years old, it could be getting time.

FYI, if I had a nickel for every customer that had to replace (and pay labor even though under warranty) for a bad indoor TXV or coil within 10 years of install, I could retire.

Now, on a sidenote, those not familiar with HVAC, at least in my area, some billion dollar hedge fund companies have been buying up HVAC businesses, claiming they are "local family owned" and their prices have skyrocketed. Same thing happened in my area about 20 years ago. They had a 3 or so year old run with the "new business" and sold it. Go figure. I know if a friend called me looking for help and I couldn't provide it, I'd tell him where to stay away from as I think they are smoking dope.

You are however like me... I want 0% and what's your best price. When financed, people never look at the total amount they end up paying with interest, they only see the monthly payment. Go figure...