Hvac problems

rabb11d

rabb11d

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 14, 2009
Location
Statesville,NC
Heard a weird noise tonight. Outside unit won't shut off and every min or so it makes a humming sound. Sounds like a motor trying to turn but won't. Set the thermostat to off and it keeps on running. Had to pull the plug on it outside to kill it. Anyone have any ideas since I can't get anyone out here till next week. Unit will be 3 years old in July.
 
You can try cleaning it with some electrical cleaner but I would replace it. It is a relatively cheap part.
 
Contactor stuck. May have cooked the capacitor too. If it looks oily or "poofed" up on top its smoked
 
Tech came out today. All three units had too much freon. One was locking up the compressor, said it probably hurt the life span on 2 of them. They are only 2.5 years old, great..... He did add a capacitor to one but I don't think it needed it.
 
They're not making any money on warranty work so they gouge for labor, but that's not marrying you to THAT contractor. Any authorized dealer of the product can perform the warranty service. It would pay to research exactly what you have. Sometimes you can have a 5yr parts and prorated labor charge depending on who's product it is. I wouldn't get my hopes up...but you may find some gold if you dig deep enough.
 
Buddy of mine bought insurance that covers HVAC, water heater and any other appliances. Both his houses cost him less than $800/yr total. Didn't think it would be worth it, wish I had it when my HVAC went out in december. Would have cost me $50 instead of $6000.
 
NC_IslandRunner said:
Buddy of mine bought insurance that covers HVAC, water heater and any other appliances. Both his houses cost him less than $800/yr total. Didn't think it would be worth it, wish I had it when my HVAC went out in december. Would have cost me $50 instead of $6000.
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But at $800/yr you'd have to replace the HVAC every 7 years to break even without factoring in interest of complex calculations
 
It was for 2 houses and covers everything electrical down to the microwave.

I've been in my current house for 6 years and after all the work on the HVAC over the years then replacing it, plus the hot water heater , washer and dryer, dishwasher and stove it would have saved me thousands.
 
if it saved every homeowner money the warranty companies would go out of business.
 
yeah. I'm not getting it now, I've already replaced everything, maybe in 10yrs. I wouldn't waste the $ on it until everything starts to get some age on it.
 
NC_IslandRunner said:
Buddy of mine bought insurance that covers HVAC, water heater and any other appliances. Both his houses cost him less than $800/yr total. Didn't think it would be worth it, wish I had it when my HVAC went out in december. Would have cost me $50 instead of $6000.
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They will just keep repairing it. Good luck getting it replaced. Then they will send the worse contractor in the area to do the repair because he is the cheapest. 4 days without water in my rental because of the idiot they sent out. Took my local guy an hour to fix.
 
NC_IslandRunner said:
Not sure who my friend got his insurance through but he can pick any licensed contractor.
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Right. So long as said licensed contractor will do the work for an insurance company. Most wont because they typically state they pay net 60 and usually run closer to net 180. So for example my company, I will gladly accept warranty work. You pay me and I will give you a paid invoice and you can collect from your insurance company.
 
Too much freon won't lock up the compressor. You could blow fuses but the compressor won't lock up. The capacitor and likely the contactor were at fault. Did you watch him? How did he come to the conclusion that it had too much refrigerant? High pressure, super heat or sub cool off? Is this r22 or 410?
 
peewee said:
Too much freon won't lock up the compressor. You could blow fuses but the compressor won't lock up. The capacitor and likely the contactor were at fault. Did you watch him? How did he come to the conclusion that it had too much refrigerant? High pressure, super heat or sub cool off? Is this r22 or 410?
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When charged with enough freon for cooling they build to much pressure when switched over to heat, one over 600 psi. They don't have over pressure switches, but they are putting them on next week. Apparently it was a problem from the factory and the back woods guy that installed them never heard about or didn't tell me. They also told me they were cheap units, figures didn't talk details with my contractor about it.

The over pressure damaged one compressor and it died last week, parts were under wa but labor wasn't.

Hopefully these over pressure switches fixes it all. It is the recommendation from the factory. If it doesn't I'm told it could be the pistons don't match.
 
Your txv or orifice is sized incorrectly. I believe. Adding a high pressure switch will only cause the unit to cycle as it reaches the high pressure.
 
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