ACK. my central A/C went out 2 days after Christmas

[robphelan]

great. after spending all this freakin money on gifts, my A/C goes out.

It wasn't cooling very well the other evening so I turned it off for the night. In the morning, I turned it back on and head 'clank, clank, clankity clankity clankity... clank."

I ran outside and saw a fog of freon escaping from the outside unit.

I called the A/C people - they opened it up and found the electrical cable that connects to the compressor was fried and freon was escaping from the compressor. He said i could replace just the compressor (with a 1 yr warranty) or the whole unit (5 yr warranty).

unfortunately, the Carrier dealer is closed until Monday so the A/C guy couldn't give me a good idea on prices.

I think it has a 5 yr warranty from Carrier, but I'm right at 5yrs 8 months - it would be great if Carrier helped out a little in good faith, but I seriously doubt it.

I just rec'd a check for 1,500 from being on a bankrupcty review committee that I was hoping to put to credit cards, but i guess it will be going to replace this dang thing.

 

[XZeroII]

You'd better remove that part about 'freon' escaping. The gov't is going to fine you. (despite the fact that it's not actually freon and it's 100% environmentally safe).

 

[Rubycon]

Tin can terminal blowouts are fairly common when there is a fault there. It's like a sprinkler head - a fusible material (potting in this case) softens and the internal pressure blows it out. Dumps the charge and you have to change out the compressor. How old is the unit?

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You'd better remove that part about 'freon' escaping. The gov't is going to fine you. (despite the fact that it's not actually freon and it's 100% environmentally safe).

It does not matter as a service person did not intentionally discharge it into the atmosphere. This kind of stuff happens all the time.

 

[vshah]

check for mice

 

[Vette73]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You'd better remove that part about 'freon' escaping. The gov't is going to fine you. (despite the fact that it's not actually freon and it's 100% environmentally safe).

Oh shut up with your right wing troll post of the Gov/Liberals are out to get us. Go back to P/N section and post yout BS there since you have no idea about the law.

 

[robphelan]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
Tin can terminal blowouts are fairly common when there is a fault there. It's like a sprinkler head - a fusible material (potting in this case) softens and the internal pressure blows it out. Dumps the charge and you have to change out the compressor. How old is the unit?

Originally posted by: XZeroII
You'd better remove that part about 'freon' escaping. The gov't is going to fine you. (despite the fact that it's not actually freon and it's 100% environmentally safe).

It does not matter as a service person did not intentionally discharge it into the atmosphere. This kind of stuff happens all the time.

it's only about 5yrs 8 months old. they said the system should last 10 - 12 years.

i'm wondering if i should go back with Carrier or should I/can I switch to a different/better manufacturer.

the repair guy saod I had a 'builder's model', so i don't know if that's necessarily a lesser quality model

 

[Rubycon]

Probably contractor model? Perhaps one of the knowledgeable a/c folk here can chime in on that. 🙂

At five years you probably want a new unit. 10 years is about right for heat pumps and CAC condensers can last twice that long unless you live in the tropics with year 'round use, etc.

 

[robphelan]

5 yrs? that's an awfully short time for such a large investment.

we do live in San Antonio and the AC does get use most months out of the year.

 

[gorcorps]

Originally posted by: robphelan
5 yrs? that's an awfully short time for such a large investment.

we do live in San Antonio and the AC does get use most months out of the year.

Well the 10 yrs was probably an estimate based on parts of the country that actually HAVE a winter so it's not used year round. When you do use it year round, it could potentially cut the estimate in half.

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: gorcorps

Well the 10 yrs was probably an estimate based on parts of the country that actually HAVE a winter so it's not used year round. When you do use it year round, it could potentially cut the estimate in half.

Well a terminal blow out can be caused by a loose connection. That can happen at 1 year or 10.