"Randy Roberts" wrote in message
...
I have three 18 year old carrier units. I was checking R22 pressures on
all.
CY: Why? Were they working poorly? Did you check them running, or turned
off? Were you calculating superheat?
Scrader valve apprarently stuck open and leaking on unit #3. The
next day I found cooling fan running with compressor not running but
bubbles comming out of scrader valve on suction line. I checked
pressures on high an low side, both about 125.
CY: Sounds lke compressor not running.... but you already said that.
The next day I installed
manifold gage and started unit. The suction started to drop and I open
the R22 supply. Pressure dropped to about 80 when compressor stopped
running.
CY: Wonder if the two factoids are related?
The fan kept running very slow. Checked 220 line and found lug
on panel beaker melted away from buss bar. Replace mini 220 beaker with
full size 220 breaker. When stating system the condensor fan runs slow
until contactor closed by thermostat then fan runs full speed. The
compressor tries to start but fail after 3 seconds.
CY: Could be locked rotor, or possibly bad starting components. Or maybe not
getting enough power.
The system was
running and cooling well before I tested the pressures. At least it was
running better than the other two units.
Here are my questions:
1. Is there a low level freon cutout switch shutting the compressor
down?
CY: Possibly. I'm not sure about those units.
2. Did a loss of freon and or oil cause the compressor to seize?
CY: Doubt you'd lose enough oil. But, if you were injecting liquid, you
might have slugged the compressor. Not sure about AC compressors, but I have
known of an ignorant person to spray ether into a generator spark plug hole,
and then the next time starting it threw a piston rod. So, you might have
rinsed the lube out of the piston chamber of the compressor.
3. Did the faulty breaker cause the motor to sort-out or did a high
current from low freon overload the breakers or both?
CY: Not sure about this.
4. What do you recommend?
CY: At this point, it sounds like you made it worse instead of better. It's
a learning experience. I'd suggest check for 220 volt power at the
compressor. And then change out the compressor starting components. Maybe a
super boost kit. Cheaper than the next step -- which would be to replace the
condensing unit.
Thanks for any advise,
Randy
CY: Wish I had better news.
--
Randy Roberts
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