My a/c quit working, no cool air. About a year ago a repairman did something
with a switch in the attic that he said would normally be replaced at a cost
of $150 or so but that it really wasn't necessary. He has a good rep and no
reason to have me spend less.

Nos the A/C quit working. I called another company as I couldn't locate the
other guy. The tech came out, took a look at the unit and said the
compressor was probably frozen but that he couldn't tell until he put a
booser on it to see if he could get it running. He said it was turning off
because it was overheating and was getting a signal to turn on. He didn't
look in the attic or mention anything about a disabled switch.

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

Any suggestions? What should it cost to replace the compressor it that's
what turns out to be bad? The A/C is 10 years old. Should I replace the
whole unit, if the compressor is bad?

Thanks
: -)

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

Pawlowski's response was neither useful nor funny. Leave the humor
contributions to us professionals.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
.. .

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

"Craven Morehead" wrote in message
. ..
Pawlowski's response was neither useful nor funny. Leave the humor
contributions to us professionals.


So, is your response useful or funny?

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:42:46 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote Re a/c compressor burned out?:


"Craven Morehead" wrote in message
...
Pawlowski's response was neither useful nor funny. Leave the humor
contributions to us professionals.


So, is your response useful or funny?


Much more useful than yours. Heck it was even funnier than yours.

I'm sure it's cool. He couldn't handle the pressure, if I'm any gage
of things. He did a fan tastic job of popping off, hope he didn't
overload you. I'm sure you've got a good capacity for hard starting
posters. He's probably a Typhoid Mary, a carrier don't you know. I see
a ton of posts like that, they don't draft em, just type and send. If
you're not airflow, you can write like that, too. I'm trying to be
careful to not be usefl/ow, or funny. Maybe I should draft this, it's
off to a hard start. A super boost of editing could help. But,
writing isn't one of my manifold talents. Neither am I a punster,
though Herman Punster was one of my favorite kids shows. Him and
Grandpa and Eddie.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
news:W9bTg.7$fI1.1@trndny04...

"Craven Morehead" wrote in message
. ..
Pawlowski's response was neither useful nor funny. Leave the humor
contributions to us professionals.


So, is your response useful or funny?

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 08:18:49 -0400, "Craven Morehead"
wrote:

Pawlowski's response was neither useful nor funny. Leave the humor
contributions to us professionals.

A professional comedian?




"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
. ..

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

Ed's all right, in my book. He's been consistently helpful with the
occasional light remark about wiring, or a bit of freon advice.
Actually, I considered writing whatyou did, but you BTU it. Next time,
I'll beat YOU to it.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Craven Morehead" wrote in message
. ..
Pawlowski's response was neither useful nor funny. Leave the humor
contributions to us professionals.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
.. .

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must
have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
.. .

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

I thought BTUs was relevant. I guess it's tons. Oh well.

The newer ones are so much more efficient. They run on CTU, not BTU.
The older ones used tons and tons of BTU. Before that, when they first
came out, they used ATU. They even have some RTU units, which are a
lot more efficient.

Incidentally, a "ton" of cooling is the ammount of energy needed to
convert a ton of ice to water at 32F. Which works out to 12,000 BTU
per hour.



--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message
news:2VdTg.1135$v43.1002@fed1read02...


That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must
have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

I thought BTUs was relevant. I guess it's tons. Oh well.

Stormin Mormon writes:

Incidentally, a "ton" of cooling is the ammount of energy needed to
convert a ton of ice to water at 32F. Which works out to 12,000 BTU
per hour.

Per hour, eh?

Yep, per hour.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Richard J Kinch" wrote in message
. ..
Stormin Mormon writes:

Incidentally, a "ton" of cooling is the ammount of energy needed to
convert a ton of ice to water at 32F. Which works out to 12,000 BTU
per hour.

Per hour, eh?

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:18:38 GMT, "Edwin Pawlowski"
wrote:


"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must have run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.



Now was that nice?



tom

Yep, them BTUs are dissolved in the freon. Ask the tech to put in a
couple pounds of freon.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
.. .

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

That's the problem. ACs need Btus in order to work and you must have
run
out. Get a refill and you will be all set.

meant that I didn't take the trouble to read the BTU or tonnage rating on
the unit before I posted.

"AKA Gray Asphalt" writes:
My a/c quit working, no cool air. About a year ago a repairman did something
with a switch in the attic that he said would normally be replaced at a cost
of $150 or so but that it really wasn't necessary. He has a good rep and no
reason to have me spend less.

Nos the A/C quit working. I called another company as I couldn't locate the
other guy. The tech came out, took a look at the unit and said the
compressor was probably frozen but that he couldn't tell until he put a
booser on it to see if he could get it running. He said it was turning off
because it was overheating and was getting a signal to turn on. He didn't
look in the attic or mention anything about a disabled switch.

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

Any suggestions? What should it cost to replace the compressor it that's
what turns out to be bad? The A/C is 10 years old. Should I replace the
whole unit, if the compressor is bad?

Well poo. Sorry to hear of your trouble.

Given that the industry now has a mandated 13SEER efficiency on A/C
units, it may be that you won't be able to get away with just
replacing the compressor without also doing the coil inside. At 10
years, may as well just do the system I suppose. Plus at 10
years... it's not exactly a spring chicken.

I have some recent estimates for A/C for a 2 story colonial of around
2400sf in Chicagoland. 3TON 13SEER a/c + coil installed was
$2000-3200 depending on how quiet ya want it to be outside.

The low estimate broke it out: Frigidaire R22 unit at $1400 with a
$550 coil. Carrier systems using R410A ran between $2600-$3200 for
basic/comfort/performance series. A Ruud 3TON (R22) came in at $2889.

Hope that helps ya with some ballpark numbers before you start
gathering estimates. If you're comfy with Carrier (which you may not
be with this failure), have a Bryant dealer quote ya too -- same
stuff, same factory in Indiana, less expensive paint and label. Rheem
and Trane seem to be very well respected. Ruud is another brand of
Rheem equipment.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

"Todd H." wrote in message ...
"AKA Gray Asphalt" writes:
My a/c quit working, no cool air. About a year ago a repairman did
something
with a switch in the attic that he said would normally be replaced at a
cost
of $150 or so but that it really wasn't necessary. He has a good rep and
no
reason to have me spend less.

Nos the A/C quit working. I called another company as I couldn't locate
the
other guy. The tech came out, took a look at the unit and said the
compressor was probably frozen but that he couldn't tell until he put a
booser on it to see if he could get it running. He said it was turning
off
because it was overheating and was getting a signal to turn on. He didn't
look in the attic or mention anything about a disabled switch.

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

Any suggestions? What should it cost to replace the compressor it that's
what turns out to be bad? The A/C is 10 years old. Should I replace the
whole unit, if the compressor is bad?

Well poo. Sorry to hear of your trouble.

Given that the industry now has a mandated 13SEER efficiency on A/C
units, it may be that you won't be able to get away with just
replacing the compressor without also doing the coil inside. At 10
years, may as well just do the system I suppose. Plus at 10
years... it's not exactly a spring chicken.

I have some recent estimates for A/C for a 2 story colonial of around
2400sf in Chicagoland. 3TON 13SEER a/c + coil installed was
$2000-3200 depending on how quiet ya want it to be outside.

The low estimate broke it out: Frigidaire R22 unit at $1400 with a
$550 coil. Carrier systems using R410A ran between $2600-$3200 for
basic/comfort/performance series. A Ruud 3TON (R22) came in at $2889.

Hope that helps ya with some ballpark numbers before you start
gathering estimates. If you're comfy with Carrier (which you may not
be with this failure), have a Bryant dealer quote ya too -- same
stuff, same factory in Indiana, less expensive paint and label. Rheem
and Trane seem to be very well respected. Ruud is another brand of
Rheem equipment.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster' make any
sense? It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still need it
now, though. Really thanks.

"AKA Gray Asphalt" writes:

Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster' make any
sense?

I'm not familiar ?

It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still
need it now, though. Really thanks.

You may get a benefit from it not being the frenzy season for A/C
installations, and you can start saving on electricity right away, if
you have to dump out the cash anyway. And prices next season will
probably rise.

--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

AKA Gray Asphalt wrote:
"Todd H." wrote in message ...
"AKA Gray Asphalt" writes:
My a/c quit working, no cool air. About a year ago a repairman did
something
with a switch in the attic that he said would normally be replaced at a
cost
of $150 or so but that it really wasn't necessary. He has a good rep and
no
reason to have me spend less.

Nos the A/C quit working. I called another company as I couldn't locate
the
other guy. The tech came out, took a look at the unit and said the
compressor was probably frozen but that he couldn't tell until he put a
booser on it to see if he could get it running. He said it was turning
off
because it was overheating and was getting a signal to turn on. He didn't
look in the attic or mention anything about a disabled switch.

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

Any suggestions? What should it cost to replace the compressor it that's
what turns out to be bad? The A/C is 10 years old. Should I replace the
whole unit, if the compressor is bad?

Well poo. Sorry to hear of your trouble.

Given that the industry now has a mandated 13SEER efficiency on A/C
units, it may be that you won't be able to get away with just
replacing the compressor without also doing the coil inside. At 10
years, may as well just do the system I suppose. Plus at 10
years... it's not exactly a spring chicken.

I have some recent estimates for A/C for a 2 story colonial of around
2400sf in Chicagoland. 3TON 13SEER a/c + coil installed was
$2000-3200 depending on how quiet ya want it to be outside.

The low estimate broke it out: Frigidaire R22 unit at $1400 with a
$550 coil. Carrier systems using R410A ran between $2600-$3200 for
basic/comfort/performance series. A Ruud 3TON (R22) came in at $2889.

Hope that helps ya with some ballpark numbers before you start
gathering estimates. If you're comfy with Carrier (which you may not
be with this failure), have a Bryant dealer quote ya too -- same
stuff, same factory in Indiana, less expensive paint and label. Rheem
and Trane seem to be very well respected. Ruud is another brand of
Rheem equipment.

Best Regards,
--
Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster' make any
sense? It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still need it
now, though. Really thanks.

Being an a/c guy myself the booster {hard start kit} would help in
diagnostic. Why didn't he try it ? Is the outdoor fan running ? IF not
Pwer may not be on at braker. Could have run capacitor bad if its a
duel cap- that would keep both moters from running. You would hear the
comp- try to start {slight hum for a few seconds}.

Lives in desert. Fins packed with dust. By holding a light behind my
crystal balls I can see dirt packed condensor. Though, it's a lot
easier to hold the light behind the fins.

Please call a company to clean the outside unit. They should use water
and chemicals.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message
news:nUdTg.1134$v43.889@fed1read02...


Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster'
make any
sense? It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next
year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still
need it
now, though. Really thanks.

Thanks for your help. I did call a company but they said that chemicals are
no good and that I could do it with a hose. It sure seems like a good place
to start. Do you suggest I keep calling until I find someone willing to
clean the unit or do it myself and what chemicals? Thanks again to everyone.
This ng is a public service.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Lives in desert. Fins packed with dust. By holding a light behind my
crystal balls I can see dirt packed condensor. Though, it's a lot
easier to hold the light behind the fins.

Please call a company to clean the outside unit. They should use water
and chemicals.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message
news:nUdTg.1134$v43.889@fed1read02...


Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster'
make any
sense? It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next
year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still
need it
now, though. Really thanks.

I'd suggest rinsing the fins with a garden hose. Pull the power
disconnect out, first. So you don't kill yourself or damage the
electrical.

If you're mechanically minded, take a couple bolts out, and pull the
fan off the top. Rinse from the inside out. Worth a try, before you
spend money on a paid service. If you don't want to take the unit
apart, spray from the top, pointing mostly down. Rinse the dust and
dirt out the bottom.

Try to keep any wires or electrical dry.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message
news:HmETg.1258$v43.1184@fed1read02...

Thanks for your help. I did call a company but they said that
chemicals are
no good and that I could do it with a hose. It sure seems like a good
place
to start. Do you suggest I keep calling until I find someone willing
to
clean the unit or do it myself and what chemicals? Thanks again to
everyone.
This ng is a public service.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote in message
...
Lives in desert. Fins packed with dust. By holding a light behind my
crystal balls I can see dirt packed condensor. Though, it's a lot
easier to hold the light behind the fins.

Please call a company to clean the outside unit. They should use
water
and chemicals.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
.

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message
news:nUdTg.1134$v43.889@fed1read02...


Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster'
make any
sense? It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next
year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still
need it
now, though. Really thanks.

AKA Gray Asphalt posted for all of us...


Thank you. It's a real problem for me. Does the idea of a 'booster' make any
sense? It might be a good idea to not replace everything until next year at
the start of the summer season, no? I live in the desert so we still need it
now, though. Really thanks.

I am not in a/c but I know the tech should be able able to diagnose the problem
without the "booster". Have him define exactly what this piece is supposed to
do. I suspect it's to boost his wallet. But it may be what's called a hard
start kit, which should be after a proper diagnoses. NOBODY can tell how much
it will cost because we can't see it, touch it, know it through a screen.
--
Tekkie "There's no such thing as a tool I don't need."

I'm getting sense that the outdoor unit needs professional cleaning.
If the fins get packed with dust (as they do every couple years), then
the compressor will overheat and shut down. The booser can help for
awhile, but it really needs professional cleaning.

If you replace the outdoor unit, you'll get nice clean fins. And $pend
more buck$.

--

Christopher A. Young
You can't shout down a troll.
You have to starve them.
..

"AKA Gray Asphalt" wrote in message
news:UD4Tg.1125$v43.91@fed1read02...
My a/c quit working, no cool air. About a year ago a repairman did
something
with a switch in the attic that he said would normally be replaced at
a cost
of $150 or so but that it really wasn't necessary. He has a good rep
and no
reason to have me spend less.

Nos the A/C quit working. I called another company as I couldn't
locate the
other guy. The tech came out, took a look at the unit and said the
compressor was probably frozen but that he couldn't tell until he put
a
booser on it to see if he could get it running. He said it was turning
off
because it was overheating and was getting a signal to turn on. He
didn't
look in the attic or mention anything about a disabled switch.

It's a carrier. I don't have the BTUs.

Any suggestions? What should it cost to replace the compressor it
that's
what turns out to be bad? The A/C is 10 years old. Should I replace
the
whole unit, if the compressor is bad?

Thanks
: -)

Well, a second tech came out to my house and looked at the unit. He did some
checks on the pressure and found one low and one high so he added some freon
to maybe flush out a blockage. Then he rechecked the system with the new
freon and declared it fixed. As he was packing up the compressor stopped. He
said that he could tell the temperature of the compressor by the pressure in
psi and that there was a conversion on the guage to shoe how hot the
compressor was. I don't get that at all. I've never heard of a pressure to
temperature conversion table/convertor. He called in and got instructions on
what to do and took the fan off and did something and said the senior tech
would have to come out. He didn't leave a bill but the owner's wife called
and said I owed them $70 plus freon. Nice people but I doubt that the tech
was experienced and she said that putting freon in the system was not a
treatment for blockage of the lines. She also said that he should not have
quoted me $1500 for a new compressor 700 for the compressor and 800 for 4
hours of labor. I'm afraid to stiff them for the service call because they
know where I live but I don't think I got much more than a sweaty shirt from
sitting out in ths sun watching and hour of wasted time.

My problem seems to have been a block in some line, I guess that carries
freon. The third guy, a freind of a relative charged me $300 to fix the
problem and charge the system w/ 4 lbs. of freon. I don't know if it was a
good price but it was far less than the estimates I got and he didn't have
to replace the compressor or "boost" it or anything else.

AKA Gray Asphalt posted for all of us...


My problem seems to have been a block in some line, I guess that carries
freon. The third guy, a freind of a relative charged me $300 to fix the
problem and charge the system w/ 4 lbs. of freon. I don't know if it was a
good price but it was far less than the estimates I got and he didn't have
to replace the compressor or "boost" it or anything else.



So he gave it a laxative?
--
Tekkie "There's no such thing as a tool I don't need."