Is Your A/C Unit About To Die? This Tool Doesn't Lie
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- čas přidán 10. 05. 2024
- Supco M500 Megometer: amzn.to/4dTwuWT
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Just happened to my neighbor. Bad Cap caused unit Fan to stop working. Compressor goes into Thermal lock. He calls the AC repair man. The AC man tells him the Compressor is shot and that he needed a whole new systen at $22k.... I told him to wait for the motor to cool down and we replaced the Cap. All is working well now.
Residential and Light Commercial HVAC guy here. Diagnosing a bad compressor is the VERY last thing for me because checking capacitors and contactors is just so easy. For only $90, that tool isn't a bad thing to have anyway. It's so easy to be honest. I'd rather be wrong than crooked. Get 3 opinions ANYWAY. Good video.
I had THREE different ac companies tell me my 10-year-old compressor was shot and I needed a new system. Finally a friend of a friend came and looked at it and fixed it for less than $100 by simply replacing pressure switch. That was 10 years ago and it's still running fine today. Anyone else would have just believed them and paid for new system, especially after three different companies saying need new system. AC companies are worse than used car dealers!
I put in several Fedders units back in the early 80's. It had a Rotary compressor back then. Didn't have scroll compressors then. The Rotary compressor lasted a long time in AC's with short line sets, but did not last very long in heat pumps with long line sets. The rotary compressor always had troubles oiling correctly. You were just lucky with the unit in this video. I quit selling Fedders very quickly because of their compressor failures. I went to selling Rheem in the early 70's and they were great systems, but they didn;t have heat pumps at that time, so that is the reason I tried Fedders. When Rheem came out with heat pumps, I never looked at a Fedders again, I was an Air Conditioning contractor from 1972 till 2016 and then retired.
You want to pull ALL your wires off first, then test. There's a chance that the MEGGER could be checking windings all the way back in your system. Even if the wires are disconnected on the other end, you don't want to be checking the insulation against wires hanging out of the compressor. Also, it's best to sand back the copper pipe on the compressor and use that as your ground.
You are the "Man." You are demystifying the ownership of a home a/c system. Thank you for your efforts!
I had an AC guy about 12 years ago tell me my unit sounded tired and it was probably time for a new one. Still running great after 12 years.
The manual for the insulation tester recommends that all leads be removed from the compressor at time of test. I would think that in some cases this could be important as other components still in the circuit could cause the lower 100 mega ohm reading you saw on the Goodman. The little tester does seem like a good idea. The manual says it applies 500 volts to the circuit at very low current and this is what is needed to properly do a test like this. Thanks for your video.
I helped a friends mother. He told me at work that it was the original unit to her home. When I got there it was a Chrysler Airtemp . Built in 1964. Had a bad contactor. Replaced, cleaned outdoor coil , lubricated outdoor condense fan, ,, STILL RUNNING TODAY.
I remember Fedders well one of my friends was a tech in the 60’s and told me that Fedders were very good. I do all my own work and actually I am a retired police officer and after retirement I went into plumbing and at times I helped the hvac techs so I learned a lot. I am an extremely adept mechanic and I have been for over 50 years. So now I guess I will do hvac when needed, I see I can already purchase a unit and have it sent right to my house. I’ve subscribed to your channel and we will see how it goes. Thanks!
I know of one Lennox combo outdoor unit ( Air conditioner/ natural gas heat ) that is 35 years old and still working. My late father-in-law purchased the unit 35 years ago. He died in 2022 and a grandson purchased the house. The grandson had the unit serviced, ( coils cleaned, Freon checked, etc. ) that old Lennox unit is still working to this day. The newer units just do not last that long. I have purchased several AC, Heat pumps, over the years. I have three Lennox AC units that are 23 years old. I have purchased York, Trane, American Standard, and Heil units in the past for different houses. My latest purchase was a Heil Heat pump, three years ago. So far so good on it. Only got 13 years out of a 5 ton Trane Heat pump. Replaced the outdoor unit with an American Standard unit in 2017. So far so good on it.
Bad motor windings (checked with this meter) are only one of many things that can fail in a compressor. This only tells you if the insulation in the motor is good or not.
As an industrial electrician of many year's make sure you disconnect and isolate the motor from all possible wire insulation and capacitor leaks to ground. Also the ground connection should be very clean to avoid a high resistance and give you a false reading. Nice video 👍
As long as compressor is functional, all three windings are connected internally. Testing terminal by terminal as shown is also testing whatever is connected on the other two terminals and then some. All three wires need to be removed and just testing one terminal to ground will test all windings. That tester is low current, but puts out 500VDC. So if there is something at the end of one of the still connected wires that can be damaged by high voltage, you just damaged it. Or if a fan motor is connected at the contactor with the compressor, you are also testing that fan motor and wiring. Which, if you get a bad reading and mis-diagnose the compressor bad, when in fact it was the condenser fan or wiring, yeah.....
Wonder how many good reviews this guy actually have . We will never know how his customers really feel.
Copeland states in bulletin AE4-1294 that megohm readings as low as 0.5 megohms to ground are acceptable. Besides the fact that this makes a scroll difficult to successfully meg (essentially impossible with a tool like the Supco M500 because it only reads down to 20 Mohms)
Proof that the stuff they make today is $hit. 30 years old and still good while a 5 year old system is on the way out. We need a car guy like this HVAC guy.
Compressors that test bad according to this megger are not necessarily bad. According to Emerson, you can have a good compressor megger out to as low at 0.5 megaohms, where this meter will tell you 20 megaohms is bad. Additionally, contamination can cause low readings and if you remove the contamination, you remove the low reading and the compressor is fine. I suggest reading Emerson Bulletin AE4-1294 for more details.
Using a meg meter to test windings with cold oil in the compressor can give you an inaccurate reading. Always take off all wiring from the terminals when doing any check and also test the compressor ohm value. The internal windings are treated with a lacquer coating and that acts as the insulator because the windings are in oil.
I just updated my central heat & ac unit It was a Fedder installed in 1972. Replaced system not because the compressor failed but the ac system developed micro leaks. 3 in the last 4 years in different areas. With the insane cost of R-22 to recharge a 5 ton system. I couldn't justify the cost. So replaced the whole unit with the help of your videos. The $ saved on utilities and installing it myself. It will have paid for itself in 3.5 years. Thank You for the help. I could not have done it without your videos. Keep up the great work.