AC Compressor Lock Rotors, Shuts off, Can I Save It
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- čas přidán 1. 07. 2019
- I get a call that someone was out at this home the day earlier and said the system is old and needs to be replaced. The compressor is busted and won't start they were told. They want me to come out and see if it really needs to be replaced or if I can get the compressor to pump and the air conditioning cools the house down.
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"The owners 95 years old... she does not need a new AC..." Good man Bill. Not only did you fix the compressor start, you took the time to clean the condenser and took the time to protect and oil the fan motor, even though it was dark out. You are, as my Pops would say, "A scholar and a gentleman!"
If she wanted a new ac she would of went with the company that was there one day before me. I know when I’m called for a second opinion my customer wants what they own to work. I didn’t want the system to fail quickly after I finish this repair. I will hopefully do a live video in sept from this site.
@@thehvachacker you did great, i cannot do this at all, and helped an older person way to go! 🙂 i million thumbs up.
So true, a heart out of gold and compassion. This old lady will not take advantage of him.
I think that you're a man with high integrity you took the time to get that elderly woman is much time and usage as possible as my 87 year old dad said before he passed that at his age he was on borrowed time thank you for your video and that's refreshing to see someone still has morals keep up the good work thanks
The AC compressor has been condemned you say.......here hold my beer. What I love the most about the way you operator is how you are always hell bent on doing the right thing and helping your customers out. Happy Fourth of July Hacker!!!!!!!
Glad to see folks willing to fix things it might not always be what folks want to do. As someone with an aging grandparent my 92yo grandmother does not have the budget to replace her HVAC system.
Don’t ya just love it when a competitor can’t take advantage of an old person. I hope that old unit stays running for a long time. Looks like it was built rugged.
Really great how you looked after the 95 year old lady went the extra mile for her sir. I highly respect you
Great people out there and you are one of them. Anyone else would have said I will sell her a new one.
Thank you
I was thinking about how he went the extra mile for the senior citizen too while watching the video. He has a rare work ethic that’s hard to find these days. May the LORD bless him for this.
Nice guy!
I LOVE seeing these old units still be operational and being worked on! No idea why but it's so interesting watching vintage things still work. even if it needed slight repairs!
I did a repair today on a carrier brown round from 87 and it brought back so many memories. Machine nes I learned the trade working on and rarely run into them anymore.
Thank you for doing a good job!. I have a 1997 5 ton trane. It's been flawless until this year. Started randomly tripping breakers. I called two different contractors out. Both spent 20 mins tops looking and told me the unit is old and the compressor has a intermittent short... I didn't buy that so I went investigating. Tested compressor windings following internet instructions, tested fine. The original compressor cap terminals looked nasty so I replaced it with a 5-2-1 hard start kit with the relay etc. Still randomly trip my inside breaker. Found my outside disconnect box had a loose connection behind the breaker and melted behind it, would get hot and trip the inside breaker. Replaced the outside panel for $18 bux and been running flawless ever since. What's bad is that even if I got a new unit it would of done the same thing. Intermittently tripping the breaker....then I would of really been mad!
Well done. Nice to see someone actually fix a unit.
You are a true hero to me! I absolutely LOVE these old units with the horizontal discharge fan, so glad that you took the time and were able to get it back up and running for her! I also recognized it as a Bard, we had a restaurant here in town with one. It was from 1980 and they finally had to replace it a couple years ago. It ran practically non stop in that place. The bottom of the unit was starting to rust out and somebody took some sheet metal and bent it up in there to get a few more years out of it. Bullet proof units for sure. I sure wish I had an old system that you could come service and save for me. They certainly will outlast the modern junk of today! Great vid man.
When testing a start capacitor with a resistor across the two terminals you have to cut the resistor to get an accurate reading. That may be why it was high.
Good on you! I hope that someone takes care of my grandparents this way or when I get to that age, myself!
Me too, instead everyone will com to my house and try to sell me new equipment instead of replacing a relay
Good video. 45 years experience here. Back then we didn't have any of the tools we use today. I can remember blowing the charge, pulling the condenser coil, taking to a car wash and reinstalling just to get them clean. Wire was cheap back then every unit looked at rat's nest when you were trouble shooting. Intresting to see the digital measurments on the old machine. Still have an RS3 Amprobe and a Simpson 260 in the shop. Enjoyed ever minute.
@95 thanks for helping her out, could be her last summer here.
Might just live month to month & a cleaning should be in her budget, but the mind slips at that age.
Praise You.
I do my best to help my customers
Good thing you came along and got that old beast on life support and not some "Sales Tech" who would have just looked at it and tried to sell the 95 y/o lady a high efficiency system, lady will be able to buy most of her meds before her kids put her in a nursing home and fight over who keeps/sells her house.
The sales tech was there a day earlier why I was checking the compressor out before attempting to start it. He said the compressor won’t start. The system is old needs to be replaced. He was there about 30 minutes and 15 of it was trying to get the lady to buy a new unit. Never understood why even the salesman where I work put such complex systems with complex Tstats in really old peoples homes. I have so many of them beg to sell them a round thermostat like they had cause they have no idea how to turn this thing on.
@@thehvachacker they love increased service calls? they are "sales snakes" after all
This is my favorite video of yours as it touches on so many aspects of HVAC and troubleshooting. The previous company that looked at this was not incorrect with their diagnosis. However it's refreshing to see a "fixer" doing a great job making that ancient unit work. No doubt a sales manager would be upset about your ability to get more use out of that system but that homeowner was certainly pleased. Great job! If we need to determine a good working definition for value, let it be from the perspective of the pleased homeowner. A similar situation happened to us an imagine my surprise when the tech did two unexpected things: He reversed the compressor leads for 1 sec to slam the compressor in the opposite direction and when that did not work he broke out the rubber mallet and went to work. So booster + creative temporary wiring and + attitude adjustment got it done. Go figure, it did unlock the compressor and gave us a few more months of cool. Of course we replaced it, but it was neat seeing those fix actions actually work. Counterintuitive but effective. Paying for the hourly rate prior to replacement is worth it in Florida heat.
Great Fix! Thanks for taking care of people and not being a sales tech. Keep it up brotha!
Great job man 👍 you hung in there to get it right and didn't give up! I'm sure the customer appreciates your service and didn't have to replace the unit!😄
Yes and this will get replaced when the next homeowner moves in. Yet don’t want this customer being uncomfortable she’s 95
A real HVAC tech !! Great to see you take the time to help out a customer during this busy time of year. I am in my 38th year in the HVAC trade and self employed HVAC contractor for 30 years now in Baltimore Maryland. Watching this video is like watching myself as I would have done exactly what you did step by step . Oh Thanks again for turning me on to the Harbor Freight Flash light . I bought one last year at Harbor Freight Tools on sale and then found a person selling them brand new on Facebook Marketplace for $10.00. I bought 5 more for $40.00 because the person cut me a deal lol. Keep up the awesome work Bill. Peace \m/\m/......
I firmly believe "fix it, not replace it". I am not a professional, although i am licensed on 609 and 608 type 1. My grandmothers ac is a Chrysler corporation. Made in 1972 - 1974. The ac company wanted to replace it. I removed the evaporator coils, soldered on a new tube where it was corroded and put it back together. Works like the day it was built and for about 8,000 dollars less.
Fix it until it’s not worth it. The efficiency thing takes alone time to pay you back. To replace a system operating good is pointless.
@@thehvachacker the increase in efficiency MAY NEVER pay you back in many situations. because many new units have such a short life span of 10 to 20 years or less, where the old systems last... well my grandmothers system is about 45 years old and only needed a few feet of new copper.
Good job Bill, glad to see you got it fixed for the old lady. Most people now days would say it needs replacing just so they can cash in, all they see is $$$.
To me replacing a system does not bring satisfaction as making something work that was broken.
Its a long term solution but $$ keep it working for granny
stop worrying what others are saying, you are happy with your work, your boss is happy and the client is happy all that matters
I may make comments on it yet if I really cared about all those that don’t like my videos I would cater to them. I can’t I have to be me. I know how I do it makes me and my customers happy.
@@thehvachacker Far as i am concerned, (i know the peanut gallery) you do good work and have a decent commentary during the video's that you share please keep sharing and please keep doing what you do I and i'm sure others do enjoy watching you.
i am so sorry that you are off to a rocky start lol love the vids keep them coming
Great work man. You can tell you love what you do.
Its very quiet once running and it sounds nice.
I replace run caps at about 10 years, it’s $15 to $25 cheap, it avoids rotor lock damage, and since 50% of failed a/c calls are for bad capacitors, it just smart. Keep in mind your tiny meter can measure microfarad readings but cannot detect high voltage leaks. Just replace the cap first and only if that is not enough, then add the boost cap.
The biggest mistake is leaving the old crappy probably failing cap in and adding a hard start cap - which really just to counter the effects of a going bad run cap when they are tied together. No one can argue that a bad run cap causing rotor lock is good for the expensive equipment it’s actually protecting. It’s like car tires - you replace them well before they fail or go bald. It’s enhanced fail prevention service. Be a wise guy!
Every time you say uF I can't help but say micro farads in my head
Micro farads and uF is the same thing
That’s awesome info, and thank you for sharing that.
Sorry for the such new comments. I re-watch these videos because I love watching you do this awesome work. Anyways, with that hard start on their I imagine that compressor is only gonna last around 2-5 years. This old thing has had it's time if that's the case.
2-5 years is longer than the homeowner may last she was old somewhere around 95 if I remember correctly
When checking a start capacitor, you must cut the bleed resistor, can't be checked with bleed resistor, that why you got high capacitance, and can't have a rating higher then the cap is rated for. Otherwise great job in getting it running.
excellent job; says an enormous amount about you and I mean more than your technical skill. well done.
Good job! As some others mentioned, you can't accurately measure capacitors if they have the bleed resistor still in circuit. You must remove the resistor from the capacitor to get a valid reading.
yep, best bet is cut it out and install new resistor with female terminals crimped on, cut, test, plug and done :)
The Hackster making NJ cool again ... Lol ... Good vid Bill ...
I had this same issue with my 1993 American Standard the compressor would keep cutting out when it hit 110F outside. I put in an spp6 now it's going strong again. Lets see if I can get a few more years out of this thing. Great video, you saved another Unit.
@ 21:28 "This owner's 95 years old. She does not need a new air conditioner". I love this! Everything can be fixed. My central air is working fine and has been for awhile. Never had an issue. Its also old. I would really like to get someone local to come out and look it over, get the coils cleaned, etc. But after watching other videos on CZcams of how HVAC companies will pressure techs to break something on purpose or tell the homeowner they need a whole new unit just to make some money. This really bothers me. I wish I could find an honest HVAC in my area but you honestly never know. I am very frustrated.
Nice save and yep old Trane. I’ve helped haul a few of those away back back in the day and some worked and some didn’t back in the day.
I was hollering at the Video check that coil lmao... yeah back in this era it was installed using measurements done in tons. You wouldn’t find a BTU rating on that tag. So yeah I’ll bet it’s oversized big time. 👍👍
You earned my respect on this one. The Hacker has a heart. Good job! 👍
That sounded like an engine trying to start with a very tired battery the first time you tried it!
Nice work on that old unit. I'd have guessed it was a Bard condensing unit. Never seen a Trane that old.
Yes it is a Bard. Looks like the Trane data tag but.......
This video inspired me to go check on how clean the condenser coil was on the unit here (about one year old?) yeah it was caked. Quick hose-off and it looks like new. Sadly the hose i have access to here is not long enough to get all 4 sides, just one side 100% and another side like 30% even that one side i got at an extreme angle is vastly cleaner now... you can see where the water stopped!
It’s best to keep that coil clean. It will reduce the electric bill.
I serviced an old Rheem the other day, from 1990. It had one of those hard start caps (or super boost) just bolted in there and not connected to anything, looked like it’s been sitting in there about 20 years.
Really good job and video. Those hard start kits have saved by bacon on many occasions. Thanks for the video.
They work good and always worth trying to get a stuck compressor to kick over and start
I’m a bigger fan of the ones with the potential start relay. Also from Suprco (sp?). More like the OEM one Bill found to be bad. We put them in all new systems and my service guys are also supposed to be putting them in on all maintenance calls. With the number I buy, I think that’s actually happening. 🤣
The one I used has the potential relay in the upper part. I would rather use a ks1 hard start kit also. With the separate relay. I just wasn’t on my own job so am limited to the crap my employer stocks in my truck
good job getting it going for the home owner
I think your videos are pretty good. Not as easy as it looks working long days and making videos. Thanks. I sound not so good when I tried making videos, the words didn't come out right.
I say the wrong words at times and get pounced for it by many. It’s not easy, many enjoy I have ignore the haters
Compressor was brutally overheated because of an ill-maintained coil. This is such a classic failure mode for any A/C unit, even household refrigerators.
Sad part is the coil was maintained by lazy techs not realizing how thick the coil is. They were cleaning just the outside
good job getting that old unit running i bet that lady was happy she didn't need a new unit after all its been a year now Wonder if that unit is still running.
Great job again like always
nice job repairing the old
Simple green diluted into a garden sprayer works well if you are going to follow up with a pressure washer. I try to avoid the foaming cleaners so the fins don’t get eaten up. Or I’ll use the Evap Powr-C cleaner and a pressure washer followup with good results.
One thing you definitely need is experience for sure. You have to be new at the game. Don’t use super heat on these old ones just have your high side inline temp 30 to 35 above outside temp and low side inline temp above freezing. That’s all you have to do on any r22 units below 14 seer. Good luck 👍
You use super heat if it's a piston subcooling if it's a TXV.
HVAC/R Detective no need is my point. Doing it the way I said is all that has to be done. It’s what was used when these old ones were built. Works every time
He is helping an older person. Wait until you reach a high age.
Ursula Smith I have helped many people in need of help but that’s not what this comment is about if you can read it’s about him doing something that older techs comments can help him with since he is new. You must be a troll Ursula smith 👎🏻👎🏻
You can use superheat on old r22 machines. Once I stopped going with beer can cold I went to superheat on everything piston and subcooling all txv. Ignorance is showing on this one. I have over 20 years experience and only time anyone charged the way you talk was in trade school. Out of trade school we never checked hi side and charged till suction became sweaty. There is many ways to do something yet trying to put someone down for having a better approach is useless.
I would use a brush or a broom to clean it first then the water stream, I just wonder if a high pressured stream may bend all the aluminium foil thin layer a lot.
Another thing is that both Superheat and subcool seem to be way high, did you try to lower it down ?
Why is it called the fusite and why would it potentially blow?
Wish you worked in florida. Atleast id know i was getting a good man and good service.
Resistor has to be removed to test capacitor
Nice one and Job well done!!!!
bill fuck what anyone says u are the man !!! and your a great tec edbonjovi aka the leak master
I feel the same way. All the haters can hate I don’t work for them. So why would I care. I need to make my customers happy they are the ones that count
As I am trying today to catch up on comments yours fits right in. Since I suck and have zero experience is what I'm reading. So fk them
I had a brand new Copeland compressor the other day with locked rotors. Compressor windings checked out good it just would not get up and running
Love my malco bit to change from 5/16 to 1/4 quickly. Little too big on cap band removal but otherwise I never have to dig for another bit! Great video tho!!
JustinP HVAC take a grinder and shave the tip down that's what worked for me
Only thing I don't like of the Marco bit is the socket loves to stay on a screw I just impacted into a panel
you have to remove the bleed resistor before you can check. its there to protect the rly points when the comp turns off.
was wondering if someone was going to tell about the resistor, that's what I teach my students in basic ac course
my friend does HVAC for a living and has a kick ass product that will make coils look new!
www.refrigtech.com
Travis R. It’s called coil cleaner 😅😆😂
There's quite a few affordable battery powered area lights for night work. You could keep one in the truck charged up for these occasions.
I should look into it, I seen milwaukee makes some
I do also take my time calls to make sure I troubleshoot diagnose probably and fix it properly to avoid call backs just the way I am and was thought to run calls.
I've told this to companies that work for. And if they are not looking for someone like that lets not waste anybody's time.
What about voltage drop on start up? Didn’t see you verify that the voltage remained within 10% of the specified value, when the unit was drawing LRA. Also that original start cap seemed to have a low MFD rating for a start cap. Usually they are rated a lot higher. Good job
My condenser unit is blowing cold air instead of warm or hot and inside my house is not blowing cold air and one of the copper tubing gets VERY HOT, and the outside condenser some parts gets condescension. Last week it was working fine until the contactor went bad and burned the transformer changed both and stop working any ideas what it could be?
To me it seems like the compressor is running backwards, do you have 3-phase? If it's 3-phase then two wires are probably swapped. I'd turn it off until the direction of the compressor is verified to make sure it's not blowing itself to pieces due to lack of lubrication.
Those fieldpiece kits company provides these for us techs I carry a piece of sand paper to get a accurate reading on superheat/subcool don't know if someone already mentioned this.
Dirty copper prevents the clamps from working. Even just moving clamps up and down like a copper cutter cleans copper enough for probes to work
@@thehvachacker won't lie I've done that before when I loose the piece of sand paper and don't have any more left or being to lazy to walk to the van and grab another piece.
Lock rotor as in liquid is in the piston of the compressor? Hydrolock
Jammed up and attempting to start. When a compressor attempts to start and start winding remains energized due to compressor not starting yet drawing hi amps.
Great video bro !!!! that small pressure washer is good for cleaning the evaporator coils. Don't make too much mess ?
also, looked like power company load shed/energy saver junk mounted to the front of that unit, was it still connected or bypassed? if it's line voltage switching, those are known to cause low voltage/current starvation issues! cannot really tell from the video
Most I've seen are 24 volt interrupt. The power companies don't like to get into the 230 volt system.
@@quantumleap359 you may be right, that does look like later model equipment, the older stuff was mostly all line voltage and mounted to the house at disconnect.
I prefer to tell them where to shove it and go cut off their commercial customers HVAC instead ;)
Yea it interrupted 24vac for a small rebate from the utility company
saved Gma 8,000 god bless u! late at night to boot!
What I would of done, installed a new compressor cap TESTED at 70uf, 5-2-1 hard start, raised compressor unit off the dirt, NEVER use a power washer on coils (duh), sprayed the coils with a garden pump up sprayer with Dawn and water, rinse with garden hose. Soap and water the coil again and rinse. BTW, that toy power washer was used incorrectly. You need to shoot the water perpendicular to the coil. Shooting at an angle, most of the water bounces off. Actually that unit could of used coil cleaner. Removed the cage that covered the outside of the coil. Tested the fan and blower caps. Still liked your video sir.
I used coil cleaner just for whiter reason it didn’t record that part
I have used pressure cleaner on coils not a problem. Depending on the oxidisation of the coil would have to be taken into account and some of the newer units with very thin fins would require care
Ya think????? LOL
Can't test a start capacitor without removing that bleed resistor out of circuit.
stan wei doesn’t that resistor bleed off the voltage all the time and eliminate what the capacitor does? I’m confused over resistor use. Thanks for answering
Yes. you are right the resistor across the terminals is intended to discharge stored voltage after start capacitor is drop out the start circuit and ready for the next start cycle. To test any capacitor is to find out uf not voltage, if the resistor is still in the circuit you will get an inaccurate uf reading. Hope this answer your question. @@joedillon159
Yes sir. Many thanks. That makes sense. I appreciate the explanation.
@@stanwei157 really you should test the esr of an electrolytic. Testing the capacitance alone won't tell you if the capacitor hasn't turned into a resistor.
Is this how you diagnosis capacitors in an ac system? Typically quoted values of ESR for ceramic capacitors are between 0.01 and 0.1 ohms. ... Aluminium and tantalum electrolytic capacitors with nonsolid electrolyte have much higher ESR values, up to several ohms; electrolytics of higher capacitance have lower ESR
What kind of flashlight is that it seem to work really well?
It's the brain slim bar from harbor freight
Looks like a Lennox HS6-411, Late 1960's, maybe early 1970. R-22 much better at dehumidifying than 410-a. Lower evaporator temperatures, more condensation. Older units had thicker copper coils, fewer refrigerant leaks. May save energy with newer units, but will spend more on maintenance, especially if going to the new ECM's. DOE is clueless on mandating energy savings. Lennox came out with condensing furnaces, Pulse, long before DOE mandates.
Pulse is an amazing furnace just keep the flappers clean and replace before little tears
There was also the hydropulse boiler using same buzz bomb technology
I feel much dirt got trapped in the middle of the coil from pressure cleaning. Using a good coil cleaner to break down the dirt followed by pressure cleaning would have been more effective. In any case you did get it cleaner. It was a good job, just an observation. 👍
What do you use to clean the condenser coils?
I use mr foamy
Can you measure capacitance correctly if it has bleed resistor ?
No, you can't. Look it up.
That coil was very stopped up, very neglected. I have to clean my outside unit every month because of all the cottonwood seeds floating around in the spring and early summer.
Sad part is this coil supposedly gets cleaned every year. Yet I’m sure it’s a light rinsing, as they were just going through the motions.
@@thehvachacker they probably just hose it from the outside in, pushing the junk deeper. I've seen many that looked clean, until I put my nose close and found otherwise!
some of them have some very stupid punched fins that are near impossible to clean, stupid efficiency increasing stunts that hardly last at all. that one is too old for such silly fins though
What’s the brand name to your flash light , I’ve got to have one.
It looks like a Braun from harbor freight
It's weird some of them old units like that some drawl in some draw out
Leibert makes on that loves to suck leaves up onto the coil and a pain to clean off
It looks like they installed it backwards why the fan facing the wall all that hot air will bounce back and that’s how it got dirty pretty fast
This system is 40+ years old. It gets lots of fresh air since the rejected heat from the condenser will rise upward. This coil is thick I bet the last service someone sprinkled down the coil fast.
pretty strong little work light what is it cob LED ?
It's a light from Harbor Freight; Braun 390 Lumen Magnetic Slim Bar Folding LED Work Light Item # 63958 Hacker did a video on it a while back.
@@Chris_In_Texas
Yep.. pretty good light actually.
Astro makes a series that's very nice also.. and not much more $$.
Would the gloves serve a dual purpose used as an insulator and the second improved grip and the third keep out the nasty crap you have to mess with
Mostly wear any kind of gloves for protection. Even latex gloves help prevent tiny metal splinters from the zip screws. Those splinters I can never get out easily and always seem to be wherever I touch everything. Then protection from getting cut. Then there is dead rodents in these units often. Most think disposable gloves don’t offer much protection yet it tears instead of my skin many time.
@@thehvachacker I almost pissed my self laughing when I seen some one call you a millennial lol
@@thehvachacker same thing happens when using lots of drywall screws for other indoor construction. only thing worse is getting stabbed and sliced by wire, frayed steel cabling, duct pieces, and sharp cut pipe edges.
thus far I've avoided clashing with all the spinning blades over the years. insert "knock on wood" sound effect :))
I'm getting called a millennial and an inexperienced rookie in this video comment section. Oh well gotta love youtube
any time I hear about/see a starting issue, I like to do voltage drop testing, line to line and line to neutral/ground (**while starting/failing to start and running), many times I find a power supply issue like bad disconnect or breakers from loose/corroded wiring, even whole breaker panels that were bad from rain/storm water running right inside the cable jacket.
I bet if you did the old school target superheat formula. Wet bulb x3-80-ambient temp outdoors,divided by 2 You'd get that (sh) calculation very close to yours. Seemed like in your video you may have been having a little trouble, getting it off your probe. I love that formula, been stuck in this old head seems forever..
Normally use Super heat calculation on Refrigeration systems at the Evaporator and and Sub Cooling numbers at the condenser for properly charged Hvac systems.
I believe he was servicing a R 22 Piston metering device system. The calculation is for your (Target Superheat) pretty much piston specific. Sub cooling TXV usual. Both absolutely are important. 👍
@@charlesmalinoski6325 I've Never in 40 years used Super heat to verify the systems charge for piston orifice metered R-22 hvac systems taken at the evaporator.i'm not saying you can't( because when i first started as a kid i charged piston R-22 Systems using nothing but the palm of my hand and an amp meter so anything is possible) but the manufacturers of all Hvac systems have their Sub cooling numbers either on the data plate of the condenser or you can call their engineers to get the target numbers taken at the condenser, for their respective product. They have never given me super heat numbers.Only refrigeration manufacturers have given me the Super heat numbers that are taken at the evaporators TXV Metered systems that i am aware of. Even the 407c( very similar to R-22 i'm sure you know) Air dryers i have re-designed for a rail car plant are all calculated by Sub-cooling.
RobVoyles I was speaking of a targeted set sh at the condenser. With the calculations I was taught,and use just to see if it will give me the same results as any given specific name plate data. The calculation has always been on the mark... in comparison. 😂 🤷♂️
Charging to feel of the suction was what a tech showed me about 20 years ago. Yet with ac systems pistons was always charged to superheat and TXV get charged to subcooling. Problem with trying to charge a piston to subcooling is the subcooling is always really high.
people who use kneeling pads are awesome. been using mine for 20 years now. people make fun of me. but i have one knee cap unlike them. they have two. nice job. check that charge. but watch out for a call back. its a carrier.
cool flashlight where did you get it
Harbor Freight. It's a nice light. Runs on 18650 cells. So can buy better batteries if they do fail.
It's bright.. has two levels.. and a light at the tip, can go between them. Magnetic base..and it swivels
I think about $35.
You might also look at. The Astro 40SL. It's not much more money.. I I think higher quality. Astro makes a bunch of different types of lights so check them all out may find one you like better.
Appreciate the videos dude, but question time, is that a typical/normal AC in america land? They are way different to Australian ones. Also since I'm going, I never see you mega (insulation resistance) compressor windings to ground/earth, I'm assuming it isn't a common fault over there? Here it is the very first test I do on any unit that isn't running the comp, it's so common that even if I see a melted contacter or whatnot on the way I still mega the comp to see if it's worth my time of day.
I meg a compressor sometimes. I usually only use a meg tool on generators if I feel the rotor or stator is shorted or grounded. This is a really old ac system. Yet most residential ac systems are split systems. With ductwork to distribute the air somewhat evenly through the house. Ductless unit’s are used when running ductwork is impossible or a room added on. If a compressor winding is grounded to earth the breaker or fuses will trip. Then it’s very easy to just check continuity of resistance from compressor terminals to the copper line-set since that is connected to ground.
Does operating compressors fail your meg test? We are all learning new and better ways everyday. Yet I do checking resistance in the m scale often. Depends on what I’m working on. Most my coworkers don’t even have megohmmeters
@@thehvachacker If it's operating then I don't meg test. Maybe environmental conditions cause a lot more compressors here to short to earth, the windings still have enough coating to not show up with a Ohm test, but when power is on they short out. The laws here are a bit over board so almost everyone has a meg on them, every circuit is "supposed" to be tested with it. Also we operate with 230 or 400 Volts so that might make difference in what fails more often.
And we get a lot of breaker trips here from many things, it is a good sign of compressor fail as you said, but 50/50 here from gecko's and rodents, and PC boards in single phase units that run a 3 phase compressor (the PC board takes our 230Vac, rectifies it to about 250DC, then square wave 400Vac with low amps).
It's expensive to get 3 phase here, 2 phase is basically non existent, so manufactures cheat a bit and try all sorts of fancy tricks.
I've done about 4 package units in my life, they are my favourite but unknown and expensive here, Split ducted is the "upper crust" solution, but mostly single split systems or multi split systems (one indoor head with no duct) or VRF and VRV (multiple indoor heads and one huge outdoor unit, shared pipe work).
It's mostly a retrofit game here, 5 single splits per house or 20 per office is fairly common.
If the run cap is good it will limit the rates of voltage rise (or spikes). If the run cap went open circuit then the insulation is at greater risk. Many technicians will replace a weak 370 volt cap with a 440 volt cap to negate future failure.
Many Inverter supplies lack filter caps and plow nasty voltage spikes into the compressor and that can damage the insulation. It's a combination of voltage and frequency(rates of rise) that initiates arcing and breakdown of insulation.
Good job Hack !!
Thanks Ted
why you dont use coil cleaner?? for the condenser
I did just somehow I took a photo instead of hitting record on camera.there is 20 minutes of coil cleaning missing from video
That was finding an outlet to get power for pressure washer
I have a cuestión...why do you use only fieldpiece but not testo
Fieldpiece made a superior product at the time. I was a testo fan if you watch my older videos. My 550 lasted 7 or 8 years before going down. A few of my coworkers had the testo probes yet barely used them. No range and constant dropping connection. It’s why I chose to invest into fieldpiece probes and haven’t considered anything else. Tools are an investment. Do you have the testo probes? Most techs at my shop use the testo gauges since management orders and allows payments. Many of my subscribers talked up the fieldpiece probes. I’m sure the newer gen of testo probes have been built better than the last generation. I use the same tools all the time until they break
@@thehvachacker thank you for your answer ...i wanna buy one....i dont know speak english very good sorry...i want buy testo buy now think that is better the fieldpiece thank you
Another good video hvac hacker. My parents have two old York r22 units that the condenser coil fins were completely folded over on when they moved in 2 years ago. I have done the best I can with a plastic knife and wire brush to straighten them, and cleaned them, but the main unit is still drawing 22.5 amps when rated at 21.8 amps. What is your opinion on the
A/C renew product? My dad has had two heart attacks in a month so money is tight right now. Thanks man.
How are the capacitor in the system that can help lower amps of its weak. Ac renew I haven’t used but years ago Lennox gave us 1000’s of zerol ice oil to put into every system we installed between 2013-2016 if the serial numbers matched. We already replaced most the txv’s yet for the systems the txv’s were sticking a little most seemed after a week to start operating correctly. Zerol ice I believe became ac renew it’s the same stuff. Can’t hurt the system and the system isn’t over charged that will also raise amps. Also if condenser fan motor was ever replaced check it’s data tag it might be rated higher than the systems data tag say it’s rated for.
The HVAC Hacker thank you for the reply. I checked the capacitor. It’s a 45+5 but it tests out at 36.4 and 5.02. My dad has an amrad 45+5 cap and a hard start kit coming in tomorrow.
Nice Repair
I’ve got a similar issue except my compressor runs for 15-30 seconds with the hard start kit and then shuts off. Current Ac guys states the compressor is no good. Do I need a second opinion?
A second opinion when changing a major component or even the entire system is always a good idea. Like a second opiniom from a doctor or a car mechanic. But from my experience compressors with a hard start kit are usually on their last leg. But there are a couple things that could cause your system to short cycle. Call a small company, not a big name that markets a lot.
just make sure they tested or replaced the run capacitor, it's probably dual section, one side for compressor and other for fan...
adding a hard start kit when the run cap is bad can cause that, but many other things can also, bad run winding, low charge/no oil damaged compressor, bad thermal overload inside..
wise to always have a few people check the units and get a few bids
You need to find one good HVAC tech that you can trust and use him or her only. Asking if you may need a 2nd opinion tells me you haven't found him or her yet. Yes, i know a female tech that is really good and easy on the eyes too which is a bonus. She doesn't like it when i say that but she knows men are men and we can't help it... It's all about relationships in the service world especially in the HVAC field. Good Luck.
coldkill47 older systems usually came with hard start cap because stuff was made better 40 years ago. Now the manufacturers are so cheap they would rather sell you a unit without one so it dies right outside of warranty and they are cheaper to manufacture. All units should have them, especially if they are fitted with a txv. I agree tho that a hard start isn’t usually put on nowadays unless there is a problem, so if you see one you can probably assume the compressor isn’t to healthy.
Did you leave super boost installed ?
of course
Here is a helpful tip clean all debris before working on the unit
Does a superboost do the same thing as a hard start?
What's the difference between the two
A super boost like a hard start hits the compressor with a high MFD to boost the magnetic force a motor requires to rotate
@@thehvachacker hi, i have the compressor of a minisplit that only make a few turn then stop and restart, then stop but never running straight, i put new capacitor, the om's reading are good, what can i do, does it need a superboost and where can i get one, thank's .
alot of your ac calls go into night time what time did u start lol?
I leave my house at 7:30. A lot of my residential videos come from when I am on call ( emergency service) rest of the time I am usually working in commercial buildings. Yet I do like residential work
@@thehvachacker I like the boiler call vids you do too
Clean inside of unit, wash down coils, leave hard start connected compressor should last 2 years.
At least if not 5-10 years. Yet the next owner of this house will replace it even if it works
Ultimately bad hard start cap?
Plugged condenser along with bad hard start. That coil was packed from years of improper cleaning
Why are you working at night? Must be a solution that could break up that crud before power washing.
Best heavy foaming catalyst coil cleaner is by National Chemical KLEENFOAM1- KF1GNC
Why ur every machine has issue other than refrigerant leakage. Because my air conditioning unit every year have only & only refrigerant leakage problem.
find a different hvac person..?
Maybe because you have a leak?
The old machines had thicker copper tubing they didn’t leak as bad as the new thinner coils
Man I would have like to have seen the high side pressure before you cleaned the coil I bet it was ridiculous high.
I should of checked. I couldn’t even get the water at 2000 psi to penetrate that coil. I was wishing I had a gasoline power washer to clean that coil quicker
@@thehvachacker your videos are good man. Your not all flashy and shit like some channels. Just you working. You, hvacr videos and anti DIY hvac are the only channels that I actually see things I can apply in the field. Other channels are over edited.