Honeywell is all I install. I don't remember having any of the digitals go bad yet. IMHO you had a rare problem.
I have a vision pro in my home and thats all we install unless the customer is getting a DDC system. we are a commercial/industrial company
Thanks for this advice. I was hoping to add a little r-22 to get me by until the tax return comes. -mark
Update: I had a guy come out and fill it with R-22 for $243. It all leaked out in 4 days. He said he wouldn't fix something this old and sent a sales person to my house who wanted to charge me $3800 to replace the AC unit only, not the heater too. He said he was going to replace it with another R-22 unit instead of the newer kind (whatever that is). I'm going to have Atlas Butler come out today and give me another estimate and then another local company is coming in right after them. I really don't want to spend this much money on this thing. We are planning on living in this condo for another year tops, maybe less. Can't they just fix the leak?
$3800 is WAY too much for just the AC. I just had my 80+ furnace and AC unit replaced here at the office for $3900 (struck by lightning a couple of weeks ago). I also got the "new" R4?? in mine. Works better than it ever did. FYI: I used Bunsold H&C from Marysville. 937-349-3681. They've been in business forever in Marysville and are as honest as the day is long. The lady who answers the phone is Karen...tell her I sent you if you call.
Thanks Brad. The sales guy who stopped by the house did not "feel" honest at all. He told me $3800 was the cheapest I would find ANYWHERE. I told him I was going to get a couple of more estimates.
Post a picture of your A/C if you can. I'll tell you if it's to old to repair. These guys don't want to work for their money,. they see an easy sale and quick profit. find a local Terchnician who is willing to leak check the system and show you where the leak is. that will determine if a repair is feasable or not. one of my biggest pet peaves are so called techs who says something isnt worth repairing because they are lazy. I saved a customer 9000.00 today because another company told them that their compressor was bad and needed replaced. they called us to replace the compressor because they didn't have a good feeling about the other tech..I rediagnosed the problem as i always do even if our own techs were there before me and what on the surface appeared to be a locked rotor(seized) compressor was actually a bad 85 dollar contactor that was causing the unit to single phase and show locked rotor symptoms. my cost on the replacement compressor was 5900.00:eek2: I could have just replaced the compressor at custyomers request but that wouldn't have been doing my job. find a company that actually provides service. Bob
$3800 sounds very high for a condensing unit change out. A 4 day leak should be very easy to find and an honest company should find it and give an estimate to repair it if you ask them to. The leak could be in the condensing unit(outside) or in the lines(rare) or in the evaporator coil. I repair leaks all the time but there are companies that only want to sell you new equipment. You met that guy. Sounds like Brad gave you the name of who you need to call. If I went on a call where the system was totally empty, which yours must have been if you lost all of the charge in only 4 days, I would NOT add refrigerant until I found and repaired the leak. Did the guy mention that it was empty? Did he mention that what he added might leak right back out? Did he ask you or mention anything about looking for a leak before he charged it? If you answered "NO" to those questions, I'd be asking them for the $243!
new federal regulations mandate all equipment be 13 SEER and that drove the price way up. also you are calling during the peak season so they are charging full price. kinda like buying a hamburger at the fair for 12 bucks when you can buy the same burger for 5 bucks on the outside. the other refrigerant that is being used now for A/C and heatpumps is 410A.
Andy sounds like you learned the right way.. usually when a system is flat i pressureize the system with Nitrogen and a little bit of R-22 and go leak hunting.. obvious signs of oil residue help as well
ok first thing do you have R-22 in the unit your testing?. most residential units are these days. I have my own heating company here in NY and I dont think those gauges you have will do what you need them to do. very first and foremost thing to do is CLEAN everything. indoor coil and the outdoor coil. they work like a car radiator. If it is dirty it cannot disperse or pick up the heat as it should. most times a dirty filter will cause issues also. If your unit is over 15 years old you could have a bad valve and the unit is letting liquid slip through the compressor. The outdoor unit wont usually freeze unless something is either blocked or pinched off in the line. Thats just my two sense. My advice is make sure its good and clean and then take a amp reading on the compressor wire wile it is running and compare it to the full load amp tag on the unit operation tag. if it is drawing high amps even when clean and the temp outside is not extreme it is safe to say its on its way out. send me a PM if you wana talk more Id be interested to know what it turns out to be if you wana share.
I disagree with thie above. I NEVER clean a unit before i leak check or attempt to locate a leak. oil residue is one of the best ways to spot a leak large or small. cleaning it removes this possible residue and makes the job much harder. Bad valves have nothing to do with refrigerant loss. they simply affect pumping capacity. if the tech added R-22 to the system and it cooled for 4 days then valves are not an issue. also loss of pumping capacity due to bad valve reduces amp draw since there is little or no load on a compressor it does not increase amp draw unless the compressor is on the verge of seizing up due to lack of lubrication. which compressor wire would you have him take an amp reading from.. there are 3 and only 2 will give an amp reading. the start wire wont tell him anything. once again get a reputable tech out there and you will at least get an accurate diagnosis
To make this a very short reply... He did tell me it would probably leak out but would reimburse it if they were going to repair or replace it. To test it with Nitrogen and then repair it was going to cost somewhere around $700. And if it ended up being my "interior coil???" it would cost another $1200. My father-in-law said to call Atlas/Butler and he would pay for the majority of the costs. I called them, they gave me a price $500 less and for the newer 410A system for 12 months same as cash. They are installing it today at 1:00pm.
