Carrier A/C, Again!

[Philip_G]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

How many pounds will this system hold? I have someone telling me 99 dollars for a full checkup and up to 1 lbs freon and a ex-coworker telling me 150 for freon (it dont says what max pounds) and the check up if the charge dont fix it...

you have an angie's list sub? it's worth spending the money to get someone that will take the time to charge it right vs just dumping gas and run.

you know it's sure nice to put a sight glass in, they cost about 10 bucks when the unit is installed but no one ever does it

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

im getting the ac guy to do the entire check next week. Will let you guys know what it is that he finds.

 

[nevrmnd]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

tell her to set the theromstat to 72 and see it will stay running. where you are with the temps I see and the humidity level that might be the best shes going to get.

 

[Tim Frank]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

you have an angie's list sub? it's worth spending the money to get someone that will take the time to charge it right vs just dumping gas and run.

you know it's sure nice to put a sight glass in, they cost about 10 bucks when the unit is installed but no one ever does it

Clear sight-glass and frost on suction line just to the manifold....

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Clear sight-glass and frost on suction line just to the manifold....

they're not always accurate especially with a TXV but I sure like them and you can look at it and see if there's moisture.

 

[hrdwrkingacguy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Lol clear sight glass and my suction line feels like my beer are far and away the two best diagnostic tools you can use...

For the record sight glass is "almost" useless...

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

For the record sight glass is "almost" useless...

disagree completely.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Update:
Finally got the ac company to the house. Flat out the technician told me that if the ac was freezing it was going to take more than just 1 pound of refrigerant to fix it. That I could cancel the inspection call or change it to a service call that will save me $10. He said that if it was over 1 lbs he had to charge me $202 + the inspection call ($99.00). I told him that if the 1 lbs did not fix it then too bad because we are selling the house and im not fixing it.
He show me the scale and he put it one pound and it didn't do much change. Then he told me he will charge me the $202 +$39 instead if I wanted to get it charged like it was supposed to. After telling the ex the money was going to come out from the house sell and getting her agreement I told him to go at it. He had a hard time getting the system to load. He went to the unit in the attic and he "found" the problem. The fan was not working. I told him the fan did work last time I checked because I removed the covers from the evaporator and the darn thing almost froze my face. He told me it was surely not working now. He got the cap out an measure it and it was about .1 mf where it is supposed to be 5mf. He changed it and the fan came on. He then charged the unit to specs and it started cooling properly.
So, he made me a bill for what we had talk and the cap. The price for that cool 5mf capacitor is $180.00... yes, you are all reading right... Then he told me he could take the cap out and put the old one and just charge what we had talked. I said "yank it out!!!!"
So I am going tomorrow to the local dealer to get the cap. I think the guy was very reasonable but can you imagine how many people pay for that? I understand if one cant do the job then you are out of options and I could understand if he has a house call and the problem is just the cap then $180.00 although steep, might be more reasonable but I have already paid the house call...
Anyway, thanks to all that helped. I just wanted to update y'all. I am going to call the parts place tomorrow and hopefully I wont have to take the part with me. That will save me some serious time.
Later!!!

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Update:
Finally got the ac company to the house. Flat out the technician told me that if the ac was freezing it was going to take more than just 1 pound of refrigerant to fix it. That I could cancel the inspection call or change it to a service call that will save me $10. He said that if it was over 1 lbs he had to charge me $202 + the inspection call ($99.00). I told him that if the 1 lbs did not fix it then too bad because we are selling the house and im not fixing it.
He show me the scale and he put it one pound and it didn't do much change. Then he told me he will charge me the $202 +$39 instead if I wanted to get it charged like it was supposed to. After telling the ex the money was going to come out from the house sell and getting her agreement I told him to go at it. He had a hard time getting the system to load. He went to the unit in the attic and he "found" the problem. The fan was not working. I told him the fan did work last time I checked because I removed the covers from the evaporator and the darn thing almost froze my face. He told me it was surely not working now. He got the cap out an measure it and it was about .1 mf where it is supposed to be 5mf. He changed it and the fan came on. He then charged the unit to specs and it started cooling properly.
So, he made me a bill for what we had talk and the cap. The price for that cool 5mf capacitor is $180.00... yes, you are all reading right... Then he told me he could take the cap out and put the old one and just charge what we had talked. I said "yank it out!!!!"
So I am going tomorrow to the local dealer to get the cap. I think the guy was very reasonable but can you imagine how many people pay for that? I understand if one cant do the job then you are out of options and I could understand if he has a house call and the problem is just the cap then $180.00 although steep, might be more reasonable but I have already paid the house call...
Anyway, thanks to all that helped. I just wanted to update y'all. I am going to call the parts place tomorrow and hopefully I wont have to take the part with me. That will save me some serious time.
Later!!!

I HATE flat rate pricing.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

The cap costed me less than a dollar. I will have to go to home depot and get me some connectors as the cap is not exactly the same size physically so I will have to run cables but still, better than 180.00...

 

[hrdwrkingacguy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

$180 for a cap is about three times to much for that...I buy them all day for $1.99 and installed out of our flat rate book is $89 but that includes the first hour of the service call which is $69 just to get us to show up...its probably a 5uf @370v cap...just make sure you get that...If you get a 440v cap or it is a 440v cap replace it with a 440v...You can use a 440 for a 370 just not the other way around...

P.S. I could have sworn we asked if your indoor fan was working??? hmm

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Have her see if a piece of paper the size of typing paper or a newspaper will suck to the fresh air return. If it will not stick to the return air, then the blower is not working or something is definitely restricted.

I'm sure it was mentioned Simple test that works

BTW a blower that is not working/restricted airflow will sometimes cause an inexperienced tech to overcharge the system if going by pressure readings.. BTDT to correct others mistakes.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Open up the other section past the evaporator and the evaporator looked clean. I could feel the strong cold air from the blower passing thru the evaporator fins.

As it can be read in my post in the first page I did check the fan was working. As a matter of fact that darn air was cold enough to get that section of the attic real cold in a mater of minutes. That fan died later, probably this weekend when I turned it on again to make sure it was still doing the same problem.
Now, he said something about having to reset the "limits" or something like that when he installed the new cap. I have no idea what was he talking about. Any of you know?
Thanks!

 

[Rscardina]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

This is the type of stuff that kills me!! 180 bucks for a 5uf capacitor? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I'm in Boston, where evything is far over priced and you tell me 180 for that??

I'm moving to your location..ASAp to start an AC company!!

That is REEEEDONCULOUS!!

 

[Philip_G]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

This is the type of stuff that kills me!! 180 bucks for a 5uf capacitor? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? I'm in Boston, where evything is far over priced and you tell me 180 for that??

I'm moving to your location..ASAp to start an AC company!!

That is REEEEDONCULOUS!!

flat rate pricing dude.

 

[hrdwrkingacguy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Now, he said something about having to reset the "limits" or something like that when he installed the new cap. I have no idea what was he talking about. Any of you know?
Thanks!

Limit switches are in gas furnaces they open when the unit gets to hot...Usually they aren't manually resettable, but roll out switches are sometimes lumped into the category of limit switches and are resettable...Sometimes carrier puts a manually resettable roll out switch on the blower housing next to the small control board(usually on commercial units) and next to that is where they mount the capacitor(sometimes), mabey he bumped it or did something to open it or just pushed it and told you about it to make it look good to justify his $180 bill...

Even the most advanced of carriers commercial units with a microprocessor controller and the scrolling marquee display have no logic about or even care about he capacitors installed in the system...As a service manager its what I call a red flag about the tech when I get feedback like that from a customer.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

I replaced the cap on friday and it has been working fine since then. I did not look at the cap well and I thought the connections were different but they were actually the same size. The cap in this unit is in a separate compartment than the board. Hope this take care of it.

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

Back again, :-(...
Last year the ac started to freeze again on September and the ex was vacating the house on October so we let it go. Im living the house now. I had my coworker come and check it. It had almost no freon, he charged it and put the leak detector dye, by that same night the darn thing was freezing again. He charged me $200 for the load and the die $160/$40. I cleaned the evaporator/condensator with some chemicals he gave me and he came back and gave it another charge after he saw it was low again, no charge... He came and check for the die today and he says my evaporator is leaking in way to many parts to fix it. $1300, dang carrier... Is either fix the ac or canceling the family vacations. We have been doing fine most of the time with just the widows fans and a pedestal fan in each room plus the first floor tend to be cool (added a ceiling fan anyway...). I think we will have the vacations and I will fix the ac with my next year bonus... Furnace is ok, that one I have to have!!!!
Thanks for listening..

 

[hrdwrkingacguy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

I would bet you money that if you cut the suction line and liquid line and brazed the ends closed with a valve stem, pumped it up with nitrogen and dunked it in water your "to many leaks to fix" are a lot less then you think...post a picture of the indoor coil...

 

[Nandy]

Re: Carrier A/C, Again!

He had told me that he could fix the evaporator for me and had done it before but he told me mine is way gone. Now, his son in law was the one up in the attic, not him and he dont have as much experience as him. He is an excoworker and I do have faith that he is trying to help me. Now, I have no problem cutting the lines and trying to braze this thing. I will post this picture I have but let me know if you need a better shot or from a different angle or whatever. My other question is since I will be opening this system to the atmosphere do I need to plug those lines in any way? I probably dont have much pressure left anyway, I can check that if you need me too.

BTW, I dont have nitrogen but do have an air compressor to pressurize it up to 125 psi. Let me know....