Comment on 98 degrees upstairs, ac stopped working at 8am.
rumba@lemmy.zip 2 days agoAnd to be completely honest, if you call an HVAC repair company, they’re likely to do a whole PM cycle on it. Flush the condensate line and pan, clean the coils and the heat exchanger, replace the contactor if you have one, take the temperature differential to make sure the unit is operating reasonably well, replace the blower belt it’s not direct drive. I PM the unit myself every spring and fall. I probably should have had eyes on that cap though.
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Yeah, teating caps is also a pretty regular part of our PM process. Especially because thatbone looks like it may partially be a run cap and a system can often run perfectly fine without a run cap except itnwill cause the motor to pull higher amps and run hotter. Catching a bad run cap early is the difference between replacing a bad cap and replacing a burned up motor.
rumba@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
That’s good to hear, thanks for that. Yes it’s a dual cap. I’ll have to dig out my LC meter and add that to my list.
It was a new build, my old plays I didn’t stay on top of things and ended up paying for it. I decided to do a better job here.
My very first maintenance I went down to look at what I needed to do. It’s a trane unit, so the evaporator coil and the condensate pan come out on a slide which is pretty fancy. The condensate line, combustion and exhaust air are all PVC and they glued it all so you couldn’t get the tray out. (The air lines don’t even go into the box they just ran it past the front for spite I think)
Hope you don’t mind if I ask you two questions, not holding you accountable or anything.
What are you guys using for condenser coil cleaner? I just got some off-the-shelf home Depot stuff but it looks sus. I pulled the case and separated the coils out at the two-year mark and followed the instructions on the cleaner. I didn’t see any physical dirt anywhere and there’s no leaves or debris. Without physical dust dirt or debris do you think just hosing it down from the outside on PM is fine?
Canonical_Warlock@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
If it’s the style I’m thinking of then you are flexing the refrigerant pipes whenever you do that. It’s designed to do that but just be aware that copper work hardens so you can only flex it so many times before it gets brittle and snaps. With your system being new there isn’t too much risk of snapping a line but it won’t be new forever. If it is possible to clean the evap without bending those pipes then that is the best way to do it.
As far as coil cleaner goes the most we ever recommend one of our customers use is just plain water out of a gardenhose (definitely not a pressurewasher). For most people that should be enough. But you’re not my customer so here’s what I use depending on the coil.
For small evap coils like a residential central air system I often use Evap Foam No Rinse. That stuff is pretty gentle and probably fine for most people to use. If kills any growth on the coil and foams up to push dirt out of the coil. Once applied it doesn’t need to be actively rinsed off because it’s designed to be rinsed off just by the condensation that builds up on the coil as the system runs.
For larger evap coils like in commercial roof top units or more heavily soiled evaps I will use either Tri-Pow’r HD or Evap Pow’r-C. I’ve found both to be about equally as effective but the evap cleaner does foam up a bit more. Both are still fairly safe to use but if you mix them more concentrated then you do need to actively rinse off the coil well when you’re done. I have a hard time imagining anyone breaking anything with either of these but technically they can do damage if left on the coil for too long.
When it comes to the new style microchannel condensers, heavily degraded older style fin and tube condensers, or lightly soiled older style condensers, I will also use Tri-Pow’r HD except I will mix it much stronger.
When it comes to heavily soiled older style fin and tube condensers which are otherwise in good physical shape I will use Nu-Brite. Nu-Brite is nasty shit. It will instantly burn skin, melt plastic, strip any oxidation off of metal, etch concrete, strip paint, strip the coating entirely off a coated coil, and, if left on a coil long enough, etch holes through the condenser pipes forcing you to buy a whole new condensing unit. It literally starts to smoke if it sits on the coil too long. It is aggressive as hell but man does it clean coils. I was working at a flour mill recently and made extensive use of this stuff to clean mouldering packed in flour mud out of condensers and it takes no time at all to do it’s job even with the worst soils. This stuff is perfectly safe to use if you use it right but if you don’t use it right then there is basically no fixing the damage it does. If you ever did decide to use it, just be sure to have a hose nearby ready to hose it off as quick and completely as possible. Once it starts foaming and smoking it has started doing damage.
rumba@lemmy.zip 23 hours ago
Thank you so much taking the time to write all that, its truly useful information… I would have completely overlooked the no rinse stuff for fear it was a sales gimmick.
I think I’ll probably hose wash down every season, foam it If the water coming off has anything in it and save the teardown for 5-year or special event.
There’s not really much here in the way of sand or dust. It’s mounted off the ground. The hose should be able to get smoke particulate and pollen off.
Thanks again.