PennSilverTaco's HVAC BS MegaThread!

Usually it is just a pinole or smaller leak, like 2 metals rubbing together, or a crack in a solder/braze joint. I had one yesterday on a 3ton heat pump reversing valve on the small equalizer line, you couldn't even hear it even though 7lbs of R-410a blew through it at hundreds of PSI. I had to use my ultrasonic leak detector to hear it. Soap bubbles confirmed it.

 

So you were able to repair the reversing valve, or you had to replace?

 

15 years old, getting swapped out.

 

Replacing the reversing valve at 15 years old?!?! Must be a damn good heat pump to go through that much trouble...

My friend's parents replaced a 1998 Trane XE1000 in June 2010 (installed in the summer of 1999) when the compressor went. They were quoted $2,500 in parts and labor to replace the compressor, but I told them that replacing the unit was a better idea; I picked out a Bryant Evolution 2-stage 16 SEER heat pump and variable-speed air handler, both of which are still going strong almost 14 years later!

 

No the whole system is getting swapped lol. I ain't replacing a RV in a 15 year old heat pump.

I think someone else will get the job though as my bid was high in their opinion. Not my problem though, on to the next one. I don't price compete bids with unlicensed/uninsured contractors/friends. Everyone knows someone in my line of work that "can do it cheaper". They can have it. I usually end up correcting those jobs and servicing them lol.

There were other concerns about the situation that can't be resolved by new equipment alone, so my interest has waned anyways.

 

An air-conditioner or heat pump is only as good as the tech who installs it; I saw a Goodman/Janitrol unit from 1995 still running (albeit very noisily) in 2009-2010, and I still see pre-2006 Goodmans in operation to this day. At the same time, I've heard of top-of-the-line Trane units failing in the first year of use due to poor installation...

 

@Lt. Dangle

I attempted to get into a recip compressor from a Whirlpool fridge yesterday using the the Sawzall, but wasn't successful...

 

@Lt. Dangle

I scored this 1992 Whirlpool window A/C unit for free yesterday; I happened to be perusing Facebook Marketplace while stuck in traffic, and found it to be fairly close; I was gonna scrap it, but unlike the Amana it is mint and I plan on saving it...

 

@Lt. Dangle

This thing is seriously mint!

 

Almost 6,000 BTUs and manufactured in May 1992; I thought it was from the 1980s, based on the fake wood finish...

 

@Lt. Dangle

The issue with my recently acquired '92 Whirlpool A/C unit is that the cord has been cut off. The woman I got it from told me that it was in the basement of the house when she bought it, and it would appear that the cord was already gone; Amanda's landlady thinks that the unit has an electrical issue and whoever cut the cord did so to make sure nobody ever used it again. The general consensus is that it is fixable...

 

As stated above, this Whirlpool is from 1992, but apparently Whirlpool units had the same design since at least 1980...

 

Look how clean it is!

 

No dirt or mold!

 

@Lt. Dangle

I bought a replacement cord for about 25 bucks...

 

Very clean for being 32 years old; I suspect that it's been in storage since at least the early 2000s...