Condensing unit noise

mark32 said:
Okay, my buddy was able to upload a video for me:

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Dude! Get a REAL tech over there pronto! Yes indeed that a slug sound. Either slugging, or compressor has already taken the hit and on it's way out. IE, eating itself already. Not healthy.

The actual causes are endless, bad TXV, overcharge, blocked evap, dirty filter, etc, etc. I would be on the phone today.
 
fastline said:
Dude! Get a REAL tech over there pronto! Yes indeed that a slug sound. Either slugging, or compressor has already taken the hit and on it's way out. IE, eating itself already. Not healthy.

The actual causes are endless, bad TXV, overcharge, blocked evap, dirty filter, etc, etc. I would be on the phone today.
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Given what we’ve been told earlier in this thread, I’m betting on overcharge or stop-leak damage!
 
Egads!! Okay, I spoke with an hvac coworker today to see if he has someone to recommend coming out and see what's going on here, I'll report back with any findings :mad:
 
So, I bent the ear of a couple of my hvac coworkers today, but in the end, I now feel there is no return to normal for this compressor, like, the damage is already done, possibly caused by the dye in the stop leak according to one tech, but who knows. The next step is unclear to me, I could get a rebuilt compressor for about $500 and one of the techs would install it for me, but, what about the rest of the 13 year old system and what should be done prior to installing a replacement compressor in order to determine it's worth investing in this job. I'm guessing, reclaim the freon, pressurize the system in order to find and repair the leak, along with the hope of purging some of the leak stop, evaluate the evap (Somehow), and recharge. Further guesswork on my part, all of the tasks, aside from recharging, could be done to determine if it's feasible to change the compressor, meaning, the original compressor would remain in place for this testing session, but of course, I'd have to pay the guy to do this preliminary stuff. Or, I just let the thing go to failure and then replace the condensing unit and/or the whole system. Not sure if it matters in any decision making, but I don't plan on being in this house for more than 10 years.
 
It frustrates me Mark because it's like you are planning a surgery without even checking vitals! You need to know what's going on before you can make a plan. This is why I tried to be very clear that you really need someone onsite with real skill to evaluate the system. If it has flood back, you are killing the compressor with every hour of operation, in which getting to it quicker could save it all!

Trying not to sound like an azzhole here, but just conveying info, it is total ignorance to think you can just "swap a compressor". The reasons are contamination mitigation. This is why many pros will open a failed compressor simply to learn why. Metal flakes will contaminate the rest of the system, and in the event of a 'burn out' (electrically failed motor), this causes the oils in the system to become acidic and can eat up other stuff like the coils. The action plan includes acid neutralizers and testing. A good tech would vent just a dribble out of the liquid line and both look at the oil color and smell it. That can be very telling.

If you have a liquid line filter, I would be testing for restriction on that pronto! You check that by checking line temp on each side. Stop leak can block those, which would cause high head pressure coupled with starving the suction side.

I would not jump to conclusions until you can get the heart monitor on and get a full list of stats. Pressures and temps.

Very not likely that a dye would be at issue. Some OEMs are now using it from the factory as they should be! It can be extremely helpful. However, the stop leak can really be an issue. If that is the case, total system replacement may be the only proper solution because it's now in everything.

There are ways to fix but you gotta know what's going on. If the filter and TXV are potentially at issue, we might do what is called a 'pump down' in which we move all the refrigerant to the condenser in a valving process, then replace those two components with very little, if any, gas loss. If I were on that job, I would NOT pull down to a vacuum because there is a suspected leak and that could cause air contamination. Probably down to 5psi, then recover that little bit from the lineset, no biggy.
 
Fastline, you are the man!!

I truly appreciate you taking the time to drop some knowledge on me. As you can tell, I am in the dark here, and I'm just trying to make sense of what is taking place, and trying to come up with a plan. I now fear there is no one in my circle that is at your level of expertise. During my inquires, no one has described such troubleshooting techniques, nor has displayed much concern or urgency. As one tech put it, "I'm really just a parts changer". An acquaintance is currently having his ailing a/c system looked at by a tech friend of his, perhaps I'll contact him and run the situation past him and see if he's able to do some testing as opposed to just replacing. Thanks again bro!
 
As I mentioned before, I really think you need to sidestep your 'list of friends' and focus on a really good independent tech. NOT a big company with a bunch of fancy vans and 20yo techs that don't even know where the hoses go. They won't know all the tricks.

There is tremendous value in a good tech. Just like an auto mechanic. When they offer a "free tune up", you run.
 
fastline said:
I'm licensed in HVAC. Likely you are slugging the compressor because someone did the 'gas n go'. It's not an electrical problem, it's a refrigeration problem. Called a plugged coil. But that takes more than 5min to fix.

No I would not "let it ride".
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Perhaps even more pronounced because its a scroll?
 
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