DOE Regulations - Air Conditioning

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Joe, that reminds me one of my own mistakes. years ago, I pressure washed under the hood of my car and I sprayed the condenser to remove the bugs. The fins were painted black and it was dark there but I was surprised to see how clean it seemed to become until I realized I had bent the fins on the 3/4 of it! Then I bought a comb, and spent hours fixing my stupid error... I didn't drive the car like that but I imagine that not only the a/c would have been less effective but that the radiator behind it I guess the engine would have overheated too!
 
Tranes have, for as far as I know, always had these spin fins.  I think the idea is that the fins help dissipate the heat picked up inside and better allow the refrigerant to cool down.  The fins provide more area for exposure.  Now if this is really true -  I don't know.  My unit is encased in a metal cover full off slits that point downward.  The fan runs and pulls in the air through these slits and through the fins, and blows it out of the top. I don't get a lot of dirt in the fins, but I try to rinse them off with a hose at the beginning of a season anyway.
 
I promised myself I'd stop posting all this nonsense

But speaking of using a pressure washer on a car engine, I just had my Ford truck detailed. The guy was highly recommended by a friend that deals in used cars. The truck looked new when I picked it up but half way home it was running like a bucket of bolts. I found that unknown to me the guy pressure-washed the engine. It blasted 2 spark plugs and the attached COD's (coil-on-plug.) In addition the enclosed air cleaner was full of water. It was $868.00 to repair it. It was a very expensive detailing. I should have asked more questions before he started. He offered to detail the engine on my Corvette for free but I said "ahhh, no thanks."
 
That photo is exactly what we have in our AS unit. The last Trane we had (1003 build) had conventional fins. I had never seen these spin fins before and to me anyway they didn't look very durable. The installer did tell us to keep the dogs away from the unit because if the dogs pee on it, the fins will corrode and we'll be buying a new unit. So we put up a small fence about 2 feet out to prevent them from going near it.

The way I used to clean the fins on our old unit was to take some Dawn detergent, mix it in a spray bottle with some water and then spray it on the fins. Let it sit for 30 min then use a spray from the hose (not too strong) and rinse off the fins. You wouldn't believe the dirt that could come out. A friend of ours says his A/c guy uses Hydrocloric Acid to clean his fins, straight out of the bottle! You would think that if he did that the fins would just corrode away. Plus that acid can be dangerous to work with anyway.

I haven't cleaned the fins on the new unit yet as I don't want to risk damaging them. What is the proper method to clean those spin fins?
 
Some contractors swear by doing a "burn clean" which is to take your torch and put it on the lowest setting that it will stay lit with a lazy flame and go over the dirt and burn it off. I personally tried this once and it didn't work for me, the cottonwoods wouldn't ignite and some of the fins were getting singed off so I stopped before I damaged anything.

The way I've always done it is to remove the top (including the condenser fan) and then remove all the panels and start spraying the dirt off. They can withstand a good strong stream but if your water pressure is real high be careful. These spinfin coils are harder to clean because they cling onto everything so it takes a good bit of time to do it all.

Later on I learned that I could clean the coil by just taking the top off and not remove the side louvers but I haven't tried it yet to see if I can get the coil clean enough without removing them.
I haven't cleaned our A/C's in three years actually, because I devised some makeshift screens to wrap around them during cottonwood season so they've stayed clean!
 
Spine fin is ok

but don't ever mash them. We had a JC Penney 1973 window unit and I recall mashing some when helping dad clean it.

We never got the straightened out.
 
Spine-Fin is a Trane/American-Standard thing, and has been for a while. The older Carrier 'Round-One' units also used them, IIRC.

Our system does not feature spine-fins, despite being from 31 years ago now.
 
They came out on wed and added the stop leak to the system then added 3 lbs. of r22 to the system. Had to run the unit for 3 hours non stop to make sure it had circulated through out many times to assure that was well coated throughout. Normal run time would have been 1 1/2 hours but I have at least a 30 ft run from outside unit to the air handler unit. Temp outside was 94 degrees. Temp inside at start was 80 degrees. Temp after 3 hours inside was 64 degrees. Was going outside to warm up. Turned it up to 74 degrees and left it there. Left the house wed night to go to the beach till sunday. With this heat wave we are having I am sure it is running regularly. He stated that they have used this in 5 or 6 different units and has worked for them, but no guarantee for me. lol Will know in 2 - 3 weeks if it is holding the Freon. Well I did my part for the ozone layer this month adding 6 lbs of Freon to the environment. Time will tell. It looked a lot like antifreeze for a car. Same color and texture.

Jon
 
GE Window Units

Had those spine fins, Frigidaires had the easiest to clean, they had round fins,these were individual circular fins that were great I thought.
 
Oh - get this

In 2004, when my house was built, a TRANE all electric heat pump was installed. I still have that same unit. I think (but I'm not sure) that it is 10 SEER? At any rate, I think it was year 2 or 3 that the capacitor went out. The next year there was a leak caused from vibration that caused the coolant to leak out. The following year the compressor died! It was under warranty but NOT the labor! So basically the first 5 years was PURE hell. But strangely enough the last 6 years have been pretty much trouble free. (KNOCK ON WOOD)

I hate heat! I keep my AC on 70F in the summer. But I make up for it in the winter by keeping the heat on 64 F. I prefer cold to heat any day. In a perfect world, the temp would always be around 65F outside with sunshine.
 
Spine fins do have more surface area than any other kind. And they're easy to manufacture. But they quit working altogether after a couple seasons in cottonwood territory. I know of no preparation or process to clean them effectively.
 
Starting to loose my cool over this.

Got home last night and turned down the a/c. @*$#%$# damn thing is not working again. With the stop leak in it I got 3-4 days of usage, now back to nothing. Called last night left message. They will call me this morning. At least it should be easier maybe to find the leak with the green liquid leaking. Well at least can sleep cool with a GE 10,100 btu unit I picked up the 1st day I had problems. Not a bad unit but not built like they used to be. Much lighter and a lot less metal in it. Digital but not that accurate. There is a 4 or 5 degrees swing no matter the settings. Shall wait for the call and see what happens today. Already into this for close to $500.00.

Jon
 
It's about 67 at night in New Hampshire, why would you need an air conditioner? Can't you just open a window and get a fan or something?
 
Currently (at 11 PM), it's 77°F in Nashua NH according to the Weather Network...

 

Even here, it's just 68°F outside but it feels like 75°F and I have the a/c running right now.

philr-2015080322053606685_1.jpg

philr-2015080322053606685_2.jpg
 
Its 75 degrees already this morning. We have been hitting 90's for the past several days now, plus very high humidity and dew points. I need air conditioning. If you have not read in my previous postings, we are across the street from a new parkway being built. There is no opening windows. During the work day from 7-4 it is like living in a sand storm outside. The wind blows and the dirt and sand comes along with it.I was driving in yesterday and you could hear it hitting the windows and the vehicle. Even at night it is still lingering in the air. If I sleep at night with the windows open all I do is sneeze all night. The service people I have which is a father and son team are not able to come till next Tuesday. The fathers mother died and the funeral is this week, plus they already had major jobs scheduled this week. They are going to start outside taking the unit apart to see for a leak. Then proceed to the air handler to check for leaks. If none then will check piping in the walls. Should be able to repair or replace what ever is leaking I hope.

Jon
 
Out with old in with the new

They stopped by yesterday and took the unit apart outside. With a sensor they were able to establish at least 3 or more leaks. Pressure was almost gone in the system. Decided to replace rather than repair. Ordered yesterday and they are coming on the 19th of this month at 8:00am to remove and install the new one. Wow I was taken aback by the price since it was all included when the house was built 8 years ago. Yesterday was nice enough outside and construction now has crawled to sidewalks and medians being installed so not as much dirt around. Opened windows last night for the 1st time in months. Went down into the lower 60's finally and nice and cool for free this morning. Need free after chocking on yesterdays info lol.

Jon
 
While waiting patiently on another 95 degree day for Wednesday to approach, I went onto American Standards website. On reviewing the info on the warranty, I was a bit surprised. To have the warranty valid for their units, you need to have the system serviced twice a year by an authorized service center. What the heck? What are they going to do twice a year that is going to help this live longer? I had holes develop in the condenser coils. No maintenance that I know of is going to prevent this. Sounds like a money making opportunity for their service organizations. Anyone have this service done twice a year and if so what do they do to justify this visit. Are other manufacturers requiring this also?

Jon
 

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