Replaced window unit -- Say what??

[DADoES]

 
Helped replace a 34+ years old Friedrich unit mounted in-wall at one of the neighbor's rental properties, with a Frigidaire which is all that was available on immediate notice.

Anyway, the renter-person (not the landlord/owner) made several wonky comments.  I'm not knowing where people get these ideas ...

- Condensate leaking/blowing into the room (related to a previous of his rental locations) (apparently related to insufficient tilt) will cause the compressor to burn out.

- An air conditioner that's going bad will suddenly start cooling better than ever before it dies.

- He smelled Freon leaking (is that possible?).

 

[gusherb]

- Maybe if the condensate is somehow wetting the controls and causes a short...but that's still not a compressor burnout.

- BS

- If the oil has a smell and is leaking out too then you can smell that.

 

[dartman]

My car lost a seal in the compressor for the air and you could smell the oil/freon leaking out. The low side had massive pressure before everything leaked away and of course now I have no cold air and nothing kicks on if you switch to air.
It did still blow cold till it was almost empty. Haven't bothered to try and replace or rebuild it.
I've never had a issue with any of the window units we've had and one I made sure to tilt back slightly and even drilled a small drain hole for the condensation to drain from.

 

[eronie]

never drill a hole in the pan. the water is supposed to accumulate in the pan. part of the plumbing is cooled by the water. also the condenser fan picks up the water and throws it at the hot condenser coil helping to better the efficiency. a properly installed unit will not drip unless the humidity is very high.

 

[lorainfurniture]

most of it is true- kind of.

- Maybe if the condensate is somehow wetting the controls and causes a short...but that's still not a compressor burnout.

Although possible,  more likely is this:  Condensate water actually helps to cool condenser when properly leveled.  The unit should evaporate most, if not all, of condensates if properly level.  Possibly the condenser would have trouble shedding heat, causing warmer temps to the compressor.  This would take a long time to ruin, but plausible. 

- BS

 

This is actually <span style="text-decoration: underline;">true</span> in a very specific circumstance.   When the pressures in the system drop due to the refrigerant leak, it causes the evaporative temps to drop.  this will case the evaporator to freeze up, giving that "extra cold" feeling.  its temporary, as the coil will quickly freeze up.  

- If the oil has a smell and is leaking out too then you can smell that.

 

I don't know if refrigerant has a smell, but something in the system has an odor to it.  I would agree and say its likely the oil.  

 

[DADoES]

 
The unit was cooling but not very well.  I forgot to bring a thermometer to check the evaporator differential.  Indeterminate if a leak developed or if the moderately+ clogged condensor was the fault ... or both.  I glanced over the lines I could see, didn't notice any oil but that, of course, doesn't mean anything.  It's aged, the base pan was rusting through and surface rust on the compressor, so the owner opted to replace immediately to facilitate the tenant's comfort.

Tenant cleaned the filter several days ago, but couldn't remember what I'd previously showed him about unsnapping the grill for access so he called a "helper" and they removed the entire front panel.  Apparently didn't find at least one of the anchor screws and cracked around it so the front was taped on when we arrived.  The performance deterioration was noticed yesterday (or Fri?) but doubtful they did anything when cleaning the filter to cause it.

This isn't the unit that was throwing condensate into the room, that was at another location the tenant had rented.  This installation had proper tilt but it was still dripping outside through the rusting of the pan.

The new unit is installed with proper tilt as well but it was starting to drip a little outside before we left.  This is one county in from the TX coast, humidity is rough.

 

[artcurus]

DADoES,

What was wrong with the Friedrich?

 

[dartman]

Well, not drilling a hole is good to know but it did continue to work every summer for a few years but won't fit in the windows here so is in storage till someone needs it or I sell it. Was only a 5000 BTU unit but seemed to cool about as good as the Haier 8k I bought later in the small living room we used it in.
We're using a 8k portable now in the much larger house we bought now mom gave us and it's doing ok and has for 3 years but probably a big window unit would work better if we ever find a good deal on one that fits a 19" wide slider or a vertical one made for this style of windows.
Hope to upgrade to some kind of heat pump someday and that should include air.

 

[DADoES]

 
Artcurus,

Per the post above yours, I can't say for sure what was the problem.  The tenant had cleaned the filter a few days prior, said a day or two later it obviously wasn't cooling very well.  The thermostat was set at nearly maximum, he said he usually turned the unit off at night for getting too cold (nevermind trying to educate about thermostats).  As stated above, he claims to have "smelled Freon."  The model-tag was dated Dec 1981 and I doubt the unit had been pulled since installation.  The condensor was clogged about 80%, the base pan was rusted through.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

"... nevermind trying to educate about thermostats."

The older I get, the less often I try to educate. If I'm asked, I give a one sentence response and only elaborate if the other person asks me to.

 

I say less and less in general as I get older because more and more often people treat anything I say as my personal opinion....

 

True story: My now ex and I were visiting family in Europe. It was made very clear to me that any difference between a 'converter' and an 'adapter' did not actually exist outside of my mind and that the topic was merely something I liked to babble about.... The predictable result took shape in the form of melted curling iron and melted hair.

 

Jim