Central Air Just went out

I remember the advice of an in-law who originated from a 3rd world country & did real good in the USA - "stay hydrated, stay in the shade, & minimum physical exertion"

Should I be in the same situation I would buy a roll around portable A/C & vent it out of a window & periodically dump out the condensate tank. A/C functions are sort of like rocket science to me - "don't know nothing about them". Stay hydrated.
 
Coyote Shadow Tracker said:
I service my unit myself every year with a total cleaning outside units and inside. Did everything. Put new capacitor in last week. Unit is totally frozen up. Must have Freon leak somewhere. I have some R-22 and gauges from five years ago when I serviced it and it worked GREAT really cold and really hot. We use Heat Pumps in the South. I am going to put some more Freon in this morning and also call to get a NEW TRANE put in. Sucks, Probably going to cost about $12K, but it 14 years old and time for an update. Just wish that it wasn't in the 90s until we get a new one.
Click to expand...
If its froze up as in ice in the condenser it may be just the expansion valve. If so, leave the fan only on and get it defrosted, this will also blow some somewhat cooler air for awhile.
 
Just had to have ours serviced this past week since it stopped cooling. Serviceman had to order parts, which from the time it went out until repaired was four days. The kicker was this unit is only two years old.
 
Looks like I've got a lot of company. My ductless system is 7 years old. It's had coolant leaks since I had it installed. Now the coolant won't hold for 5 days. They want $950 to do a leak test plus the cost of repairs, upward of $3,000 total.
Or, I can replace the system for another $10,000.
 
Varmint Hunter said:
Looks like I've got a lot of company. My ductless system is 7 years old. It's had coolant leaks since I had it installed. Now the coolant won't hold for 5 days. They want $950 to do a leak test plus the cost of repairs, upward of $3,000 total.
Or, I can replace the system for another $10,000.
Click to expand...
I had the same problem when my Central Air system was about 7 years old. I went and bought a 20# can of R-22 Freon and a "Leak Stick" its about 8" long of leakstop in an sealed 1/2" tube. You put one end on the low-suction side of you AC unit and then connect the Freon to the other side. When you have your unit running it sucks the leakstop in as well as the Freon. You have to have some knowledge to do this and have gauges and a AC chart with temp probes. Saved me $1000+ the first time I did it and lasted until now - 6 years. My Heat Pump never ran better than when it was new or previous serviced.
Well now I did get my AC to work by adding R-22, but the pressure numbers were off so it will fail again soon. The good and Bad news is they are installing the new Trane Seer 17 two stage compressor with variable DC fan tomorrow morning at 8:30. The bad news is that it is costing $10,800.00. I could have gotten another unit for $5K than another Trane for $8k, but got the best he had. By the way there is a shortage in AC units. This was the only one he had in stock in his storage. Just got it in a few weeks ag and no one wanted to pay the extra cost. The Dealer said that between Covid and not making the units and now with the building boom everything is scarce and almost 30% more .
It's had to imagine how people lived here in the South without AC years ago. I have 6" insulation in the walls, floors have 6" plus a basement with 4" in the outside walls and my attic has 16" blown in. If it is in the 90s and we don't have the air on, it can get up into the high 90s inside.
I have a hard time sleeping if it is above 73. if it gets past 74 Samson PANTS all night. I guess we are nothing like our fore fathers to bear these conditions without modern AC. We must be a bunch of WIMPS! I can't imagine trying to sleep in a house in the high 90s although I slept in the jungle that way.
 
Things aren't built like they use to be. 35 years ago I put a 23.5K BTU unit through the wall of my living room. I had a few smaller units mounted in windows (what a PITA). Eventually I had a 3 zone ductless system installed (36k BTU) in an effort to eliminate the other units, save energy, and have a quieter home.

For whatever reason, I never removed the 23.5k from the wall even though I was tempted to several times. Now its all I have and it still works as well as ever. It has never been serviced or charged in 35 years. I used an infrared thermometer to check the outflow temperature. It was blowing at 49 degrees, colder then the ductless when it was new!

After a lengthy chat with my ductless dealer, who sold me the original unit, they are offering me a 10% discount on the replacement system. I'm guessing that it's the best I can do and mama wants things back to normal. She usually gets what she wants, LOL :>)
 
Last edited:
Coyote Shadow Tracker said:
I service my unit myself every year with a total cleaning outside units and inside. Did everything. Put new capacitor in last week. Unit is totally frozen up. Must have Freon leak somewhere. I have some R-22 and gauges from five years ago when I serviced it and it worked GREAT really cold and really hot. We use Heat Pumps in the South. I am going to put some more Freon in this morning and also call to get a NEW TRANE put in. Sucks, Probably going to cost about $12K, but it 14 years old and time for an update. Just wish that it wasn't in the 90s until we get a new one.
Click to expand...

Coyote Shadow Tracker said:
I have the gauges and Freon. I added some Freon and getting some cool air out but time for a new one. Just ordered a new Trane 17 seer duel compressor, variable speed air handler motor. Supposed to install tomorrow
Click to expand...
I guess it is too late to suggest looking into a Goodman. I was the first. Now the whole neighborhood is following my lead. I can't argue with the price….2 stage heat&air, humidifier, big filter for $7500.
 
If you have a basement, switch fan on to manual, open filter housing in front of return air and steal "cooler" air from basement. Can help cool you down during tough time. Heck I do it just to save some compressor time!
 

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