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Premature Compressor Failure
Why do compressors fail prematurely? What I have seen in the 20yrs. doing air conditioning that causes a compressor to fail is units being over charged and air flow issues.
Just this past friday I changed a compressor in a two year old unit. The compressor would not startup, it was locked up mechanically. So what caused the unit to lockup? The unit was over charged. Well when I removed all the freon, the total was 13lbs. Once I completed changing the compressor and recharged the unit the total amount of freon used was 6lbs. The system was over charged by 7lbs. of freon.
So how did it get over charged? It is plain and simple the installers or the startup person did not do their job correctly. Units come precharged. In many cases freon does not have to be added. Sometimes freon does if the lineset is long,but it usually is only a couple of pounds.
In some cases if it has a short line set, freon will need to be removed. Now what can the homeowner do to prevent this? Ask questions to the service tech such as, what is the superheat and split on the unit. These are the two readings I use the most when charging the unit.
There is no standard temperture, the readings vary depending on temperture and humidity,but this will at least let the tech know you have some knowledge about a/c units. If the tech blows you off or does not know, you should be concerned.
Airflow issues that I see most that contribute to compressor failures are dirty filters and dirty indoor coils due to no filter in the system.
This problem can be prevented by the homeowner.Make sure you keep a filter in the unit. Check and change the filter every 30 to 45 days. Make sure you have a good filter also, I prefer the pleated filter over the cheap throw away filter. The most important thing is to keep a filter in the system and replace or clean it regularly.
Unless mother nature does something to kill the compressor you should get at least 10yrs. out of a compressor and with proper maintenance you could get up to 20 yrs. out of a compressor.
Just this past friday I changed a compressor in a two year old unit. The compressor would not startup, it was locked up mechanically. So what caused the unit to lockup? The unit was over charged. Well when I removed all the freon, the total was 13lbs. Once I completed changing the compressor and recharged the unit the total amount of freon used was 6lbs. The system was over charged by 7lbs. of freon.
So how did it get over charged? It is plain and simple the installers or the startup person did not do their job correctly. Units come precharged. In many cases freon does not have to be added. Sometimes freon does if the lineset is long,but it usually is only a couple of pounds.
In some cases if it has a short line set, freon will need to be removed. Now what can the homeowner do to prevent this? Ask questions to the service tech such as, what is the superheat and split on the unit. These are the two readings I use the most when charging the unit.
There is no standard temperture, the readings vary depending on temperture and humidity,but this will at least let the tech know you have some knowledge about a/c units. If the tech blows you off or does not know, you should be concerned.
Airflow issues that I see most that contribute to compressor failures are dirty filters and dirty indoor coils due to no filter in the system.
This problem can be prevented by the homeowner.Make sure you keep a filter in the unit. Check and change the filter every 30 to 45 days. Make sure you have a good filter also, I prefer the pleated filter over the cheap throw away filter. The most important thing is to keep a filter in the system and replace or clean it regularly.
Unless mother nature does something to kill the compressor you should get at least 10yrs. out of a compressor and with proper maintenance you could get up to 20 yrs. out of a compressor.