I work for a larger company in southern Florida and those are the main units we install. Last year we replaced over 170 leaking evaporators that had the same type of leak. ALL Within 2 years old!
I just found you yesterday I'm a homeowner and my house was built with Central Heat and Air and it still had the original furnace and the condensing unit had been replaced once. The guy who inspected my house said it ran great (52 degree supply air) but he said you are going to be replacing in five years or so and I would do it ALL. Sure enough right at five years I woke up one night and it was putting out hot air. I shut it down and waited a little bit and turned it back on and it was cool. I had them come anyway he said it was fine it was just old. I started taking bids and I wound up with a new Ruud System in 410a and I love it. It also has 52 degree supply air. I got a little bigger furnace it had 50,000 I got 75,000 and it has the 2,500 fan that makes it blow really hard and cold. Feels good.
If it was me, I'd include relocating the disconnect to be within reach as mandatory on a quote for any work on the unit. Probably leave the existing disconnect box up there as just a junction, to avoid having to deal with holes to patch. Probably do both at the same time.
I watch a lot of your videos and have to say by far no body compares to you. Great job and I am a tech myself and appreciate not only the “tricks” that you provide while troubleshooting but just the pure honesty that you also provide to your customers. We need more guys in the field like you. Awesome job!
It Probably never was inspected. In California in some tract homes the inspectors would just inspect the first model homes built. Then the rest the clones are just built cheaper. Ie entire neighborhood might have 2 to 5 house plans and one half are mirror image plans. Thus 4 to say 10 types of houses. All done to save cost.
On the row to town houses behind mines, the disconnects are under the deck. The deck is about 3 feet above grade and is about 10 feet deep. Not easy crawling on your belly under there! On my town house, the disconnect is behind the condenser and you have to wiggle it the cover to full remove it before pulling the bar!
That housing developer definitely went with the cheapest bids for ALL his subs!! What a mess, I feel sorry for the people who buy them not knowing any better.
Again an awesome video !. Thank you for sharing. Good catch on the disconnect boxes . They should readily accessible withing 5 ft of the equipment by the NEC.
Power disconnects are indeed dangerous that high, overlooked by many layers: electrician foreman, builder superintendent and county inspector - pitiful !
Just repaired a evaporator coil on Trane Dual fuel pack unit, two years old. Trane said it is possible installer issue. lol I am done buying Trane. Put one in about 5 years ago and evaporator drain pan cracked from factory. Trane furnished new one but no help on labor. What a great deal.
I work at trane building condenser units here in Tyler, Tx and I believe they have warranty if a coil leaks, I’m a repairman in the assembly line and fix any mistakes and leaks the operators on the line do we also run test them and sniff them for any leaks before they get packaged and it’s rare when a coil leaks. I’ll make sure to double check these coils for any tiny leaks
I suspect you and I are of the same age. We often say what is on or minds. It gets me into trouble often. I have been watching your videos. Greatly appreciate your means to an end. I do not suspect I will become a HVAC person. However, I am on my third carrier and repairing an old freezer for a DIY home project. Thank you for your videos.
Out of curiosity, how long did it take for you to do this call? I really enjoy you showing us everything you see and going into detail. Keep up the great work!
hello sir, i am new to the trade, trying to learn as much as i can, most of the people in the trade will not teach, they all say that the way they learned was by trial and error, except for one guy, very knowledgable, partent, taught me a lot, just got thrown out into the field, they all backbite about the way their coworkers do stuff, yet do not show me the right way to do it, just ridicule that i dont know what i am doing, lot of gossip. what would you recommend i do? appriciate any guidance.
the way we do installs in the north is totally different than the south but i like the fact that attics are big enough to have the air handler standing up
Good work ANTI DIY ,i can accept the spaghetti duct work and the one opening for all line sets ,its not against code but the higher service disconnect ,how did that pass inspection,let me go get a latter to pull a service disconnect 😱
Not an HVAC guy just homeowner with three Trane XR13 from 2006. Two in conditioned space and one without. Coils are about rusted on the one not in conditioned space (in attic). When the coils finally leak should I have them move to conditioned space? I have a huge master bedroom closet the unit is almost right above
Just as a side note , in my state , you can't have a disconnect near a water source and I noticed that there's a water spicket out there between the two condenser units ? But I sure as hell wouldn't put them way up that far 😂 , they need to be a certain distance from the main power source of the disconnect here in NY State anyway ? ( Still using that much wire can get them far enough away so that they could be in a line lower to the ground level
You need some big blue bubbles. I’ve found smaller leaks than that with bug blue. The Tiny bubbles stick together really good and make a little trailer of bubbles leading to the leak when their small like that. .
Electrical code here is, i believe, 6' or eye sight. I've had disconnect switches on roof top a/c units mounted 15-20 feet from the unit. Scary to say the least, but it was code.
My guess is that flex is cheaper than the duct board and the metal pipe is to run. It looks like crap that way and I don't know how well it works it doesn't seem very efficient to run ductwork that way though.
Why pump refrigeration into the known leaky system? Just to let it get into the atmosphere? I guess it's old school EPA certification mindset. Close off both service ports and reclaim what little is left in the lineset/coil. (or do it the lazy way and pump it all back into the compressor). Then grab your nitrogen tank and pressure test it like you should....
I live in sw Florida, have a 10 year old comfort maker, works fine but they put in about 1 to 1.5 lbs Freon this past service, any recommendations on replacement brands? It’s a r22 3.5 ton, just no idea how much longer it will last...outside unit looks fine, inside has a little rust, I think the original trap wasn’t setup right so blower had water in it years ago, prob caused rust, thanks man...
Hey brotha , anyone who has an issue with how u do things are just hating. I watch your work and I learn new things and I've been doing this for 15 yrs. You da man. Keep them videos coming and God bless my brotha.
I just wonder why the foam stopped where it did in the attic? Also, I would suggest to the owner to move those disconnects to a better level and finally, did you do a video on the coil change out? If so I would like to see it!
there was a dormer there with window letting light in, the dormer was foamed inside. the bare plywood was just overhang they didn't cut back and has the same open attic on both sides, so foam stopped just beyond the outside roof line tie in
Isn't the electrolysis a result of constant stray electrical current (lack of a grounding point somewhere)? I'm guessing there is a current flow between the furnace unit chassis, and the condenser outside (likely acting as a ground point for the furnace, or worse the reverse, through the copper linset). Are those disconnects even grounded? It'd be even crazier if the condensate drain water is part of the current loop too when flowing. The mind reels.... Kinda makes me speculate that the fire house down the road, is a result of an endemic problem in the wiring. And those disconnects don't inspire confidence in the wiring and inspection either :/
spray-foaming the whole outer building shell creates a vapor barrier, higher R-value than any other type of insulation. the whole attic becomes conditioned space, so you don't insulate the house ceilings as it's nearly the same temperature as the whole building, in fact there's normally a small vent and return up there. the attic becomes a nice storage area and you no longer have to worry about air leaks at every single device, light, wire, duct and pipe penetration. the downside is the home is too airtight and you need a heat recovery ventilation unit to make up for exhaust fans and to bring in fresh air.
I have been in attics with foam and they never removed the ceiling insulation and that attic was very humid went across the street to his friends house that had same foam people all attic insulation was removed with combustion air brought in and attic was very pleasant and cool amazing same foam company one done right and the other done wrong and you could feel the difference
Did you call the Refrigeration Police? I see there was a unit parked across the street. Oven brazing with flux coated braze points. I see that on condensers and evaporators in cars and trucks where used.
Hi u doing sir!!! I have a question, if I have a coil that can be used for r22 and r410 but it was used for r22,,,but condenser is no longer good and want to replace the condenser only,,,do I have to flush the evaporator coil? Or cut the lines and only flush out the lines?? Or both???
In the Uk if a system is leaking we would recover the gas then pressure test using ofn to find the leak fix the put in new 410a so no more 410 goes into the atmosphere. It’s an offence to put halon gas into a leaking system.
As a consumer it is very hard to pick a brand. I have a 15 year old Lennox HS26 and want to replace it sometime before it fails at the worst time. I am leaning Lennox again but I am also looking at American Standard. Maybe a 2 stage also. Comments? Thank you.
alanwagen With the exception of maybe Goodman or Nordyne with their crappy microchannel coils, the brand doesn’t matter as much as hiring a good contractor that will do a quality installation, such as flowing nitrogen when brazing, pulling a good deep vacuum 500 microns or below, etc. In my opinion as an HVAC contractor, these are 2 of the most important things. Of course there are many other things as well. Even the best of equipment will perform poorly if not installed properly.
Had to laugh about the ductwork. Not as bad as some I've seen. One installer I know about makes that look like quality work. They must get paid by the foot. I could use half the material and have material left over.
Good grief, that’s real quality there. Looks like they used mobile home flex. Who ever did there duct design needs to go back to duct school. Couldn’t see it, but, looks like the R/A ducts wasn’t big enough. The disconnects up that high, guess they wanted them outta the flood zone, idk. The whole job makes us that try to do the right thing,look bad! Keep up the good videos!
Those disconnects are hilarious! And dangerous. Yeah I don't like the looks of these aluminum coils. I'm replacing my 32 year old system now and dread going to this garbage.
MrBen527 I hear what you are saying. I have 23 yr old system and I am dreading going to this garbage too. It doesn't seem to matter what manufacturer you choose. Scary. I work for a company in Greensboro NC and we see this stuff everyday
The copper coils don’t hold up at 410a pressures. Copper was used on the evaporators when 410a came out and they didn’t hold up at all. Rheem/Ruud and Goodman failed quickly. To improve efficiency they made the copper thinner and some rifled the inside the coil and it was a disaster. The Aluminum ICP and ADP seem to be doing good so far. Goodman had issues with the aluminum where it joins the copper to braze the line set to it. They claim they are better now but who knows. The only one I have is only six months old and it was an easy change of the identical coil that was only $200 or a whole new system. It was easy decision with a 10 year warranty. Sometimes you have to hold your nose and dance with the devil.
warranty coil for sure, there was next to no material on that endloop, probably defective from the factory. Since it was ted likely doing the replacement, probably only labor.
Both the disconnects and the wiring in the attic i saw was not to NEC. I’m an amateur and I think even my stuff looks way better. Read the NEC handbook it’s free guys.
The building inspectors need to enforce the code more seriously!! Most of the so called "electricians" down here are just installers that aren't licensed but they work under somebody else's license. They don't know any of the technical stuff, they just know how to drill holes and run wires. I went to technical school for HVAC and electrical and now I'm working as an apprentice doing electrical work. I see all kinds of stuff on job sites.
Totally after agree with you on that but electricians can be brain surgeons when they want to be but obviously in this case they really messed up watching gonna do
