Thread: OT- Outside A/C unit compressor at home not working, but...

Did you check the rotor to stator clearance? If the bearing are worn, most likely the rotor is touching.

Tom

I have seen several A/C compressor motors that had plain bearings lubricated by an oil felt. It is depressing that anyone would make a compressor motor that cheap.

Originally Posted by TDegenhart

Did you check the rotor to stator clearance? If the bearing are worn, most likely the rotor is touching.

No, didn't check that as it falls into the "I'm already spending way too much time with this POS, and what would I do about it anyway, who cares" department. FWIW, since last post I purposely shut down the A/C unit to see if it would come on again by itself...and it wouldn't. So, no practical thing to do now but buy box fan and/or wait for Monday morning.

Ironic isn't it, that so often sales outlets that you don't really need on a weekend (clothing, Stop N Rob convenience stores, etc) are open but the ones you do need (i.e. HVAC parts) are closed on weekends. None of the HVAC repair guys around here seem to work on weekends either...even for emergency pay.

Originally Posted by Bruce Griffing

I have seen several A/C compressor motors that had plain bearings lubricated by an oil felt. It is depressing that anyone would make a compressor motor that cheap.

That seems to be the way this fan motor is. I noticed later something on the nameplate about lubricating it every six months !!! Yeah, right...like someone is going to unscrew six screws, lift the entire top off the unit, fold it back without it falling off the fins, unplug two plastic plugs and oil this POS motor every 6 months ? Insane...

Still, it ran for 18 summers with no new oil... and come to think of it, another Tempstar installed the same day for the upstairs still running....guess I'd better oil that one asap, huh ?

I have nothing against the plain bearing/oil felt set up in general, but as you point out it is totally impractical on an A/C. Worked fine on S/B lathes tho...

For the what its worth department, here are some brand name and who owns them. This is from an Edgar 10k filing for Lenox.

LENNOX®, ARMSTRONG AIR®, DUCANEtm, ALLIED COMMERCIALtm, AIRE-FLO®, CONCORD®, ADP ADVANCED DISTRIBUTOR PRODUCTS®, MAGIC-PAK®, HUMIDITROLtm, PRODIGY®, HEATCRAFT® WORLDWIDE REFRIGERATION, BOHN®, CHANDLER REFRIGERATION®, KIRBYtm AND LARKIN®, among others. We protect our marks through national registrations and common law rights.

Competition

Substantially all markets in which we participate are highly competitive. The most significant competitive factors we face are product reliability, product performance, service and price, with the relative importance of these factors varying among our businesses. Listed below are some of the companies we view as significant competitors


5

Table of Contents

in each of our four business segments, with relevant brand names, when different from the company name, shown in parentheses.


• Residential Heating & Cooling — United Technologies Corp. (Carrier, Bryant, Tempstar, Comfortmaker, Heil, Arcoaire); Goodman Global, Inc. (Goodman, Amana); Ingersoll-Rand plc (Trane, American Standard); Paloma Co., Ltd. (Rheem, Ruud); Johnson Controls, Inc. (York, Weatherking); Daiken; Nordyne (Maytag, Westinghouse, Frigidaire, Tappan, Philco, Kelvinator, Gibson); HNI Corporation (Heatilator, Heat-n-Glo); and Monessen Hearth Company (Majestic).

• Commercial Heating & Cooling — United Technologies Corp. (Carrier); Ingersoll-Rand plc (Trane); Johnson Controls, Inc. (York); AAON, Inc.; and Daikin Industries, Ltd. (McQuay).

• Service Experts — Local independent dealers; dealers owned by utility companies, including, for example, Direct Energy; and national HVAC service providers such as Sears and American Residential Services.

• Refrigeration — United Technologies Corp. (Carrier); Ingersoll-Rand plc (Hussmann); Emerson Electric Co. (Copeland); GEA Group (Kuba, Searle, Goedhart); and Alfa Laval (Alfa Laval, Fincoil, Helpman).

Tom

I suppose the fans are made that cheap because they have no thought whatever that the fan will outlast the oil..... The fans are on the top of the outdoor unit, open to the rain, and normally rust out and die long before the oil is gone.

In areas with no snow, or minimal snow, likely they last longer. But every one I have ever seen has looked so bad it was a wonder it worked at all.

I've NEVER had an outdoor unit fan, an outdoor unit, nor the indoor portions fail on any whole house system..... EVER.

But, now that I think about it, I've never HAD a whole house AC system in my own house......... nor wanted one. Could be that's why I've had no failures.

Originally Posted by JST

I suppose the fans are made that cheap because they have no thought whatever that the fan will outlast the oil..... The fans are on the top of the outdoor unit, open to the rain, and normally rust out and die long before the oil is gone.

In areas with no snow, or minimal snow, likely they last longer. But every one I have ever seen has looked so bad it was a wonder it worked at all.

I've NEVER had an outdoor unit fan, an outdoor unit, nor the indoor portions fail on any whole house system..... EVER.

But, now that I think about it, I've never HAD a whole house AC system in my own house......... nor wanted one. Could be that's why I've had no failures.

Since you are in an area where it is not critical, why are you bragging? I'm in Tucson AZ and my unit is 17 years old and just fine. I did have to replace the fan on the condenser last year but I can live with that every 15 years or so.

#1 on the box fan. I spent 30 years in Florida, and saved many households on the weekend with that treatment. It may not conform to industry standards, but when you're hot as hell, and it's the weekend.......whatever works.

JST-
I have had two of the plain bearing / felt lube motors fail in our home systems. One failed after three years. Since then I have been on the lookout for this and have seen many more in neighbors and friends units. Here in Texas, where A/C is really needed, they don't rust out.

Been there twice, weekend seized fan on my retro 60s unit. Now as the years pass I buy fuses 4 at a time, Iknow I'm on borrowed time but can't afford a new unit. An HVAC mech. friend suggested a unit that is wired in before the compressor he decribed it as soft start device, I guess it brings the comp. up to operating speed slowly decreasing the "bang" I need current now and lots of it to start. He picked the unit up for me for about $75 and I havn't blown a fuse since plus he claims it make my antique last just a little longer. I realize that this is not the problem encountered but maybe if procured a soft start unit now it would add some years to your comp.
On the other hand my fuse consumption went up after the electric Co. placed one of those frigg'in unit on the air con that allows them to shut it off or do somthing to curb city elctrical consumption during peak hours. Not really sure what or how it does what it does, but it certainly save me money.

Originally Posted by tdmidget

Since you are in an area where it is not critical, why are you bragging?

Actually it's hotter where he is than where I am. Predicted high in St Louis on Tuesday is 99 degrees (92 predicted here) I can only assume that JST doesn't mind the roar of window units blocking his view or he enjoys sweating. Boasting about not having a whole house AC system, nor wanting one seems like one of the strangest things to crow about I can imagine.

No boasting............ I just never got used to A/C. We have one window unit for when it goes over 80 at night. Otherwise we use a whole house fan (brick house, like living in a cave).
I was being ironic in the fact that we have (at work) a client in the HVAC biz, A/C, mostly, and I know a lot of stuff about whole house A/C, but don't actually have a whole house unit.

As for teh roar..... might do if we had them.... but I mostly hear the roar of every one else's outdoor units..... we have the windows open at night.

But the fan deal is clearly silly. The units should last many many years, but often do not on account of the fan.

99 deg? That would be nice...... it was 108 a few days ago.....

Originally Posted by JST

99 deg? That would be nice...... it was 108 a few days ago.....

Holy Moses.... I knew it had been considerably hotter in Chicago that here over 900 miles further south, so suspected St Louis might be hotter as well.. but had no idea you guys got that hot ! I don't think it's ever been that hot here. Crazy weather patterns past couple of years...

I actually prefer as little A/C as possible myself...just enough to lower the humidity and then use fans. But even at 92 degrees outside it was a bit too hot downstairs yesterday for me with no A/C at all.

I'm surprised there was no rain shield on it. You should have them put one on when it is replaced, they only cost 5 or 6 bucks.

JR

The drip shields do help, but most seem to be broken in a year or two..... I think the service folks break them during maintenance visits in order to get more service calls!

Dust, fiber type materials and other "stuff" that collects around the bearing wicks out oil, and causes premature failure. cleaning it away, (and, of course, oiling) does wonders.

Originally Posted by Milacron

I actually prefer as little A/C as possible myself...just enough to lower the humidity and then use fans. But even at 92 degrees outside it was a bit too hot downstairs yesterday for me with no A/C at all.

Yep............. it is surprising how nice 80 deg is if it isn't too humid, and air is moving. I am outside so much in summer that I hate the 65 deg many people seem to prefer.... it just makes outside seem even hotter.

FWIW, got fan motor yesterday at our only HVAC place. More PITA to install than I realized as motor was "universal"' for different makes and therefore had screws that were too long to be cut, different wiring (original motor had just one wire to capacitor, new one had two...also had to rearrange some wires to get it running in correct direction) but working great now. Oiled bearing type all they had, and still cost almost $70 at contractor price....type of thing if at live auction brand new in box might bring 5 bucks. And yes, got new capacitor too.

I don't have whole house either, kin of wish I did, but I put in Hydronic heat. No ductwork. So I live with a window unit when it gets over 85 in the house. Night, it gets shut off and the window fan draws air in one window and out the other, across my BR. Works for me.

Did I build another house, I would install a heat pump. Fat chance of that, at my age, unless I sell this one and build a small one on my kid's property.

Glad you are cooling off, now.

George

Around here, a major source of A/C grief is ant infestation. They crawl into the contactor points until their dead bodies open the circuit. Such a problem that there's a specialized spray for it.



Anytime the tech are in the condenser box, they hose the components down with this stuff.