Need to know about AC/Heat Pumps

[John A.]

I'll likely be replacing our (still under warranty) GOODMAN heat pump. It's had at least 3 major repairs done to it costing almost $2000 in labor and (freon --3x now). Each time costing between $450-$825 in labor and stuff.

So far, the condensor has been replace about 2 years ago. The compressor has been replaced (barely 3 months ago) and now the new compressor went out yesterday evening again. None of which are small repairs.

While the warranty has covered the replacement parts, it's usually down for a week at a time (like now) and as I mentioned, I'm tired of dealing with it.

The warranty expires in 3 weeks so I'm sure the next repair is going to cost even more because I'll also have to flip for the cost of parts too.

Goodman had a class action lawsuit, but looks like some judge threw it out. So, I'm going to issue this warning to any one else in the market, don't buy a goodman.

After some research it appears that the same company makes
– Trane.
– Carrier.
– Lennox.
– Bryant.
– Amana.
– Goodman

I wouldn't trust any of them either at this point.

So, what other heat pumps are out there that are good and made by someone else? I'd prefer to put this $550 repair toward a new unit altogether because I don't see the point of keep throwing money at this one.

I'm looking for a 3.5 or 4 ton unit. The heat element/furnace works fine and I don't believe it would need to be replaced.

 

[CaddmannQ]

I have been very happy with American Standard. I have replaced two fan motors and a circuit board over 16 years. No Freon loss.

Our old machine was a 1980’s Trane and was repaired many times before we moved here in 2002. It finally went bad again in 2005 & we replaced it with the larger American standard.

Before that was a 1974 Maytag we had from 1991 to 2002.

I learned to do Freon work fixing cars, so I patched that Maytag myself two or three times over the years and it was still running when we sold the house.

All I had when I fixed it was a generic Chilton’s air conditioning manual and a cheap Compressor operated vacuum pump & set of gages from Harbor freight.

It was an advantage that I had studied thermodynamics in college and knew the workings of the reversible heat pump from a theoretical standpoint.

But the theory that you need to know is minimal.

When you compress a gas like Freon you add heat mechanically.**

You compress it until it is liquid, and then bleed the heat off of the liquid.

Squirt the compressed liquid through a nozzle and As it expands to gas, it sucks up heat fast.

That makes it warmer so you have to compress it again and bleed off the heat. That is called the Carnot cycle, after a famous French engineer.

The worst thing that happens usually is that moisture enters the system and there is not enough desiccant in it to keep the Freon dry from water. Once it gets wet it doesn’t work.

There’s a bag of silica gel desiccant & if gets saturated it can rupture and plug the system.

They might be using something else in the new units but since I got rich enough to hire guys to climb on my roof I haven’t had to fix one.

**You don’t need an electric compressor. If you heat the restrained gas it gets compressed. This is why propane refrigerators can work without electricity. That’s why propane cylinders blow up when you get them too hot.

 

[Bobster]

As one who does all my own A/C service with the occasional technical help from a neighbor who works for Trane on the commercial side, I can tell you that most of the "issues" with our unit have been electrical in nature. Specifically, bad capacitors.

Our 5T Trane unit was new back in 2003. After Fed. rebates it was $5000. It was a top-o-the-line 19SEER unit and actually has TWO compressors in it--a smaller one for normal and larger one for super-hot days. It was $1000 more than the basic unit but paid for itself the first year. After initial evaporator then air handler fan failures (under warranty), it has worked rather well with only occasional repairs needed. I've had to replace a few start capacitors over the years (about $20 each), both contactors (one for each compressor, about $20 each), circuit board in outside unit ($60), transformer in air handler ($30) and thermostat ($40). I also blow out the condensate drain at least twice a year otherwise it overflows/trips a float switch shutting down the system.

 

[CaddmannQ]

I think we paid $5500 in 2005.
Probably 10 grand now.
My worst complaint was we had to pay $1200 for a circuit board in 2015 which I thought was outrageous.