Is the compressor fried?


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Old 08-04-16, 06:15 AM
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Is the compressor fried?

I have a 17 year Trane XB1000 that cools the upstairs. It's been pretty reliable.

Last week we had a power outage and my Generac whole house generator came on. It was a very hot couple of days and every time the AC came I can hear the generator rev. Maybe this is relevant, maybe not. The AC was working fine all night, power was restored, all was good.

The next day, in mid afternoon, the AC tripped the breaker (double pole 30 amp).

When I checked the AC unit I found that the lead from the compressor going to HERM on the capacitor was burnt off the connector and the bare wire that was left was touching the chassis. It left a bit of a char mark where it touched.

So, my question is what are the chances that the compressor is fried? I can easily replace the capacitor and the contactor if necessary and give it a try, but if it still turns out that the compressor needs replacing I would actually consider replacing the whole system. The cost of maintaining a Freon-based system and the efficiency gains from a newer unit would probably be worth it in the long run.

Any thoughts?
 
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Old 08-04-16, 06:41 AM
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If you have an multimeter, you could check the resistance of the compressor windings and check for resistance to the chassis. While it's impossible to say whether the compressor is fried, I'd say that it's certainly worth the small cost to replace the capacitor and contactor to find out. With any luck, you just had a high resistance connection where the wire connected to the capacitor (usually that's why a wire burns up). Obviously, you'll have to repair/replace the burned wire as well, but that shouldn't be difficult or expensive.
 
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Old 08-04-16, 10:21 AM
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Thanks

Thanks for the reply, Bob.
 
 

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