Finished it up the other day, walked away and let it run on heat. When I went out back the compressor was buzzing loudly steam rising and the fan wasnt spinning. Pulled the mains on the comp. and shut the A.H. down an waited a while. When I started it back up (on heat again) everything ran fine, then I heard a flush and I went out back and the same thing again...no fan and steam rising off the unit. Pulled all power again. Took the cover off the comp. and manually pushed the fan relay in and the fan fires right up and blows good. Status LEDs on the defrost board flashing, indicating normal. Lennox 2.5 ton sys. Checked voltages... ok.

Not being much of a service guy I pose the following questions:

Is there any time the compressor should run loudly without the fan? like defrost?

If it is defrosting, why? Its not freezing here although tis quite humid.

Should both fridge lines be hot?

Am I harming the outdoor unit?

Any hints for an old tin banger?

Thanks for the help

scott

 

Sounds like it went into defrost on you . Board ,are is it one you can set the temp on? Yes fan will go off and compressor run like in AC thats why the steam.But big line should be cold like for AC. That flush is the 4 way valve. Tstat and all is wired right??

ED

 

Ya all is wired right. I just cant see it going into defrost this often. One thing though I forgot about and just remembered. When my buddy charged it up, his gages wernt behaving properly, now Im wondering if it has a full load in it or not. I guess this could cause numerous defrost cycles.

scott

I found a pretty good site for info on H.P. systems for anyone interested. Im just trying to learn a little here.

http://toad.net/~jsmeenen/heatpump.html

 

You'll find it clipped on to the outdoor units coil, or at least it should be. Depending on what board and the what the set up is, once this sensor is 'closed' for a certain amount of time (usually adjustable on the board with a pin connector - like on a motherboard or hard drive). You could ohm out the defrost sensor and make sure it is closed or open. The sensor itself might show what the operating temps will be, like L55-23F, would mean it should be open above 55 F and closes around 23 F. Also make sure that the 'test pins' located on the board are not touching each other.
Charge could definitely play a factor on operation or a restiction on the system.

 

Im going to look it over real good today and get back with you. I especially want to know what type controls this unit has and how they work and where there set. Also going to re check the charge with some known good gages. I have heard through the grapevine that you should use a seperate set of gages for different types of freon. Is this true? Or is this being too picky? Thanks for the help.

scott

 

Your right. the ones for R22 dont go as high as they have to for the new R410a. Also on the R410a as it is a mix of freon you have to charge it by liquid only. If a unit has a bad leak and lost over 50% of the freon. You have to take it all out and recover it then recharge it with all new R 410a
The freon R22 will be around till 2030.

ED

 

The freeze problem was from a over charge. It read about 350lbs (247 spec) when we got a good set of gages. Didnt run it very much or for too long with the over charge. Sounds alot better now too , not working as hard. Think it damaged anything?

Thank You,
scott