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But what if the AC compressor really is bad?

Today our power went out for the whole house.

I checked the breaker box, and saw that the whole-house breaker had been tripped, as well as the breaker for our air conditioner.

The only load at the time was a few lights, and possibly the fridge. We upgraded our electrical service when we moved in (7 years ago), and we've never had a breaker trip until now. The A/C was put in new at the same time.

I reset the whole-house breaker, and our lights came back. So far, so good. I then tried to reset the A/C breaker, and both breakers tripped again.

So I reset the whole house breaker a 2nd time, left the A/C breaker off, and called for a repair. The repairman said there is a short in the compressor.

He said he can try and find a replacement compressor, but I'd be better off replacing the whole condenser. (Compressor-only is more labor; he said the price difference would be less than $100, and we'd have a whole new condenser unit instead of just a new compressor.)

But he said finding either one might be tough, because SEER 10 units are no longer made. (Federal regulations require A/Cs manufactured after January 22, 2006, to be at least SEER 13.)

He thinks he can probably find one a SEER 10 -- he mentioned that some local suppliers stocked up on them when they were discontinued, and this being early in the season, chances are good some are still available.

If he can't find a matching compressor or condenser, then he'll have to replace everything, including the A coil, with a SEER 13 unit (which will, presumably, save me some money on my electricity bill.

Assuming all three options are available, (new compressor, new condenser, or entirely new SEER 13 system), which do you think is best?

The indicated symptoms do strongly suggest a hard short in the compressor and I would be willing to accept that diagnosis, though I would also suggest you look here.

Beyond that, if it is indeed a hard short, then replacing the compressor would be a seriously bad idea, throwing good money after bad. If the failure occurred as a hard short, then there was a lot of arcing that went on inside the unit for some period of time prior to total failure. That arcing could have occurred for perhaps as much as an hour or two prior to total failure.

Arcing in freon breaks the freon down into a mixture of hydrofluoric and hydrochloric acid, which then gets circulated through the entire system. Further, chunks of insulation will have been circulated through the system, and may or may not have been totally trapped by the filter - if there is a filter in the system.

The upshot is, that in the event of the hard short such as you describe, your system probably experienced a "major burnout", and is filled with acid that is eating at all the metal in the system.

What you should do before making any decisions is perform an acid test on the system. If it is positive for acid, then evacuate it and remove/dump out the compressor and look at the oil. If the thing smells acidic and burned, and if there are chunks in the oil, then scrap the whole thing, including the A-coil and the lines.

If there are no chunks and the oil doesn't look horrid, then an exact pH measurement of the system should give you an idea of the acid content. If it is only mildly acidic, then replace the whole condensing unit and when recharging put a package of acid neutralizer into the lines. This will save several hundred dollars, but should only be undertaken if the evidence is against a major burnout.

Probably you have had a major burnout. If you don't replace ALL of it, you will almost certainly have more problems in the near future, even if you use acid neutralizer.

About the Author: Jim Locker is a technical guy who has done a lot of real estate investing and landlording. The experiences he writes about and advice he gives are either first hand, or in answer to specific questions posed by others. He is commonly known as jiml8 around the internet.

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