My 8 year old Trane air handler started making a rhythmic “screech” 3 weeks ago. It sounded like someone playing the recorder really badly. As best I could tell, the sound was coming from the upper right side of the cabinet. I shut off the switch immediately and called our HVAC maintenance company the next morning (this started around 9pm). They said the problem was a bad float switch, disconnected it, and said to have it replaced with our spring maintenance.
That night, the air handler started making the same noise, so I shut it off again and called the repair shop in the morning. This time they said it was a bad compressor in the outside unit. We switched to emergency heat and he ordered the part. The part was under warranty, but it cost $ in labor. The house was nice and toasty after the replacement but 6 nights later, the air handler started with the noise again. This time, the tech called Trane support who said it was a bad transformer which probably caused the compressor failure. We haven’t had any power surges that I’m aware of, and the circuit breaker was never tripped, which I’ve read is a common symptom. The tech switched to emergency heat again, ordered the part and noted on the invoice “bad dc volt board.”
Since this past Friday, the unit has stopped heating altogether. It was heating on emergency just fine and now nothing. There’s a little clicking sound coming from the AFC control board and all three LEDs are blinking on it and the EEV control board.
I’m just wondering if this all sounds kosher. I don’t think they’re intentionally taking me for a ride, but I can't keep shelling out thousands for them to rabbit hole the problem. Why would the loud noise be coming from inside if the problem was outside? If the original cause was the transformer/dc volt control, why would the noise disappear for a while if it hadn’t been replaced? Why did it heat before but not now?
Also, I took a look at the outdoor unit yesterday and saw that the wiring hadn’t been tucked back inside the cabinet after the compressor replacement and were completely exposed to the rain we’ve been getting. Not even electrical tape around the wire nuts to shield the connections from water.
Thanks so much for any advice you can give to help me talk more intelligently with my hvac techs.
Trane indoor unit model TAM7A0B30H21SBB
Trane outdoor unit model 4TWX6024G1000AA
Thermostat model TZONE950AC52ZA
That night, the air handler started making the same noise, so I shut it off again and called the repair shop in the morning. This time they said it was a bad compressor in the outside unit. We switched to emergency heat and he ordered the part. The part was under warranty, but it cost $ in labor. The house was nice and toasty after the replacement but 6 nights later, the air handler started with the noise again. This time, the tech called Trane support who said it was a bad transformer which probably caused the compressor failure. We haven’t had any power surges that I’m aware of, and the circuit breaker was never tripped, which I’ve read is a common symptom. The tech switched to emergency heat again, ordered the part and noted on the invoice “bad dc volt board.”
Since this past Friday, the unit has stopped heating altogether. It was heating on emergency just fine and now nothing. There’s a little clicking sound coming from the AFC control board and all three LEDs are blinking on it and the EEV control board.
I’m just wondering if this all sounds kosher. I don’t think they’re intentionally taking me for a ride, but I can't keep shelling out thousands for them to rabbit hole the problem. Why would the loud noise be coming from inside if the problem was outside? If the original cause was the transformer/dc volt control, why would the noise disappear for a while if it hadn’t been replaced? Why did it heat before but not now?
Also, I took a look at the outdoor unit yesterday and saw that the wiring hadn’t been tucked back inside the cabinet after the compressor replacement and were completely exposed to the rain we’ve been getting. Not even electrical tape around the wire nuts to shield the connections from water.
Thanks so much for any advice you can give to help me talk more intelligently with my hvac techs.
Trane indoor unit model TAM7A0B30H21SBB
Trane outdoor unit model 4TWX6024G1000AA
Thermostat model TZONE950AC52ZA
