[Bonesman]

I recently bought a home. The previous owners had an American Standard furnace and A/C unit installed about 8-10 years ago.

At the time they didn't have a 30A circuit available, so the installer did all the plumbing, wired the disconnect, and told them to call when the circuit was available.

Apparently, something happened and they ended up taking care of some elderly, sick person who couldn't stand air conditioning. They used window units for parts of the house and never did anything with the central air.

I'm having the circuit run this weekend, and then I'll have a local company come out and fire it up.


What can I expect? Is there any chance of me getting out of this without spending a fortune?

Since this unit is "tecnically" unused, can I expect it to last for a few years?

 

[the dangling wrangler]

I recently bought a home. The previous owners had an American Standard furnace and A/C unit installed about 8-10 years ago.

At the time they didn't have a 30A circuit available, so the installer did all the plumbing, wired the disconnect, and told them to call when the circuit was available.

Apparently, something happened and they ended up taking care of some elderly, sick person who couldn't stand air conditioning. They used window units for parts of the house and never did anything with the central air.

I'm having the circuit run this weekend, and then I'll have a local company come out and fire it up.


What can I expect? Is there any chance of me getting out of this without spending a fortune?

Since this unit is "tecnically" unused, can I expect it to last for a few years?

Flip a coin. Heads it lasts, tails it doesn't. There's really no rock solid answer. If everything was sealed up correctly, I'd guess it would start right up but, don't hold my feet to the fire on that .

 

[W1914]

i would sure be interested to know how that comes out

 

[Shophound]

If the outdoor unit sat with the service valves shut, and there was no leak in the outdoor unit, chances are it may still have its factory refrigerant charge and be okay. Main thing is the unit can't be considered "new" pertaining to warranty, even if the compressor internals are factory pristine. The cabinet has been sitting out in the weather for ten years, subject to moisture, hail, flying objects, rust, etc.

Whoever you call to fire the unit up, tell them the same history you told us, so they can proceed accordingly. I would want a liquid line drier installed in the line set, following a pressure test using nitrogen of the line set and the evaporator coil to see if it holds pressure. It's possible a leak could have developed in the evap coil after ten years sitting over a hot furnace each heating season, but no way to tell until it is pressurized.

You have a decent chance this all may work out fine. There are potential pitfalls, as outlined above...only if you try will you know the outcome.

 

[heaterman]

Have who ever starts it pull the indoor coil and clean it before using it.

 

[beenthere]

Only had to pull a couple coils to clean them.

May not need to be pulled. The company that starts it up, can tell fairly quick if it needs pulled or not.

 

[toddb]

if the original installation was done correctly and the furnace has been operating normally, with proper maintenance of the outdoor unit theres no reason the unit shouldnt operate normally. just remember theres alot of ifs there.

 

[bmathews]

Chances are you'll be ok. I'm curious about what happens to a condensing unit that sits outside for so long and not running. I realize they aren't the same, but there are similarities to a car sitting and not running. How much dust and junk is in the fan motor. How about a capacitor sitting in the heat all these years or dust and dirt on the contactors. How will it affect the compressor sitting idle for so long. They are made to be sold and installed in a certain amount of time and running. I'm curious to know how it all works out.

 

[Bonesman]

Sorry I never got back to you helpful folks on this....got sent out of town on business for a while.

Believe it or not, the original factory charge had not leaked out over the years. He just connected the pump for a while and we were good.

The evaporator coil was still nice and clean, so he just fired it up. It ran fine for about 2 weeks and then it wouldn't start.

The fan would run if kick-started and I used information that I found on-line to troubleshoot it down to the dual capacitor. I replaced that myself and it did the trick. The can was swelled out and I wonder how he missed it when he did his inspection. Or could it have expanded like that in 2 weeks?

I ran it for the rest of the summer with no problems. Nice and quiet, cools the house great. I guess that time will tell ....

Thanks again for all your help, you folks are the best.

 

[RWILS107]

Yes, that capacitor was the weak link. It held out for a couple of weeks then crapped out. It would have been hard to tell that it was going to happen. Thanks for follwing up!

 

[davefr]

The can was swelled out and I wonder how he missed it when he did his inspection. Or could it have expanded like that in 2 weeks?

My guess is the electrolyte in the capacitor dried out from sitting all these years and once the unit was put into service it swelled up and died from the additional heat of operation.

Was it by chance an Aerovox plastic capacitor from Mexico? Capacitor quality has gone to hell.

 

[stonefly]

the tech. didn't miss anything, what happened to your cap probably happened over the course of about 2 seconds. they don't "get old" or "dry out" it could have sat there another 8 to 10 years and had no effect. the only heat that comes into play is the heat generated from the electrical incident that kills them. (often the unit just happens to get a call for cooling during a brownout/ power dip) two things you can do to that might reduce the chances of this happening again are to have your system upgraded with a compressor start delay (if it didn't come with one, and it may well have) and start component. also have all the breaker lugs & nuetrals and all the elec. connections in the power circuit to the condenser tightened to ensure good elec. connection.

 

[t527ed]

My guess is the electrolyte in the capacitor dried out from sitting all these years

:eek2::eek2::eek2:


if it was dried out it would not have swelled up.

 

[Joe Harper]

Should of soaked it gatoraide before start-up

 

[stonefly]

and his camry wouldn't have started either. suppose he meant dialectric?