Air Conditioner Compressor Failure Causes and Cures

Air Conditioner Compressor Failure What is your air conditioner compressor? Air Conditioner Compressor Failure this is probably the most expensive part in your air conditioning system. Call D C’s heating & air conditioning at 949-770-9616 We will go over the topic about your air conditioner compressor and what we can do to prevent this expensive part from failing.  Replacing the contact, capacitor, and checking refrigerant levels and pressures are important.

Air Conditioner Compressor Failure

The best way to prevent the air conditioner compressor from failing is keep good maintenance on your condensing unit this means at least twice a year clean out the condenser coils either blowing it out with air, CO2 or even using your water hose to wash out the debris and dirt that the gets stuck in the unit.

Air Conditioner Compressor Failure Causes and Cures

Not cleaning the condenser coils is like putting a piece of cardboard over your car radiator and driving it on a hot day. This will burn up the motor and make it overheat just like your air conditioner compressor. By maintaining a service on your air conditioner will prolong the life of the air conditioner.  Refrigerant charge should be checked each year making sure you get the best performance and the cooling back to the compressor.

Replacing an Air Conditioner Compressor

When your air conditioner compressor fails it is a big job to replace it and we will go over all the parts and what must be replaced if you experience or have an air conditioner compressor fail. First we diagnose a failed compressor either by bad valves, weak compression, or internal winding have shorted out or we call a compressor burn out.

By EPA laws we must recover the bad refrigerant in the system in a refrigerant recovery cylinder.  This is now a contaminated product and you will have to pay to have it destroyed by a certified company.  Next the air conditioning company will need to cut out the old compressor and dryer.

Flushing refrigeration contaminates

Using a refrigerant system flush like R11 to clean out the line set, evaporator, and condenser. This is required by D c’s heating & air conditioning.  Next step is replacing the capacitor and the capacitor. This is required for all compressor manufactures for warranty and if this is skipped the compressor manufacturer can deny the warranty claim.

Installing the new compressor and braising in the new compressor can be a small challenge sometimes we need to do some copper pipe modifications because air conditioning compressors change styles all the time so finding that perfect fit can be a challenge. Next braise in that new liquid line filter dryer check all yours braises and I like to pressure my fittings with nitrogen making sure I don’t have any leaks.

Vacuum pump and pulling a deep Vacuum

Next step is to pull a good deep vacuum making sure we remove all non condensable, and R11 flush.  A good 45 min is what I like to see on a vacuum.  Next is charging the air conditioning system we want to look at the name plate from the air conditioning manufacturer and see what refrigerant we are using and the charge weight.   Using a refrigerant scale, we will weigh in the exact amount of virgin refrigerant the manufacturer recommends.  Run the air conditioning system checking your pressures and superheat adjust as necessary.

Air conditioner Parts and replacement List

The liquid line filter dryer this is what keeps our air conditioner system clean and free of moisture and debris that is in the system during braising we build up a carbon from the heat and the filter will pick up this and keep it from blocking or damaging the air conditioning system.  I will only change this if it fails or I open up the system because they usually won’t fail unless they rust out or a really long time.

Air Conditioner Capacitor Replacement

The air conditioner capacitor is the most common thing to fail.  Trust me many of the do it yourself repairs and replacements people change these quite often but we really need to look at why the air conditioner capacitor is failing. Testing and resolving the issue before we have a compressor failure.

Air Conditioner Compressor Failure Causes and Cures

If your air conditioner capacitor fails, we need to look at a bigger picture instead of just replacing it. Let’s look at the electrical fittings and make sure they are all snug and tight from the panel all the way to the compressor. Make sure we take that screw drive and tighten all fitting at the disconnects and contactor.  With the power off check and see if we have any lose fittings and wires. Ok now how old is that contactor? Air Conditioner Compressor Failure.

Air conditioner Contactor Replacement

This is important to replace the contactor I will replace this every 3-5 years making sure we don’t have the contactor fail causing your compressor to fail and if you read the work required above to replace a compressor you probably wished you would have done this.

The air conditioner contactor is the switch telling your condensing unit to turn on and off the contacts inside this part get warn out, pitted, and even will wield together causing big problems and for sure a failure.  For those that are doing their own capacitor replacement you really need to change out the contact or this could cause you future problems and failures.

Air Conditioner Compressor Failure

D C’s Heating & Air Conditioning Air Conditioner R22 Freon  Compressor change out and repair in Orange County, California and surrounding areas for residential and commercial air conditioners.

Call 949-770-9616 D C’s Heating & Air Conditioning for the best prices on air conditioner compressor repairs and replacements. We service and repair all makes and brand air conditioners both residential and commercial Air Conditioner Compressor Failure

D C's Heating & Air Conditioning
24872 Wells Fargo Drive Laguna Hills, CA 92653 
Call 949-770-9616  
Lic #751391 
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