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Condensing Units
| Condensing Units |
| Written by Richard |
High Performance Air Conditioner & Heat Pump Condensing Units Page 1Air Conditioning Condensing Unit Quickpage Jump links: Air Conditioner & Heat Pumps Condensing Unit Basics Checking Air Conditioner & Heat Pump Condenser Fan Motor - How the check the condenser fan motor Cleaning Air Conditioning Unit & Heat Pump Condenser Unit Coils How to clean the condensing unit condenser coils Air Conditioning Units & Heat Pumps Condensing Unit Basics
A heat pump condensing unit will look similar to an air conditioning condenser. There are differences inside the the heat pump condenser and air conditioning condenser equipment. A heat pump condenser has a reversing valve and an air conditioner condenser does not have a reversing valve. A heat pump will provide heating and cooling and an air conditioner will only cool your home or business. Unless you have a water to air heat pump sysytem you probably do not have a heat pump if you live North of the Mid-Atlantic region (North of Maryland). The air conditioning & heat pump condensing unit houses the compressor (the heart of your system). It is the pump that is moving heat to the outside and bringing the refrigerant (which absorbs the heat) to the inside of your home. Vice versa for heat pumps in the winter. For those of us inside the HVAC heating and cooling business who work on condensing unit compressors, we understand them to be the transferors of heat. This transferor of heat, the compressor (inside the condensing unit), is hermetically sealed and non-serviceable. There is not much you can do with a burned up compressor except replace it with a new one. However, there is much you can do to maintain the equipment to give it a longer than average life and keep it running as smoothly and efficiently as the day it was new. Other components inside the air conditioning and heat pump condensing unit include the coils, the outdoor fan motor, and several condensing unit or heat pump controls. To see a diagram of these components. click here. Checking the Air Conditioning Units & Heat Pump Condenser Fan Motor
If the air conditioning & heat pump condenser fan motor fails on a hot day, the unit stops cooling and the pressures in the condenser rises until a high-pressure switch (not all units are equipped with high pressure switches) trips or the compressor overload shuts the compressor down. There is a possibility, with a failed HVAC condenser fan motor, that the compressor fails for good never to run again. An HVAC condenser fan motor is a lot cheaper than a compressor. Make sure the condenser fan motor is turning or running before the hot weather arrives. The question you are probably asking now is "What can I do to keep the condensing unit running smoothly and efficiently?" First you can keep the air conditioning & heat pump condenser coils clean of grass, dirt, and mud. Over time, these things build up inside the HVAC condenser coils and block the condenser coils. This accumulation of debris reduces the designed surface area of the air conditioning & heat pump condenser coils. Reducing that surface area of the condenser causes the compressor to work harder because there is less heat being exchanged from the HVAC condensing unit coils to the atmosphere. The less heat being displaced to the outside air the more heat that stays inside the condensing unit and the refrigerant. This causes the condensing unit pressures to rise inside the condensing unit. For the typical*air conditioner (AC) or heat pump the pressures should not exceed 300 p.s.i.g. on the hottest day of the year. *(Recent HFC refrigerants out on the market operate at higher design pressures.) If your condensing unit has dirty condensing coils and the thermometer outside is above 70 degrees then your condensing unit is most likely running at a higher pressure than it is designed to run at. The solution is to clean the HVAC condensing unit coils.
Cleaning the Air Conditioning & Heat Pump Condensing Unit CoilsBefore you drag the water hose over to the condensing unit and start spraying, you'll want to secure the condensing unit. This begins at the thermostat and ends at the condenser electrical disconnect box located at the condensing unit. Turn the thermostat to the off position and pull the plug inside the condenser electrical disconnect box. Some condenser electrical disconnects have a switch like a circuit breaker located inside them. Turn the power off. After the power is off and the air conditioning & heat pump condensing unit is secure, break out the water hose with a good nozzle that will allow you to spray water at a high pressure. A little soap will help clean the dirt and other debris off the HVAC condenser coils also. Apply the soap and let it soak for a few minutes. Then spray the condenser coils. Be careful not to use too much pressure as you may bend some of the heat exchange fins that surround the air conditioning & heat pump condenser coils. For best results, it will help if you spray the water from the inside of the condensing unit coils out. This may require you to take the top of the condensing unit off. If you are not mechanically inclined do not attempt this procedure. Simply spray all the dirt and debris off the HVAC condensing unit coils as you can possibly spray off. Among the things to be aware of around the air conditioning & heat pump condensing unit are:
Loose Electrical Connections in HVAC Systems
High Performance HVAC Condensing UnitsVideo of a crane company setting roof top units and condensers Dim lights Embed Embed this video on your site Condensing Units page 2 | High Performance HVAC Site Map | Condenser Page Top More articles on Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Air Conditioning Refrigeration System Evacuation | Frozen Air Copnditioner Troubleshooting | Air Conditioner Troubleshooting | How Air Conditioners Work | Air Handlers
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Comments (9)
  written by jose, June 08, 2010
what could be wrong with my unit if the compressor is making a clicking noise
 written by Weldon A. Behrens, June 19, 2010
I have a Ducane 2AC13L48P-2A, serial no.: 4609F60234, that label on compressor nor condenser unit list the type or grade R22 refrigerant oil in the system. I do not want to place the unit in service until I know the type or grade lubricant in the system is capable of protecting unit operating in high outside temperature. Do you have specs on the lubricant in this unit.
 written by Johnny Guzman, June 22, 2010
I have a a/c unit with out owners manuel. Fan is working and blowing out air. The condensing unit is not turning on what can this be. action that has been taken is putting in new filters that's it .What can I do?
 written by jennifer, June 23, 2010
we have cleaned out the tubes, etc and we have no easy access to the drain tray etc and there is a lot of water build up when we removed the plug out of the condesors....could the pump be bad?
 written by Eric, July 14, 2010
I have a condenser unit just like the one at the top of this page.
I find to odd the fan blowes down, because heat rises? It this thing blowing the right direction?
 written by Condensing Units, July 15, 2010
Our city was recently hit by a storm. We had intermittent power outage. Now, after the typhoon has gone, i noticed that our air condition unit produces increased operating sounds. And it seems like it does not have the same cooling effect anymore. The maintenance crew at our office suggested that my unit is experiencing compressor failure. What does that mean? Is there a remedy for this?
 written by Utpala, July 25, 2010
I live in Arizona and have a roof top unit that has started blowing air that bothers with my sinus and throat. The air is now the same as before. It is now leaking water off the roof every now and then. There appears to be a small piece of pipe missing from unit!
 Can anyone offer a suggestion that a single gal can do for this before I need an AC tech out?
 written by Scott, July 28, 2010
Excellent help section. My home exterior fan stopped turning on its own (Carrier brand), but I can start it manually in either direction. I had concluded I have a bad Run Capacitor (thank you Internet), since when it spins counter-clockwise pulling air into box, it seems to run fine, but other sites say it should be pulling air out of the box. I reversed the spin (surprised to find I could) and it worked for a few moments then the fan shut down completely. I'm now worried, if clockwise is the correct fan direction (pulling air out), maybe my fan motor is not spinning fast enough to cool compressor and it overheated. Then I saw the diagram above which seems to indicate a fan pulling outside air INTO the box and across the interior tubing--should my home unit fan be pulling in through the top and pushing out through coils or vice-versa--very confused!!! Any comments appreciated.
 written by mpenney, September 01, 2010
1st I turned off the disconnect, still heard humming from contactor, then breaker, still humming and finally turned the thermostat to off and it killed the humming and all power was off.
Any suggestions?
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Air Conditioning & Heat Pump condensing unit is a simple yet technical piece of HVAC equipment. It sits out in the back (or side) of your house and kicks on and off almost by itself. At least it seems that way to most people. In this box made of sheet metal, is the heart of your HVAC cooling system. Or for those with heat pumps, it is the heart of your HVAC heating and cooling.
In late winter or early spring it is a good practice to check the condenser fan motor to make sure it turns. Unplug or turn off the condensing unit at the electrical disconnect box and then set the thermostat to cool. Go back outside and restore power to the condensing unit. Watch the air conditioning units & heat pump condenser fan motor to make sure it turns. The air conditioning & heat pump condenser fan should be blowing plenty of air up. If the HVAC condenser fan motor fails to start it is recommended that it be replaced. There is probably a bearing going bad in the HVAC condenser fan motor. Whatever the reason there is no need to take chances having the HVAC condenser fan motor fail and cause problems or damage the compressor.
A loose electrical connection can cause big problems and safety issues with HVAC equipment. A good maintenace check of any HVAC system will include checking for loose electrical connections or wires that are corroded or frayed in some way. The picture to the right is a picture I took after repairing a large rooftop unit where a loose electrical connection almost started a fire in a commercial building. You will see a large fuse and two smaller fuses that have an indication of smoke on them. There is also a fuse block with the middle part of the fuse block melted completely away. Aluminum melts at approximately 1200 degrees Fahrenheit and the top center lug melted. Loose connections cause very high temperatures and the possiblity of a fire. The smaller fuses are 100 amp fuses and the bigger fuse is 250 amps. I replaced two large fuses and all three small fuses along with the fuse block and a contactor that was damaged by the dripping hot aluminum falling into the coil of the contactor. Typically, on start up of new equipment the first thing the start up technician checks is to make sure all the electrical connections are tight. This is an important check on any regular maintenace schedule so that this problem does not happen to you.
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