PAC260 compressor cuts off and the red caution light comes on and it just blows room temperature air. If I press the reset button at the rear it blows cold air again.
There are actually several conditions that could be causing your compressor to draw excessive amperage. If the system is low on its refrigerant charge, the compressor will draw less amps than normal because it is not working as hard as it would with a full charge so low refrigerant is probably not the problem. It is true that the refrigerant vapor being drawn into the compressor is used to cool the windings and if the windings are not cooled it will overheat and trip an internal protective device, but it will not draw high amperage. If there is a problem with the voltage causing it to be lower than normal, the compressor will draw more amperage. A lower than normal voltage is rarely to be found though. If air or some other noncondensable gas has been introduced into the refrigerant system, higher than normal discharge pressures will exist and the expansion device that meters the refrigerant into the evaporator coil (the indoor coil) will not works as it is supposed to. If someone has recently accessed the
glp-1 elisa kithttp://www.cusabio.com/bio1-G-GLP961-7-3.html refrigerant side of your system, it is possible that they allowed some air from their gauge manifold to get in by neglecting to purge the gauage manifild or the hoses properly, but air will not normally just work its way into the system without someone actually putting it in. The most likely cause for the excessive amperage is a dirty condensor coil. When the coil becomes dirty, as it is wont to do, the coil has a more difficult time allowing heat to transfer out of the refrigerant into the air that is being drawn over it by the condensor fan. The normal design of a condensor coil is for the refrigerant to give up its heat content and begin to condense into liquid form at a temperature about 30 degrees above the outdoor air temperature (that's for a standard efficiency coil, a high efficiency coil does it at about 20 degrees above the air temperature). The pressure that the discharge gases are at is directly related to the temperature it is going to condense at. The higher the temperature, the higher the pressure. For a system using R-22 the design characteristic is for it to condense at 125 degrees F on a 95 degree F day. That means that the pressure will be approximately 275 psi. If the coil is dirty it will have a more difficult time allowing heat to transfer out into the air and the condensing temperature will be more than the 125 degrees F. That means the discharge pressure will be higher. The higher the pressure, the harder the compressor will have to work and the more amperage it will draw. The compressor has a built in protective device that is temperature sensitive. As more amperage is being used the temperature of the windings will be higher. If that temperature goes high enough the internal protection will open. Many systems also have a high pressure cutout installed. If the discharge pressure becomes too high, the cutout opens and shuts the compressor off. When the compressor turns off, the pressures on the low pressure side and the high pressure side will equalize slowly. The high pressure condition will go away. Many systems have what is called a lockout protection feature for some of the faults they can experience. Lockout conditions are normally reset by turning off power to the system and then turning it back on. Since the high pressure condition has gone away because of the equalized pressures, the system will start up again, but the discharge pressure will quickly build back up and trip the high pressure cutout again. Condensor coils can be cleaned very easily. Turn off the power to the unit. Using a 5/16" nut driver, remove the screws that hold the condensor fan cover in place and lift the fan and that shroud up and away from the unit. There will be several wires running to the fan motor, but you should be able to raise the motor out of its well so that the inside of the coil is exposed. Take a garden hose with a spray nozzle attached and wash through the coil with it. Try to make sure that the stream of water strikes directly into the coil, not at an angle. The fins are made of aluminum and they will bend easily if the water stream is striking them at an angle. The dirt and debris that has acculated in the coil will be flushed out, increasing the coils ability to transfer heat and work at the proper pressures. There are coil cleaning solutions that can be purchased to assist in cleaning the coil. Condensor coil cleaning solutions arre mixed with water to dilute them (one part cleaner and 3 or 4 parts water) and then sprayed onto the coil with a hand pump sprayer like you would use in the garden. The cleaner solution will foam up after it is applied and will help to fluch out the dirt and debris. The solutions are made with either an acid base or an alkyline base. You may be able to find condensor coil cleaner solution at Lowe's or Home Depot. You can certainly find it at most hvac parts supply houses such as Johnstone Supply, United Refrigeration, RE Michels, CC Dickson, MIngledorf's,
12/11/2013 7:59:37 AM •
DeLonghi...
•
Answered
on Dec 11, 2013
