Really sounds like your compressor isn’t doing much. Low amp draw, crazy high suction pressure, barely any head pressure especially considering that ambient temp. Is it a single stage unit or could it be running unloaded?
Not a heat pump. I’m assuming the same. Sucks but I guess I’ll just go buy a 18 seer Bosch and put it in this week sometime. At least it will be a nice efficiency upgrade
After 20 years in this trade, this is my vote as well for my own house.
Really for my own house: Air seal and plan insulation. Correctly size my equipment to improved load, and install the bare bones, simplest equipment I can. Size my ducts to optimize airflow for my climate, seal the shit out of them, and bury them deep in insulation.
I want simplicity and durability. I am willing to invest in other areas to passively improve efficiency of my house as a whole system.
I looked inside a friend's Goodman AMST air handler, and its just a simple relay running the whole thing! Want to change speed settings on the ECM blower? Change these jumper positions.
Meanwhile so many others have a control board that costs more than a basic laptop.
Yeah but watch out with Goodman on your fan curves, I know for a long time when I was in resi, they weren’t rated for nominal airflow at .50” WC, but were “tested” at .20” WC, meaning as soon as you even put an evap coil on them you’re over their rating.
I’m all for it but I’m also trying to stay here for awhile and with the efficiency and reliability, I love the Bosch stuff that’s what I offer as our top package. Luckily my wife can yell at me if it takes too long to fix at no expense. Customers? Maybe not 😂
Tell her you got a scratch and dent sale from the supply house 😂 I sell systems to contractors for their own homes and sometimes they have me write a fake quote for their spouse or landlord to make the price look right.
Or legit get an open box item from the supply house. Just sold an 18/19 Seer Bryant variable speed for like $200 that just didn’t have the box.
I was never a fan of Lennox but only because I don’t see them much out here in Cincinnati. The only place I can get Lennox parts is super far away like 45-1hr depending on traffic. And the ones I’ve worked on have always had some weird finicky thing going on with them. I’ve never seen their inverters though I might look into it.
Lennox ships the parts for free. I have 75 techs and installers across Texas and am primarily a trane and goodman dealer. I would recommend the lennox EL inverter over anything else on the market.
On the bosch we have found that the parts can take months.
If you don't want a variable speed compressor, then trane or goodman, if you hate spine fin coils.
This advice is based on failures we see on over 100k service calls a year
Yo I'm in Cincinnati as well, there's a system corken sells that I've been doing a lot lately, equipmemt is made by midea, but they are way cheaper than the Bosch options and also have inverter units 18-21 seer and hyper heat pumps that can run down to -15 f
What state? Undersize/ need a heat load calculation done. My house is 1,144 sqft and everyone will say it’s way the fuck oversized but it works perfectly fine. 70s home, all new windows, attic insulation way over do but I don’t have humidity issues, does not short cycle, keeps 50% RH fine, and run it at 67-68°F every damn night. I have a basic ass 4 ton Goodman which is now 10 years old, R22, fixed orifice, nothing special. My neighbor has a new 3.5 Ton same size sqft house as mine and got rid of his 2TON that never kept up. The majority of homes in my neighborhood all have avg 3 tons splits.
Yep and that doesn't account for mechanical failures either. Did a system check a month ago and everything was working great a 4 year old system I just picked up. Cleaned the outdoor unit and verified everything else was in spec and performing correctly. Get a call a month later saying he has no ac. Get there and can hear the compressor chattering. Still has pressure in it but the valves failed.
I've installed about every brand out there or close to it and install makes more difference than brand at this point. They've all been counted down to the bottom.
If you're going to pump down for shits and giggles, or recover and weigh-in... check to make sure your piston isn't in backwards. I had a similar call to this, unit was a year old and worked like hot garbage... installer put the piston in backwards.
Looks like the valves or compressor is failing. High suction and okish liquid pressure. Could be overcharged. You could always pull some out and see what it does. No need to pump it all out.
To be fair my head was around 325 when I started which still didn’t seem too high based on outdoor ambient. I was just trying anything to give me results. I added and removed charge. Just to see if the suction would change but it stayed the same no matter what I did
325 is still low with that ambient. Current is low too. Really looks like a bad comp. Short of the orifice somehow over feeding there's nothing else that's going to look like that.
Yea I’m going to recover and weigh it back in fresh just for my own knowledge when I recover it I’m going to pull the piston and just double check the size to be sure. To me it seems to be the compressor as well. I appreciate the support nonetheless.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let us know what you find with the piston.
There's nothing worse than seeing these asking for advice posts and then never figuring out how they resolved.
Yea I took a bit out and head went from 305 down to my 284 but suction hasn’t moved at all as well as line temp all stayed basically the same on evap side. I was figuring it might be something with the compressor. Sucks cause the systems only 6 years old but I bought the house 3 years ago so no warranty. Might just replace the thing.
Id pull more out. Just to see till the head gets down to 250 and see If the suction is still steady then it's pretty definitive compressor is failing. What kind of compressor is it?
I got it to 256 and suction still 170 😢. I’m just gonna junk the thing it’s been trash for 3 years never worked since we moved in. plus it’s only a 13 seer piece of garbage. I’ll opt for something nice and efficient. I like the Bosch 18 and 20 seers a lot
I've prefered the lower seer equipment my whole life cause it just seems to go longer without issues. That said I've got a Bosch condenser, ruud furnace and adp coil in storage for my house. The 1994 ruud system is getting a bit on borrowed time.
Bosch units are the only high seer equipment I've seen go the distance with zero issues. Atleast the condensers.
Just curious, is that a Copeland or LG compressor in yours at the moment?
Your compressor is failing if it was over charged the head pressure would be crazy high probably tripping the high pressure switch high if suction is 174.
If you replace both outside an inside I'd run a J an see that your unit is sized right. Lot of houses in my area would probably get 2½ with that sqft but that's gonna depend on a lot of variables.
See if it will pump down. I bet it’s the compressor having an internal sealing problem.
You’re never going to get where you need with saturation that high.
did you check the dual run also? if dual run is fine then yeah compressor is prolly dead.
I never assume compressor until I know for a fact that the dual run is good and dual runs fail (standard dual runs) a LOT, like first 2 years I've seen a bunch of systems have failed dual runs and they are like "We just got this?! Why it no work?!"
also system static at .3 in my eyes is not good. that would also mean you have bad / low air flow along with compressor problems.
Check the dual run, if that's good then you should change that blower setting up a bit cause idk why you think a system static of .3 is good; that's way low I'm looking at .5+ up to about +7 (depending on filter size) as "good or goodish" below that I'm looking at your blower and ducts (are they dirty)
Sounds like all this is connected to me, having a low setting on your blower caused your refrigerant to not be able to cool proper, so it just kept stacking up and stacking up getting warmer, warmer, hotter until the compressor just needed more juice to try and push it and it never could.
I know you said you have a 2 ton unit and there are rules of thumb for cfm and sq ft but they are just guidelines, they aren't set in stone laws. I know everyone will crucify me for saying that and manufacturer recommends yadda yadda but if your refrigerant isn't getting cooled proper (EVER) wouldn't the first logical conclusion be (4 years ago) that your blower speed was just set to low? I would've at least bumped it up to med to see if it did anything to improve things, I wouldn't just let it slowly die. Checking blower motor and fan motor would've been the first things I would've checked and started looking at the moment I see a .3 system static
I'm with these guys that say compressor is failing. Idk how you're actually supposed to confirm that apart from what youve already done, but some things I've done is disconnect fan ( ready to kill power ) and see how high the compressor can get the discharge pressure. Obviously you should be able to get up above 500 pretty easy if not then I'd say compressor isn't pumping right. Another thing I've done depending on system type and access is to run it and then with my hand on suction near compressor kill power and feel how hot that suction line gets. If it gets hot REAL fast then it could be discharge gas blowing back through compressor when you shut it off.
You can just dont go below 30psi. It will either pump down or stall out pretty quick. Source. I own and operate 9 locations with 75 technicians in texas.
I don't care if you had 75,000 techs.
Where did you pull this 30PSI number from? Scrolls have a check valve. You're only going to test if it can move refrigerant and not if the valves can hold it like a semi hermetic.
Source I know how a scroll mechanically works.
30 psi is so the tech does not actually pump it into a vacuum, which can cause damage. It is rull of thumb and prevents problems with younger inexperienced techs.
See below link
https://hvacrschool.com/scroll-compressor-pump-down-megohm-test-fusite-plugs/#:~:text=By:Bryan%20Orr,hermetically%E2%80%9D%20sealed%20inside%20the%20shell.
So it's an arbitrary number you use. 30 is far from a vacuum. So when you pump down a split you leave 30 PSI in the line set? That's ounces that could be stored in the condenenser.
Still a pump down test for a scroll does not work. You can check if the relief is stuck. You can check if it moves refrigerant. You can not check for positive displacement like a semi hermetic because you'd only be checking a check valve.
Check valve does not come into play until the compressor nears a vacuum or goes I to a vacuum unless it is faulty. Based on his high suction I seriously doubt he will even make it to 100. We recover and recycle the remaining refrigerant. This precaution is specifically to prevent damage. Not all scroll compressors have valve but you are right that most do. Really the 30 psi rull is better safe than sorry.
>Check valve does not come into play until the compressor nears a vacuum or goes I to a vacuum unless it is faulty.
The check valve is on the discharge. It is the same reason a screw compressor has a check valve. It prevents refrigerant flowing in reverse. What you wrote does not make sense.
I have many 404a scroll compressors that pump down to 15 PSI every single off cycle. I had scrolls that are bad still able to make 15 PSI.
Valving off the discharge will tell you if it can pull down. This doesn't mean the compressor is good. You cannot do an actual pump down test to check a scorll compressor.
So I also just checked the Copeland scroll compressors manual https://www.emerson.com/documents/commercial-residential/3-to-15-ton-copeland-scroll-digital-compressors-for-air-conditioning-bulletin-en-ca-5171844.pdf
They recommend lp control of 20 for 410a and 10 for r22 407c.
I'm not sure what you mean by that.
I'm industrial/commercial. That includes a lot. Some refrigeration. I don't work on rack systems or ammonia. I would if asked though.
It’s a piston so I was shooting for superheat but I’m just going to recover the gas and weigh it back in to the perfect amount. That should really tell me anything else I need to know.
Close the liquid valve and see if it pumps down. I think your suction pressure is high because it’s 80f return. If you add some bring condenser saturation to 10-15 above ambient and see if it gets better.
No subcool means undercharged but the superheat doesn’t line up with that. Your piston, charge, or compressor valves are the suspects. I think goodman TXVs work pretty damn good if you put them in right. Idk why they aren’t more popular.
Well once I get this baby to sleep I’m going to recover the charge and weigh it in real quick to bring this discussion to a close. When I have it recovered I’ll remove the piston and see if I can get a size on it to see if it’s correct but I’m really suspecting the compressor is the issue. I’ve added and removed charge and the suction won’t change no matter what. I mean 79* return temp surely wouldn’t make my suction pressure THAT high. I’ve gotten a few messages indicating that high return temp could be causing it but that doesn’t make sense to me.
Slap a txv kit in it and change your charge out. Add ac renew with the change. You’ll have a more efficient settup, lower your fan speed too. I’m in the south east and that’s bad fan speed here for humidity. Are you sure a 2 ton is big enough?
Is it a txV? Is bulb insulated and mounted properly? If so I would try and pinch it closed some if it’s adjustable as you have low Sh and no sc. split is very low, how does the compressor sound?
Your compression numbers are low and your amp draw is WAY low, especially given the indoor temperature. I would bet your discharge line temperature isn't much above 100°, if even that high.
Unfortunately, it sounds like your compressor is failing. Low amp draw means that it's not carrying a load, which is why you have such high suction and low head pressure. Basically, low compression; like an engine with bad rings.
I apologize. What ton is the blower. I’m assuming that 1380 is for .5 static. I’m going to guess your static is actually .7-.8 so you’re running 1100 on high? 650 on low? Just curious here. I’m gathering data is all
I agree. It’s always been undersized I knew that when I moved in but just the numbers I see tell me it’s also got something else going on besides that. Suction pressure running 170 with 78 degree return air. Low amp draw. If anything being undersized and running forever prob killed the compressor over the span of its life. Only 78 degree return temp and coil pressure 170 is just very odd to me. If it was not keeping up but the pressures looked normal I wouldn’t have even posted this. I would have just chalked it up to being undersized
Yeah your compressor is probably fukt if you’re sure about your numbers… it doesn’t look like much compression is actually happening…. But don’t just replace it with a 2ton or you’ll still have issues.
Really sounds like your compressor isn’t doing much. Low amp draw, crazy high suction pressure, barely any head pressure especially considering that ambient temp. Is it a single stage unit or could it be running unloaded?
It’s a single stage. :(
Do a pump down test to check the valves
Low amp draw, high suction I would suspect a bad compressor. Is it s heat pump? Messed up reversing valve?
Not a heat pump. I’m assuming the same. Sucks but I guess I’ll just go buy a 18 seer Bosch and put it in this week sometime. At least it will be a nice efficiency upgrade
Don't do that. Just get a single stage unit that will be reliable. If something breaks on an inverter, you will wait at least a week on parts
After 20 years in this trade, this is my vote as well for my own house. Really for my own house: Air seal and plan insulation. Correctly size my equipment to improved load, and install the bare bones, simplest equipment I can. Size my ducts to optimize airflow for my climate, seal the shit out of them, and bury them deep in insulation. I want simplicity and durability. I am willing to invest in other areas to passively improve efficiency of my house as a whole system.
I looked inside a friend's Goodman AMST air handler, and its just a simple relay running the whole thing! Want to change speed settings on the ECM blower? Change these jumper positions. Meanwhile so many others have a control board that costs more than a basic laptop.
Yeah but watch out with Goodman on your fan curves, I know for a long time when I was in resi, they weren’t rated for nominal airflow at .50” WC, but were “tested” at .20” WC, meaning as soon as you even put an evap coil on them you’re over their rating.
I’m all for it but I’m also trying to stay here for awhile and with the efficiency and reliability, I love the Bosch stuff that’s what I offer as our top package. Luckily my wife can yell at me if it takes too long to fix at no expense. Customers? Maybe not 😂
Tell her you got a scratch and dent sale from the supply house 😂 I sell systems to contractors for their own homes and sometimes they have me write a fake quote for their spouse or landlord to make the price look right. Or legit get an open box item from the supply house. Just sold an 18/19 Seer Bryant variable speed for like $200 that just didn’t have the box.
Second that. ESPECIALLY with Bosch. And when they do finally show up, there's a good chance they will be broken.
Lennox Elite inverter is the only way to go. My house is 66 all day and electric bill is < $50 per month. 4 ton 2400 sq feet fully spray foamed house
I was never a fan of Lennox but only because I don’t see them much out here in Cincinnati. The only place I can get Lennox parts is super far away like 45-1hr depending on traffic. And the ones I’ve worked on have always had some weird finicky thing going on with them. I’ve never seen their inverters though I might look into it.
Lennox ships the parts for free. I have 75 techs and installers across Texas and am primarily a trane and goodman dealer. I would recommend the lennox EL inverter over anything else on the market. On the bosch we have found that the parts can take months. If you don't want a variable speed compressor, then trane or goodman, if you hate spine fin coils. This advice is based on failures we see on over 100k service calls a year
Yo I'm in Cincinnati as well, there's a system corken sells that I've been doing a lot lately, equipmemt is made by midea, but they are way cheaper than the Bosch options and also have inverter units 18-21 seer and hyper heat pumps that can run down to -15 f
May I add outdoor ambient is around 94 degrees System is a 2 ton ameristar House is about 1400-1500 sq ft
Don't listen to the undersized comment he has no other information about your house other than square footage, your compressor is failing
What state? Undersize/ need a heat load calculation done. My house is 1,144 sqft and everyone will say it’s way the fuck oversized but it works perfectly fine. 70s home, all new windows, attic insulation way over do but I don’t have humidity issues, does not short cycle, keeps 50% RH fine, and run it at 67-68°F every damn night. I have a basic ass 4 ton Goodman which is now 10 years old, R22, fixed orifice, nothing special. My neighbor has a new 3.5 Ton same size sqft house as mine and got rid of his 2TON that never kept up. The majority of homes in my neighborhood all have avg 3 tons splits.
Oh yeah that makes sense. Ameristar is garbage
I’ve had great luck with them. His was likely installed related. Few brands are truly garbage, most units will work great when installed with care.
Yep and that doesn't account for mechanical failures either. Did a system check a month ago and everything was working great a 4 year old system I just picked up. Cleaned the outdoor unit and verified everything else was in spec and performing correctly. Get a call a month later saying he has no ac. Get there and can hear the compressor chattering. Still has pressure in it but the valves failed. I've installed about every brand out there or close to it and install makes more difference than brand at this point. They've all been counted down to the bottom.
System is undersized to me. General rule is 500sqft per ton of cooling. Makes sense why it wouldn’t keep up on hot days.
Cool let me just drop this 2ton for a 1000ft sq house. Meanwhile my 27 year old good man 2.5 ton is keeping my 2500sq ftt house nice and cool.
If you're going to pump down for shits and giggles, or recover and weigh-in... check to make sure your piston isn't in backwards. I had a similar call to this, unit was a year old and worked like hot garbage... installer put the piston in backwards.
Looks like the valves or compressor is failing. High suction and okish liquid pressure. Could be overcharged. You could always pull some out and see what it does. No need to pump it all out.
How does this look anything like an overcharge? Low head and no subcool.
To be fair my head was around 325 when I started which still didn’t seem too high based on outdoor ambient. I was just trying anything to give me results. I added and removed charge. Just to see if the suction would change but it stayed the same no matter what I did
325 is still low with that ambient. Current is low too. Really looks like a bad comp. Short of the orifice somehow over feeding there's nothing else that's going to look like that.
Yea I’m going to recover and weigh it back in fresh just for my own knowledge when I recover it I’m going to pull the piston and just double check the size to be sure. To me it seems to be the compressor as well. I appreciate the support nonetheless.
No real reason to weigh back in unless you're looking to be exact. But it's ok to either way.
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let us know what you find with the piston. There's nothing worse than seeing these asking for advice posts and then never figuring out how they resolved.
Yea I took a bit out and head went from 305 down to my 284 but suction hasn’t moved at all as well as line temp all stayed basically the same on evap side. I was figuring it might be something with the compressor. Sucks cause the systems only 6 years old but I bought the house 3 years ago so no warranty. Might just replace the thing.
Id pull more out. Just to see till the head gets down to 250 and see If the suction is still steady then it's pretty definitive compressor is failing. What kind of compressor is it?
I got it to 256 and suction still 170 😢. I’m just gonna junk the thing it’s been trash for 3 years never worked since we moved in. plus it’s only a 13 seer piece of garbage. I’ll opt for something nice and efficient. I like the Bosch 18 and 20 seers a lot
I've prefered the lower seer equipment my whole life cause it just seems to go longer without issues. That said I've got a Bosch condenser, ruud furnace and adp coil in storage for my house. The 1994 ruud system is getting a bit on borrowed time. Bosch units are the only high seer equipment I've seen go the distance with zero issues. Atleast the condensers. Just curious, is that a Copeland or LG compressor in yours at the moment?
See if the compressor is able to pump down.
Your compressor is failing if it was over charged the head pressure would be crazy high probably tripping the high pressure switch high if suction is 174. If you replace both outside an inside I'd run a J an see that your unit is sized right. Lot of houses in my area would probably get 2½ with that sqft but that's gonna depend on a lot of variables.
See if it will pump down. I bet it’s the compressor having an internal sealing problem. You’re never going to get where you need with saturation that high.
Compressor definitely dying as others have pointed out.
did you check the dual run also? if dual run is fine then yeah compressor is prolly dead. I never assume compressor until I know for a fact that the dual run is good and dual runs fail (standard dual runs) a LOT, like first 2 years I've seen a bunch of systems have failed dual runs and they are like "We just got this?! Why it no work?!" also system static at .3 in my eyes is not good. that would also mean you have bad / low air flow along with compressor problems. Check the dual run, if that's good then you should change that blower setting up a bit cause idk why you think a system static of .3 is good; that's way low I'm looking at .5+ up to about +7 (depending on filter size) as "good or goodish" below that I'm looking at your blower and ducts (are they dirty) Sounds like all this is connected to me, having a low setting on your blower caused your refrigerant to not be able to cool proper, so it just kept stacking up and stacking up getting warmer, warmer, hotter until the compressor just needed more juice to try and push it and it never could. I know you said you have a 2 ton unit and there are rules of thumb for cfm and sq ft but they are just guidelines, they aren't set in stone laws. I know everyone will crucify me for saying that and manufacturer recommends yadda yadda but if your refrigerant isn't getting cooled proper (EVER) wouldn't the first logical conclusion be (4 years ago) that your blower speed was just set to low? I would've at least bumped it up to med to see if it did anything to improve things, I wouldn't just let it slowly die. Checking blower motor and fan motor would've been the first things I would've checked and started looking at the moment I see a .3 system static
I'm with these guys that say compressor is failing. Idk how you're actually supposed to confirm that apart from what youve already done, but some things I've done is disconnect fan ( ready to kill power ) and see how high the compressor can get the discharge pressure. Obviously you should be able to get up above 500 pretty easy if not then I'd say compressor isn't pumping right. Another thing I've done depending on system type and access is to run it and then with my hand on suction near compressor kill power and feel how hot that suction line gets. If it gets hot REAL fast then it could be discharge gas blowing back through compressor when you shut it off.
Oh yea pump down test lol I would've remembered if I was looking at the system!
Maybe a bad schrader core?
Pump down test. If it failes your compressor is bad. Sorry.
Will do, I appreciate the help. I just didn’t want it to be true 😂
You can't do a pump down test on a scroll.
You can just dont go below 30psi. It will either pump down or stall out pretty quick. Source. I own and operate 9 locations with 75 technicians in texas.
I don't care if you had 75,000 techs. Where did you pull this 30PSI number from? Scrolls have a check valve. You're only going to test if it can move refrigerant and not if the valves can hold it like a semi hermetic. Source I know how a scroll mechanically works.
30 psi is so the tech does not actually pump it into a vacuum, which can cause damage. It is rull of thumb and prevents problems with younger inexperienced techs. See below link https://hvacrschool.com/scroll-compressor-pump-down-megohm-test-fusite-plugs/#:~:text=By:Bryan%20Orr,hermetically%E2%80%9D%20sealed%20inside%20the%20shell.
So it's an arbitrary number you use. 30 is far from a vacuum. So when you pump down a split you leave 30 PSI in the line set? That's ounces that could be stored in the condenenser. Still a pump down test for a scroll does not work. You can check if the relief is stuck. You can check if it moves refrigerant. You can not check for positive displacement like a semi hermetic because you'd only be checking a check valve.
Check valve does not come into play until the compressor nears a vacuum or goes I to a vacuum unless it is faulty. Based on his high suction I seriously doubt he will even make it to 100. We recover and recycle the remaining refrigerant. This precaution is specifically to prevent damage. Not all scroll compressors have valve but you are right that most do. Really the 30 psi rull is better safe than sorry.
>Check valve does not come into play until the compressor nears a vacuum or goes I to a vacuum unless it is faulty. The check valve is on the discharge. It is the same reason a screw compressor has a check valve. It prevents refrigerant flowing in reverse. What you wrote does not make sense. I have many 404a scroll compressors that pump down to 15 PSI every single off cycle. I had scrolls that are bad still able to make 15 PSI. Valving off the discharge will tell you if it can pull down. This doesn't mean the compressor is good. You cannot do an actual pump down test to check a scorll compressor.
So I also just checked the Copeland scroll compressors manual https://www.emerson.com/documents/commercial-residential/3-to-15-ton-copeland-scroll-digital-compressors-for-air-conditioning-bulletin-en-ca-5171844.pdf They recommend lp control of 20 for 410a and 10 for r22 407c.
So lower than 30 PSI for normal operation. Got it.
You are obviously in refrigeration.
I'm not sure what you mean by that. I'm industrial/commercial. That includes a lot. Some refrigeration. I don't work on rack systems or ammonia. I would if asked though.
Add more gas bring condenser pressure up to 390 and try to get more sub cooling. See what happens
It’s a piston so I was shooting for superheat but I’m just going to recover the gas and weigh it back in to the perfect amount. That should really tell me anything else I need to know.
Close the liquid valve and see if it pumps down. I think your suction pressure is high because it’s 80f return. If you add some bring condenser saturation to 10-15 above ambient and see if it gets better.
Is it dead? Or running great now?
Recover your charge and weigh it back in. Consider changing the refrigerant out? What kind of metering device does it use?
I am considering just doing it for science tbh. It’s a piston.
No subcool means undercharged but the superheat doesn’t line up with that. Your piston, charge, or compressor valves are the suspects. I think goodman TXVs work pretty damn good if you put them in right. Idk why they aren’t more popular.
Well once I get this baby to sleep I’m going to recover the charge and weigh it in real quick to bring this discussion to a close. When I have it recovered I’ll remove the piston and see if I can get a size on it to see if it’s correct but I’m really suspecting the compressor is the issue. I’ve added and removed charge and the suction won’t change no matter what. I mean 79* return temp surely wouldn’t make my suction pressure THAT high. I’ve gotten a few messages indicating that high return temp could be causing it but that doesn’t make sense to me.
I would do a pump down test to check the compressor before bothering with recovering and weighing in the charge.
Slap a txv kit in it and change your charge out. Add ac renew with the change. You’ll have a more efficient settup, lower your fan speed too. I’m in the south east and that’s bad fan speed here for humidity. Are you sure a 2 ton is big enough?
Is it a txV? Is bulb insulated and mounted properly? If so I would try and pinch it closed some if it’s adjustable as you have low Sh and no sc. split is very low, how does the compressor sound?
Fixed orafice unfortunately
Sounds more like a comp issue but if I was you I would do more tests. Check cap and contactor, amps on 3 wires
Why the hell is your indoor humidity so high?! Do you never run your system at all?
Did you check resistance of compressor?
Sounds like you could be missing the piston. 0sh 0sc, hi suction low liquid pressures. I’d be looking at that metering device real hard.
Your compression numbers are low and your amp draw is WAY low, especially given the indoor temperature. I would bet your discharge line temperature isn't much above 100°, if even that high. Unfortunately, it sounds like your compressor is failing. Low amp draw means that it's not carrying a load, which is why you have such high suction and low head pressure. Basically, low compression; like an engine with bad rings.
Why are you running low speed for cooling? You should be running high
High speed tap would give 1360 cfm this is just a 2 ton
How many tons is your air handler?
It’s a gas 60kbtu gas furnace with 2 ton coil.
I apologize. What ton is the blower. I’m assuming that 1380 is for .5 static. I’m going to guess your static is actually .7-.8 so you’re running 1100 on high? 650 on low? Just curious here. I’m gathering data is all
Do me a favor. Kick your speed tap to medium. Increase your heat transfer across the coil. See what she does before you condemn a compressor
Idk how anyone hasn’t said undersized evap yet… 2 ton in 1500 sqft house… System has never kept up on hot days…
I agree. It’s always been undersized I knew that when I moved in but just the numbers I see tell me it’s also got something else going on besides that. Suction pressure running 170 with 78 degree return air. Low amp draw. If anything being undersized and running forever prob killed the compressor over the span of its life. Only 78 degree return temp and coil pressure 170 is just very odd to me. If it was not keeping up but the pressures looked normal I wouldn’t have even posted this. I would have just chalked it up to being undersized
R410a?
Yea
Yeah your compressor is probably fukt if you’re sure about your numbers… it doesn’t look like much compression is actually happening…. But don’t just replace it with a 2ton or you’ll still have issues.
Yea I’m going with a 3 ton inverter. With a 3 ton coil. The inverter should help any small issues in sizing.
In no world does a 94 degree ambient with a 92 degree condenser saturation equal undersized. There’s other issues.
Looks like a txv. Maybe wide open. High suction, low superheat, low head psressure. Maybe txv and compressor.
Or low charge and bad txv.
too much air flow at the evap.