AC Service Question

[pyrobow]

Less than a year and a half ago My church had 2 Trane AC units installed. 1 of the 2 started tripping the breaker so we called the installing company out.
They say the compressor is shorting out. Compressor is under warranty but the labor to service is not. They quoted $975.00 for labor. It seems a bit high to me. I do understand that they must capture the freon before replacing the compressor. Is that quote in line.

[bowhntrmatt]

Pretty normal in my opinion.

A bigger question is why did the compressor fail?

Did they have an answer/solution or are they expecting to be making $900 every two years? Compressors rarely fail for no reason.

[JEG8233]

Less than a year and a half ago My church had 2 Trane AC units installed. 1 of the 2 started tripping the breaker so we called the installing company out.
They say the compressor is shorting out. Compressor is under warranty but the labor to service is not. They quoted $975.00 for labor. It seems a bit high to me. I do understand that they must capture the freon before replacing the compressor. Is that quote in line.

The quotes not out of line for labor only. Compressors just don't die they are murdered. Hopefully they find/fix what caused the issue.

[Rat]

I agree, if they are split systems the number one cause of failure is due to a poor vacuum during the installation. The number two cause of failure is maintenance (dirty condenser coils cause coking, dirty filter/evap coils cause floodback); both are directly related to low airflow.

Repair cost seems to be about right, but the underlying cause needs to be corrected.

A reputable company will be able to either field test the oil (with a checkmate sample tester or sending it off) for acid and/or moisture/paraffin; or, determine if the maintenance interval needs to be corrected.

[airehead]

Compressor will fail if poor instal changing from R-22 to R-410a flushing the line set is very important as well as evacuation of the system
I would fuss at the installer about not taking care of it only after 18 months


Ron

[Uncle Saggy]

The $975 is in line as far as cost goes, as it most likely also includes refrigerant, contractor and drier.

I'm going with what Rat said about compressor failures.

Question. Who performs the routine maintenance on the units? I ask because it seems that a lot of church's seem to have a member that knows a bit about AC and can do the maintenance himself to save the church some money......

[enewman]

I agree compressors just don't fail. Once in a while yes. The biggest reason for a compresser to fail is bad install. Most time it's air flow duct not properly sized. Second is not being maintained. I doubt that the unit has gone that long with out the filter being changed.

[pyrobow]

Uncle Saggy, the Church is fairly small and we have no one with any AC experience. I am the main handy man. All I knew this time was call for service. I can usually trouble shoot.

[Rat]

Are you in Bruceville-Eddy? If so I can come up one weekend and train ya on what to do for a PM on your systems; It's pretty easy stuff if you're handy at all.

I work cheap, food and beer mostly! Then we can maybe fling some arras afterward.

It's up to you. I'll PM you my number if you wanna get together. Jus' let me know brutha.

[pyrobow]

I might take you up on it. But it will have to be later. I am working in Big Lake right now. So my weekends are very busy.

[Rat]

Roger that, just send me a PM when you get some time.