AC Condenser Replacement.

[OldCarGuy]

Three weeks ago my 15 year-old R22 house AC condenser compressor died. Having insight, ten years ago I snagged a new Carrier 4-ton replacement at a bargain price $300.00. It's a nitrogen charged unit designed to run on R22 that's 3-phase. Best of all, refrigerant isn't an issue—I have a 200-pound stash of R22 ready to go. Since running 3-phase power from my garage machine shop wasn't practical. I picked up a Phase Perfect 3-phase converter.

Old unit


New unit..

New unit has 40% more fin surface area. Plus it has copper condenser tubes for better efficiency..
e
We begin by recovering the R-22 refrigerant. Please note, this project requires a Section 608 certification. Once the refrigerant is removed, the old condenser is disconnected and the new unit set into its' place. Rather than replace the copper line set, I flushed the lines using nitrogen with Matercool solvent. Note: need to disconnect lines to the evaporator coil.

Control board has an LED that indicated if the phase is correct, without putting power to the compressor.

Phase Perfect 3-Phase Converter with optional outside weather hood. I have a larger rain hood ordered for more protection..

Installing a new dryer to the pressure side. Along with a acid filter dryer to the suction side. In case anything foreign is left behind. Pulled a vacuum with my vintage Robinair pump. Followed by weighing in a fresh batch of Freon.




I have 20 pounds R22 left in this bottle. Along with three full 50 pounders and a full 30 pound bottle with red dye.


My stash also includes of three 30 pounders of R12 for my antique cars..


Plus Two 30 pounders of R134A and a dozen 12 ounce cans for my modern cars.

 

[Jeepster04]

How many years ago did you stash away the refrigerant?

I have 2 30lb jugs of R134a and I'm starting to think it wont be enough. Unfortunately that stuff has skyrocketed in price.

 

[fitter30]

Just remember with a two pole contactor one leg will be hot all the time power is on. Also good time to check blower and evap coil for cleanliness. If coil as a expansion valve check the bulb for tightness on the line and insulate it.

 

[OldCarGuy]

How many years ago did you stash away the refrigerant?

I have 2 30lb jugs of R134a and I'm starting to think it wont be enough. Unfortunately that stuff has skyrocketed in price.

I was quick to see how regulations was going to force major increases in Freon in 1980. And purchased both R12 and R22 in large quantities. At a cost of $.40 per pound. Since R134a was being phase out I have stocked up on it and have invested $2.00 a pound. Like money in the bank...

 

[atikovi]

I was quick to see how regulations was going to force major increases in Freon in 1980. And purchased both R12 and R22 in large quantities. At a cost of $.40 per pound. Since R134a was being phase out I have stocked up on it and have invested $2.00 a pound. Like money in the bank...

Except that low cost alternatives come out to meet demand.

 

[PoorUB]

I was quick to see how regulations was going to force major increases in Freon in 1980. And purchased both R12 and R22 in large quantities. At a cost of $.40 per pound. Since R134a was being phase out I have stocked up on it and have invested $2.00 a pound. Like money in the bank...

Hang on long enough and the R12 should become worthless as the demand for it dries up.

I worked for a HVAC wholesaler and we had a couple jugs of R12 that were opened. We sold R12 buy the pound. Weight the jug when it left and weigh in when it came back and charge the customer the difference. We charged $30 a pound which is a high price when you figure you could buy the small cans for under $1 about the time the EPA restricted it. But I worked for that company for ten years and we might have sold 10-15 pounds in that time. Yeah, we were getting rich off of it!

R22 is headed that direction too. If I had a bunch of R22 on hand I probably would have sold it roughly 5 years ago. It has gone own in price and demand since. The company I used to work for would order maybe 1,000 jugs at a time, right before COVID. They would sell it off in a few weeks at close to $1,000 a jug. Today they stock maybe 50 - 100 drums of it and it has dropped in price to less than half of the high price.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Just remember with a two pole contactor one leg will be hot all the time power is on. Also good time to check blower and evap coil for cleanliness. If coil as a expansion valve check the bulb for tightness on the line and insulate it.

It's a 3phase power and has two contact relay, leaving a hot wire. Some of the single phase units that I've worked had double contacts and some single.. I'm used to working on 480 volt three phase industrial equipment that always has triple contact relays..

Everything is tight and lines are well insulated. It's a brand new condenser unit, as seen in pictures.. And I did a thorough job cleaning the furnace evaporator coils...

 

[fitter30]

It's a 3phase power and has two contact relay, leaving a hot wire. Some of the single phase units that I've worked had double contacts and some single.. I'm used to working on 480 volt three phase industrial equipment that always has triple contact relays..

Everything is tight and lines are well insulated. It's a brand new condenser unit, as seen in pictures.. And I did a thorough job cleaning the furnace evaporator coils...

Retired 14 years probably 10 years before that two pole contactors were normal for 480 vac 3 phase, 240 and 208. Before i retired went to service call 480/3. Customer had a bad condenser fan motor phase two pole contactor told me i couldn't shut the unit down under any circumstance I left. Three hours after got a call from another serviceman with the same company as me. He got there when the ambulance was leaving. Serviceman from another company was electrocuted dead. Hope the plant manager was fired. Motor was change with the power off.

 

[OldCarGuy]

High voltage leaves no room for error. Treat every circuit as live until proven dead.

 

[OldCarGuy]

Hang on long enough and the R12 should become worthless as the demand for it dries up.

I worked for a HVAC wholesaler and we had a couple jugs of R12 that were opened. We sold R12 buy the pound. Weight the jug when it left and weigh in when it came back and charge the customer the difference. We charged $30 a pound which is a high price when you figure you could buy the small cans for under $1 about the time the EPA restricted it. But I worked for that company for ten years and we might have sold 10-15 pounds in that time. Yeah, we were getting rich off of it!

R22 is headed that direction too. If I had a bunch of R22 on hand I probably would have sold it roughly 5 years ago. It has gone own in price and demand since. The company I used to work for would order maybe 1,000 jugs at a time, right before COVID. They would sell it off in a few weeks at close to $1,000 a jug. Today they stock maybe 50 - 100 drums of it and it has dropped in price to less than half of the high price.

I'm sure you're right about refrigerant pricing dropping. As far as R12, I own six old cars that still use it. And five systems using R22.. Furthermore I only have $.40 per pound invested in both R12 and R22.

 

[Aileron]

Retired 14 years probably 10 years before that two pole contactors were normal for 480 vac 3 phase, 240 and 208. Before i retired went to service call 480/3. Customer had a bad condenser fan motor phase two pole contactor told me i couldn't shut the unit down under any circumstance I left. Three hours after got a call from another serviceman with the same company as me. He got there when the ambulance was leaving. Serviceman from another company was electrocuted dead. Hope the plant manager was fired. Motor was change with the power off.

I was working on a air cooled chiller one 98* afternoon , I wasn't feeling good and customers associate thought it would be a good idea to come outside and smoke in the chiller area near me , keep telling me how the building was warm then turn around and go call in becuase it wasnt getting fixed fast enough. One stage had rubbed through the tube sheet on the condensor, so i was cutting it away and repairing the leak. I was also cleaning the other stage at the same time, and trying to cycle it best I could in between everything to keep the chiller barrel temp down. Got a call from property mangement that they were complaining it wasn't going fast enough and building was warm. Well i told them its hotter outside but thats not stopping them from coming in the gated off chiller area i was trying to work in with their cigs.
Anyway another building went down, told me i need to look at the unit but would not be able to shut it down during business hours for two weeks, becuase of the outdoor temps. I said "WTF, it's down now isn't it? They where going to have maintenance go wash the condensor coils with the unit live, to see if it helps.
Told them , don't mess with it,. I will get it early in morning before the buidling opens. What I found was one of the 3 phase condensor motors, broke a blade and spun in its craddle , pulling one hot wire apart and stripping back the insulation also, BUT not shorting. So it was a live bare 480 v wire hanging from the wiring harness going to the fans anytime that dead fan was called for.. There were 6 cond. fans on this unit, I went ballistic as everything from the day before built up like a time bomb. Told them "you almost instructed your maintenace to go hit this unit with a water hose, this ******** is going to get someone killed." They think becuase it can run in the rain , its water tight. I said to a point, when you clean your forcing water to places rain may never see. That ended their practice of washing them live, in fact , they were not allowed to wash them anymore at all. Their maintence techs where good poeple but just general property mangement guys ,not hvac techs.

 

[bamawildcat]

Please leave that R12 to me in your will. I'm down to about 4 lbs in my 30 lb container.

 

[caleb383]

Three weeks ago my 15 year-old R22 house AC condenser compressor died. Having insight, ten years ago I snagged a new Carrier 4-ton replacement at a bargain price $300.00. It's a nitrogen charged unit designed to run on R22 that's 3-phase. Best of all, refrigerant isn't an issue—I have a 200-pound stash of R22 ready to go. Since running 3-phase power from my garage machine shop wasn't practical. I picked up a Phase Perfect 3-phase converter.

Old unit


New unit..

New unit has 40% more fin surface area. Plus it has copper condenser tubes for better efficiency..
e
We begin by recovering the R-22 refrigerant. Please note, this project requires a Section 608 certification. Once the refrigerant is removed, the old condenser is disconnected and the new unit set into its' place. Rather than replace the copper line set, I flushed the lines using nitrogen with Matercool solvent. Note: need to disconnect lines to the evaporator coil.

Control board has an LED that indicated if the phase is correct, without putting power to the compressor.

Phase Perfect 3-Phase Converter with optional outside weather hood. I have a larger rain hood ordered for more protection..

Installing a new dryer to the pressure side. Along with a acid filter dryer to the suction side. In case anything foreign is left behind. Pulled a vacuum with my vintage Robinair pump. Followed by weighing in a fresh batch of Freon.




I have 20 pounds R22 left in this bottle. Along with three full 50 pounders and a full 30 pound bottle with red dye.


My stash also includes of three 30 pounders of R12 for my antique cars..


Plus Two 30 pounders of R134A and a dozen 12 ounce cans for my modern cars.

Finding an R22 unit at that price is a massive score, especially since you already have the refrigerant stocked up. Using a phase converter to get around the 3-phase power requirement for a home setup is a clever workaround too.