Carrier 38YRA excessive condensation at the outside unit

[AzHeatPump]

Greetings all,

I have a 4 year old Carrier 38YRA heat pump that seems to produce excessive condensation at the outside unit at the tube between the Accumulator and the Compressor. While condensation occuring when a supercooled tube comes into contact with cooler air with any moisture content (10 - 30% humidity normally around here, more when it rains), this unit produces a lot of water.

It flows through the bottom of the cabinet and floods the pad underneath. It overflows the pad and soaks the ground between the pad and the foundation. I tried an aluminum drip pan underneath the cabinet but it is overwhelmed by the volume of condensation.

Can or should the tubing between Accumulator and Compressor be wrapped in enough layers of insulating tape to prevent contact with the ambient air ?

Would this adversely affect the heating or cooling effectiveness ?

Is this a DIY project, with power off of course, or should I call in the professionals ?

There are also two coolant tubes running between the outside unit and the side of the house... should these lines also be thermally wrapped ?

Thanks for your help,
Paul[/FONT]

[mattison]

The only one that needs insulated is the fatter of the 2 going from just outside the unit all the way to the airhandler inside the house. In heat pump mode the outside unit turns into the evaporator and when it's running it will pick up any humidity in the air and then in turn it will condense into water droplets. It is possible that your system is not properly charged or the fan is not running at speed and these things need checked by a pro.

[AzHeatPump]

Thank you for your response.

Do you suggest using the insulated tape type of insulation or the split foam rubber tubing as the best method ?

Also, the greatest amount of condensation appears to occur at the tube inside the cabinet between the accumulator and compressor. I wasn't clear as to that tube should be left un-insulated.

The operating pressures had been checked a month earlier and brought up to spec. That tech did not seem to thing that the tube inside the cabinet needed to be insulated, but given the high rate of condensation, I wondered if he might be mistaken.

Thanks,
Paul

[Ed Imeduc]

Just let any lines there inside the condenser alone . Yes the heat pump will make a lot of water in teh winter time. Like Matt said the big copper line from the out door unit to the inside unit should be covered . Best to use what is called armaflex thick foam like cover for it.


ED ;)