Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - Unit not heating properly
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dididodat
02-06-07, 04:54 PM
I have a 4 ton Janitrol unit that is about 10 to 12 years old.
I had been away but upon returning home noticed problems the past couple of days when the outside temperature was in the teens to low 20's. The outside unit was running a lot and sometimes would cut off but I noticed the digital thermostat was still calling for heat and the air handler continued to run and at some point would even call for auxillary heat. The outside unit would cycle back on after a while and the same scenario would occur again over and over. The unit and air handler were almost running constantly.
Today it was 49 degrees outside so I put a thermometer in the air duct at a register nearest the air handler inside the house while the outside unit was running and recorded a reading of only 68 to 69 degrees fahrenheit. I then went outside and checked the hot gas pipe coming off the unit whle it was running and the pipe was cool to just barely warm to the touch.
I checked the coils and they were clean. The filter is new and clean.
I thought it might be a low freon problem but one other observation leads me to believe it might something else rather than freon. I noticed during the cold days and nights we have been having that the unit did not freeze up as has been my experience with other units I have had at other locations when the freon was very low during very cold weather.
I would greatly appreciate some of you experts giving me some advice regarding potential problems. Thanks
I had been away but upon returning home noticed problems the past couple of days when the outside temperature was in the teens to low 20's. The outside unit was running a lot and sometimes would cut off but I noticed the digital thermostat was still calling for heat and the air handler continued to run and at some point would even call for auxillary heat. The outside unit would cycle back on after a while and the same scenario would occur again over and over. The unit and air handler were almost running constantly.
Today it was 49 degrees outside so I put a thermometer in the air duct at a register nearest the air handler inside the house while the outside unit was running and recorded a reading of only 68 to 69 degrees fahrenheit. I then went outside and checked the hot gas pipe coming off the unit whle it was running and the pipe was cool to just barely warm to the touch.
I checked the coils and they were clean. The filter is new and clean.
I thought it might be a low freon problem but one other observation leads me to believe it might something else rather than freon. I noticed during the cold days and nights we have been having that the unit did not freeze up as has been my experience with other units I have had at other locations when the freon was very low during very cold weather.
I would greatly appreciate some of you experts giving me some advice regarding potential problems. Thanks
Ed Imeduc
02-06-07, 09:11 PM
Call a tech to check it out. If everything is ok then that big copper line should be warm to hot. Now was the compressor running?? Was the unit in defrost??? The compressor could go off on its own. A short in it . you can have a low psi switch cut out in it. Thats why I say call a tech you have so many IFS IFS here.
dididodat
02-07-07, 12:03 AM
I decided to tackle it myself and found the problem. After removing the panel I discovered the fan was coming on but the compressor was not running. I checked the voltage at the compressor with a volt/ohm meter and found I was not getting any voltage at the compressor. I discovered the wire feeding one side of the 240 volt circuit to the compressor was burnt open on the compressor side of the relay. I repaired that and found the other side of the line also needed reworking. While working on it, I also borrowed gauges and checked the freon which was fine. I fired it back up and it is now working great.