Air Conditioning - Had a repair man out, says I need a new unit? Patched together for now?

My A/C stopped working on my almost 9 year old unit (Lennox 4 1/2 ton I believe). We had warm or room temp air coming thru the vents. I shut the unit off, did some google searches, checked the breakers etc. then called a repair man. The guy comes out and finds a burnt wire (yellow) and replaces it thinking it will work, still does not work. He said it was going off on overload. He then said my compressor was going bad and I either had to replace that or get a new outdoor unit (between 3k and 8k)which he suggested because it would be about $1700.00 for the compressor and it did not make "sense" to replace it on an almost 9 year old unit. I had to leave to take my child somewhere, my neighbor came over to assist if he needed anything. So he calls me on the phone saying he got it "running" He had to shake the compressor up a bit by banging it with a hammer. I was like errrr...ok. He said it could be any day now and it's gone to to start thinking of what we want to do.
The AC tech was somewhat new to the business (the actual company is locally owned and has been around a long time) I asked the owner to call me today. I didn't get any definitive answers from him either after the conversation today. He also wants to wait until my husband can be here to come and give me a more accurate estimate of the price of the project so we BOTH can know the cost etc. ??? Last time I checked I CAN sign the checkbook without my husband here and I am capable of explaining it to him. (eyes roll)

Ok, so my questions.

1.)Could it last a while? Or could it last a long time? Would the wire have fixed it? I mean could he wire have burnt up and the compressor just needed time to "know" it was fixed or it needed to be reset or something?

2.) If the compressor is going bad, does it go bad over a period of time or is it a sudden thing?

3.) Should I just replace the unit? Or the Compressor? I don't want to put $1700.00 into a unit that will need replaced shorty after. If the $1700.00 would fit it for 6-7 years or longer I'd be ok with that I think.

Some insight would be great. I kind of feel like I am sitting here waiting for it to fail.

I don't know the location of the burned wire (was it at the compressor terminal?). Also, we don't know if other components were tested or replaced (such as the run capacitor or hard-start). Without this information, I'm just speculating.

It may be best to get another opinion if you are uncomfortable with your current technician.

In general, I would not put a new compressor in a 9 year old condensing unit. Although it's done all the time, it could cause a lot of hard feelings toward the technician. Suppose the old condenser coil starts leaking in a year or so? You will be back to the decision of replacing the entire condenser and the money spent for that new compressor could have been wasted. It's a gamble.

If I were at your residence, I would check the capacitor(s), hard start components, compressor amps, and compressor connections. Burned off wires can be repaired with special kits just for this purpose. Such a repair may fail soon or last for years.

Sometimes an older compressor just needs a hard start kit to make it run reliably. Again, I'm not there so I don't know the exact problem.

Good luck.

I think that was all tested. He had these sort of can looking devices and said that it was not this and that and something about if it were this one thing you'd ghook it up and it'd sort of piggy back the compressor and kick it in. He said he got the compressor to "reset" and now it works. (hammer involved) Is the Hammer thing normal???

I think I will replace the unit when it dies again. I was wondering if it could have just been the wire and it needed reset or something and it would maybe be OK for a while???

The wire was going into the compressor I believe and led to a boxed area on the unit. It looked burnt at the end on the metal part. He had a difficult time getting it into the compressor area because the protective area around the comoressor is like really tall and he ended up standing ON the compressor to get inside the actual unit to hook it up.

If would be hard to predict how long it will last. Could be days, weeks, months or even years. I realize this is of little help.

If the terminal on the compressor burned off and the repair kit I mentioned was used AND the compressor now starts reliably each and every time (this is important), then the repair has a chance of lasting for some time.

A hammer (I prefer a rubber mallet) can be used to coax a compressor into running. It's certainly not my first choice, but can be used when all other methods have been exhausted.

You are sitting there witing for it to fail, what I hear is burnt wire on compressor replaced when that happens the compressor overheats and takes time to reset it's thermal overload that is as it should be dude beating it with a hammer had nothing to do with it restarting it was time and temperature so how long is it going to last anyone who gives you an answer to that question is blowing smoke but if he replaced a burnt wire and the terminal was intact and he used the right termination (I know that is alot of if's) then you should have plenty time to make a decision I wouldn't feel any pressure to do anything this year especially now wait till you start seeing commercials about free furnaces and such then call for 3 bids from reputable companies you will get a better price when they are hungry

It was not a rubber mallet. LOL.

Well the wire was burnt on the end, like the metal piece etc. Totally burnt. He kept adding these devices that like looked like oil cans (sorry I do not know the terms) onto the thing and trying it again and again with this screwdriver looking device and pushing it onto a button or something on the unit. It would not start, it wanted to star and tried a little then shut off. He knocked it around a bit made some phonecalls, smoked and then went in and turned it on and it worked???? It has been working very well since then????

Hi. The oil can things are called capacitors. My guess is he tried one first, and that didn't get things going.

Then he took a stab that the compressor must be seized. Thus the hammer.

Lastly he found the bunt terminal and or wire and made that repair, which was the actual problem. The compressor isn't brand new anymore. But a number of things could have caused the excessive amp draw which made it burn up. A start assist kit might be in order, or a dirty pitted contactor. Hard to guess from here.

Id say let it run. If it goes out call some one else. Did he just amp the unit out??? Did he OHM the compressor out?? If he had whats called a ANNIE with him it would have started the compressor and said if its good or bad. You say CANS like said Ill bet he fixed the wire and put a new cap in that unit is all.:rolleyes:

Hi. The oil can things are called capacitors. My guess is he tried one first, and that didn't get things going.

Then he took a stab that the compressor must be seized. Thus the hammer.

Lastly he found the bunt terminal and or wire and made that repair, which was the actual problem. The compressor isn't brand new anymore. But a number of things could have caused the excessive amp draw which made it burn up. A start assist kit might be in order, or a dirty pitted contactor. Hard to guess from here.


I remember the word capacitor. I also remember him saying that the one thing kind of gave the compressor a boost to get it going.
He found the burnt wire first and repaired it. He had a difficult time getting the wire connested. I am wondering if he finally got it where it was supposed to go. The material surrounding the comoresson is very tall. It was hard for him to reach down in there.




Id say let it run. If it goes out call some one else. Did he just amp the unit out??? Did he OHM the compressor out?? If he had whats called a ANNIE with him it would have started the compressor and said if its good or bad. You say CANS like said Ill bet he fixed the wire and put a new cap in that unit is all.

I don't know what an ANNIE is or if he had one. ??? SOrry!

then call for 3 bids from reputable companies you will get a better price when they are hungry

I definately plan to get three quotes. :)