Air Conditioning - 4 y.o. Carrier AC on the blink...

Greetings, I have a approximately 4 year old Carrier 38QR018-060 Heat pump condensing unit and FA4BNF048 inside unit that will not cool, nor accept enough coolant (per my repair person). Last year when summer came, he recharged the system and it was fine after looking for and not finding a leak. This year, not so much. I thought I'd be able to add pics here because the story is really in what I found inside the inside unit. Quite a bit of rust, more than my 15 year unit had. Additionally carrier can't help because my serial number is all but weathered off, the complete sticker, and without it, tough luck, but we'll sell you a new one. Any ideas from anyone?system

Are you the orginal owner from day 1 on this unit?

Yes. We were the first occupants of our unit. each structure has between 6 and 12 units.

The repair person who serviced your unit is the orginal installer? If so, they may/should have the records of your serial # on the unit.

The photo needs to be put onto a photo host site like image shack or yahoo.

Thanks for the photo tip. Will do that. No the repair guy is not the original installer. I believe after talking with them throughout the day that if they do have the records, they don't want to look for them, but I don't know. I tend to believe that they were simply the lowest bidder for the developer and would rather stay as far away from me since their one year obligation warranty has expired.

Wait..the repair guy isn't the orig installer? But you know who was? They aren't liable for anything (well, I don't think they are), if you just explain the problem in a non-blaming way (go to the office, not the phone) you may get more help than you think.

I'm planning on doing just that tomorrow. At least it will get me out of here...It was 95 inside today...... Thx

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3331/3651388153_227a07d4c1.jpg?v=0http://www.flickr.com/photos/39708748@N07/sets/72157620272139300/

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3581/3652378018_08b11db9f3.jpg?v=0

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3580/3652375386_028f6b7a35.jpg?v=0

Wow..no Expert..but that looks in pretty bad shape for 4 yrs old. Mine back in VA didn't look that bad after 15 yrs..seriously! And I didn't learn anything about maintenance for at least 10 yrs after it was installed. I changed filters..and that was about it.

Maybe thats why they don't want to talk to you..I don't see a primary drain...

Before you go talk to them..let a few of the Pro's weigh in...but I think somethings not right with the original install.

Heck, after 10 yrs I found my coil had been installed backwards and w/o enough return air.

There seems to be a lot of issues with these coil in new homes.

See this link (http://www.consumeraffairs.com/homeowners/carrier.html).

Carrier has gone straight down the tubes. The system was recharged but no leak found? Where does the tech the refigerant went? There's a leak dummy. Now this year it won't accept enough? What kind of BS is that?

all it does is click when power is disconnected. what could this mean?

What is actually going on? You have no cooling? Is the outdoor unit running? What goes click, something in the outdoor unit? Power disconnected- do you mean when you shut the outdoor unit off outside? Do you have 240 volts at the outdoor unit? Are all the circuit breakers on?