York E2FH HP Code 4 / tripping circuit breaker

[PSUWayne]

Hi guys,

I've had issues in the past with my York E2FH036S06 HP (split system, electric coil/handler in basement). It's now 10 years old, originally installed new when I built the house and about 5 years ago a service call for a problem resulted in the tech installing some sort of "hard-start kit", which I never really understood, but whatever. Last night (a nice, frigid 15 degree night, no less) - I got a code 4 flashing on the stat. I shut the unit off at the stat for a few seconds and restarted it. A few minutes later, the code cleared, but it didn't last long. About 20 minutes later the code was back. I looked up the code in my manual ("Discharge temperature did not reach approx. 90-degrees within 1 hour of compressor operation"). Ok, this is meaningless to me. The outside HP was not running, but the emergency heat and blower were working fine. I pulled the panel off the outside unit and had a quick look around for anything obvious, but saw nothing. The same code 4 was flashing on the circuit board's LED. I checked the outside electric box and saw nothing obvious, either (although it was dark and very cold, so I plan to do a more thorough inspection tomorrow). Finally, I went to the house's main circuit breaker box and found that the 240V breaker marked A/C was tripped. I thought I had it licked, but when I reset it, it immediately tripped again. So my main question is - what is the most likely culprit to be shorting out, causing the main breaker to trip? How can I find out if I can't get power to flow to the unit because the breaker is tripped? Also, just out of curiosity, if the breaker to the HP is tripped, what is powering the flashing LED on the HP's circuit board - a separate power source linked to the stat, perhaps?

I'm pretty handy, so if I can avoid calling out a tech by tracking down the problem myself, with your help, that would be fantastic! Thanks so much!

Wayne

[dun11]

The most commen cuase for the breaker to trip immediately is a grounded compressor. A quick way to make sure its not the elec circuit would be to remove the pull out from the disconnect and see if the breaker trips. If it doesn't, check the wiring in the disconnect and to the unit for an obvious short. If all looks good its time to break out the meter. But sad to say, especially with the "hard start" remark it will most likely be a bad compressor.

[PSUWayne]

Thanks dun11. That certainly makes good sense and is easy enough to try. At least I can quickly narrow it down.

Out of curiosity (assuming you work in the industry), if it is a bad compressor, do you know ball-park what it might cost to replace the compressor (assuming it's possible without a complete system upgrade)?

Thanks again!

[dun11]

You can replace just the compressor, I would replace/install a filter drier as well plus new refrigerant. The $ would depend largely on the size of the system ie: how much refrigerant, how large is the compressor. Its not cost effective to replace a compressor in a 10yr old unit IMHO. You could be looking at $1100 - $1500 ballpark.

[PSUWayne]

That's what I was afraid of. I know typical life-expectancies are 10-15 years, so I didn't want to dump a grand or two into repairs and parts and gamble on an extra year or two of service. If it were more like a few hundred bucks or I knew for sure the overall system would last 5 or more years, that would be a different story, but for the ballpark you gave, it would be better to bite the bullet and start with a new unit. Fingers crossed that it's just a shorted wire for now! I wasn't counting on stimulating the economy to the tune of many thousands for a new HVAC system at this point!

Thanks again for the help.

[dun11]

No problem, where in NE PA are you, what county ?

[PSUWayne]

Washington Township in Northampton county. About 10 miles south of Stroudsburg.

[PSUWayne]

So I confirmed on Friday that it is indeed the compressor that's shorting out by disconnecting the red wire powering the compressoer and resetting the breaker. The breaker did not trip and the fan kicked on in the condenser unit.

So I called and set up an appointment with Sears to get a quote on a Carrier unit. Don't know if you know much about pricing, but for the top-of-the-line 3-ton Carrier Infinity 19, Var. Spd. Air handler, Infinity controller/stat, condensate pump, new lines (switching to R-410A refrigerant) and all the other bits to hook it up - basically everything except new duct work + installation and removal of the old system, they quoted me a price of roughly $12,000, minus $1000 cool cash rebate from carrier, so about $11,000 net. Any thoughts on that price?

[dun11]

I am not a Carrier dealer, however that is a good piece of equipment. 19 SEER is a little over kill IMHO for the area you are in. I would get more quotes from qualified contractors, the installation is more important then the equipment, focus on finding a good contractor, make sure they do a load calc.