...until it stops.
My fiancee and I were blessed to recently buy a handsome old (circa 1918) home at the hight of the pandemic (but luckily not quite at the hight of prices). The listing said nothing of an AC unit, but we couldn't help but notice the condenser unit sitting outside when we toured the house.
Assuming the old thing was dead we lived without AC for our first summer. This spring I got curious and decided to most likely do an autopsy on this cube sitting outside. I cleaned it out and reconnected the breaker panel to find that it kicked on and started blowing cold air inside.
As the temperatures increased to the 90s we found it would run for a while but then stall out? --the inside blower continued blowing, but the outside fan and compressor stopped. I'd have to raise the temp on the thermostat to get it to kick off, wait a while, then turn it back on and it would work again... for a while, then stall again.
investigating, the compressor was cool to the touch so I don't suspect it was overheating. Condensation, but no frost was visible on the return plumbing. My limited knowledge of how things work leads me to suspect a failed or mis-wired capacitor...maybe? I see some odd placement of capacitors inside (the fan starting capacitor [7.5uf/440v] is zip-tied to the lead just under the fan, in the side panel are three capacitors: one with a bleed resistor [30uf/440v] connected to the compressor and also connected to the second capacitor [10uf/440v] which has leads to a plastic connector to nowhere. The third capacitor is not connected to anything [12.5uf/370v] but there is an orphaned wire next to it connected to nothing at all. Pictures might help, but I'm afraid I have not unlocked that level yet.)
Still doing research on this old beast as we certainly do not have room in the budget to replace anytime soon. Not expecting any of you to have any easy fixes but thought you might be interested to learn one of these old guys was still out there trying its best to take the edge off on some hot days. I was surprised it did anything at all!
The best I can read the tag: Model no BTR9360100A0, Serial no 266582A12 (am I right that this is a Trane type serial number indicating production the 12th week of 1980?) 22 factory charged 10lbs, BR CKT SEC CUR 18.6 AMPS, PSI HIGH 350, LO 150... Tyler Texas...
My fiancee and I were blessed to recently buy a handsome old (circa 1918) home at the hight of the pandemic (but luckily not quite at the hight of prices). The listing said nothing of an AC unit, but we couldn't help but notice the condenser unit sitting outside when we toured the house.
Assuming the old thing was dead we lived without AC for our first summer. This spring I got curious and decided to most likely do an autopsy on this cube sitting outside. I cleaned it out and reconnected the breaker panel to find that it kicked on and started blowing cold air inside.
As the temperatures increased to the 90s we found it would run for a while but then stall out? --the inside blower continued blowing, but the outside fan and compressor stopped. I'd have to raise the temp on the thermostat to get it to kick off, wait a while, then turn it back on and it would work again... for a while, then stall again.
investigating, the compressor was cool to the touch so I don't suspect it was overheating. Condensation, but no frost was visible on the return plumbing. My limited knowledge of how things work leads me to suspect a failed or mis-wired capacitor...maybe? I see some odd placement of capacitors inside (the fan starting capacitor [7.5uf/440v] is zip-tied to the lead just under the fan, in the side panel are three capacitors: one with a bleed resistor [30uf/440v] connected to the compressor and also connected to the second capacitor [10uf/440v] which has leads to a plastic connector to nowhere. The third capacitor is not connected to anything [12.5uf/370v] but there is an orphaned wire next to it connected to nothing at all. Pictures might help, but I'm afraid I have not unlocked that level yet.)
Still doing research on this old beast as we certainly do not have room in the budget to replace anytime soon. Not expecting any of you to have any easy fixes but thought you might be interested to learn one of these old guys was still out there trying its best to take the edge off on some hot days. I was surprised it did anything at all!
The best I can read the tag: Model no BTR9360100A0, Serial no 266582A12 (am I right that this is a Trane type serial number indicating production the 12th week of 1980?) 22 factory charged 10lbs, BR CKT SEC CUR 18.6 AMPS, PSI HIGH 350, LO 150... Tyler Texas...
source https://hvac-talk.com/vbb/threads/2240049-Circa-1980-GE-Air-Conditioner-still-going-strong?goto=newpost
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