Hello all,
New to the forum with questions about an ongoing issue with a Trane Air handler in my attic. It was installed in 2016. I believe it is a 2.5 Ton TAM model. I live in North Eastern Florida so AC is necessary and often.
The full story below, but the main question is when an air handler has a lot of air leaks due to not properly sealed doors around the air handler itself, could this make the unit run more often than it needs to and ultimately reduce the lifespan of the unit? The area this handler supplied cool air to rarely made the 78º it was set to. Could this be because of significant air leaks from the unit itseld?
I have a preventative maintenance plan with the company that installed it in 2016. They've been out every 6 months since installation. In the springtime this year, I noticed this upstairs unit wasn't cooling the way it should. Always about 4 degrees above and running all day and most of the night. I would set it to 78º and it would rarely every meet that. I mentioned this to the tech when he came for the preventative service in March. He told me that he noticed that the main console door to the air handler had been broken, pretty badly, snapped plastic shell was gone and exposed insulation. Because of where it broke the door could not be securely fastened to seal the unit. Therefore tons of air was escaped through the loose seal around the doors. I went up to see it and yeah, it was a ton of air seeping out cooling my unused attic! This air should have been going to the bedrooms below. He taped the door back on. And then two months later the same thing, wasn't cooling. The company said they'd replace the door at no charge. However, they said the (circuit?) board inside the handler was bad and they charged me $350 to replace it. This was all in July.
Yesterday, it wasn't cooling again. I went up to check it out. And it turns out there are other doors cracked on the thing, and what looks like drainage holes unplugged and cool air pouring out of the thing in various spots because of inadequate seals on the doors. The coils inside were covered in ice.
It seems to be that at some point a maintenance service guy cracked the doors, did a terrible job putting them back on, and didn't tell us it happened. So air has been leaking out of this thing for 2 years now. Now they are saying the board might be bad again. I'm just thinking that the whole thing has been mechanically stressed for so long because of these leaks that it's no wonder things are breaking.
Any of this making sense? Any thoughts? Attached are some pics.
New to the forum with questions about an ongoing issue with a Trane Air handler in my attic. It was installed in 2016. I believe it is a 2.5 Ton TAM model. I live in North Eastern Florida so AC is necessary and often.
The full story below, but the main question is when an air handler has a lot of air leaks due to not properly sealed doors around the air handler itself, could this make the unit run more often than it needs to and ultimately reduce the lifespan of the unit? The area this handler supplied cool air to rarely made the 78º it was set to. Could this be because of significant air leaks from the unit itseld?
I have a preventative maintenance plan with the company that installed it in 2016. They've been out every 6 months since installation. In the springtime this year, I noticed this upstairs unit wasn't cooling the way it should. Always about 4 degrees above and running all day and most of the night. I would set it to 78º and it would rarely every meet that. I mentioned this to the tech when he came for the preventative service in March. He told me that he noticed that the main console door to the air handler had been broken, pretty badly, snapped plastic shell was gone and exposed insulation. Because of where it broke the door could not be securely fastened to seal the unit. Therefore tons of air was escaped through the loose seal around the doors. I went up to see it and yeah, it was a ton of air seeping out cooling my unused attic! This air should have been going to the bedrooms below. He taped the door back on. And then two months later the same thing, wasn't cooling. The company said they'd replace the door at no charge. However, they said the (circuit?) board inside the handler was bad and they charged me $350 to replace it. This was all in July.
Yesterday, it wasn't cooling again. I went up to check it out. And it turns out there are other doors cracked on the thing, and what looks like drainage holes unplugged and cool air pouring out of the thing in various spots because of inadequate seals on the doors. The coils inside were covered in ice.
It seems to be that at some point a maintenance service guy cracked the doors, did a terrible job putting them back on, and didn't tell us it happened. So air has been leaking out of this thing for 2 years now. Now they are saying the board might be bad again. I'm just thinking that the whole thing has been mechanically stressed for so long because of these leaks that it's no wonder things are breaking.
Any of this making sense? Any thoughts? Attached are some pics.
source https://hvac-talk.com/vbb/threads/2243175-Trane-Air-Handler-Leaking-Air-Service-Issues?goto=newpost
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