Warm Rheem

[Stormin Mormon]

Got a call from fellow, whose central AC isn't keeping the house cool.

Rheem system, probably 20 years old. Two ton capacity. I didn't see any filter dryer along the line. Indoor coil might be captube, or orifice. I did have one of the covers off, but didn't see anything that looked like an orifice.

Didn't write down the pressures, but they were running maybe 65 and 250. Suction line room temp.

I cranked in a couple pounds of juice, and the temp of the suction line didn't change. Suction pressure went up, a bit, though.

Next day, not much more cooling. Went back and recovered the charge, and weigh it in. Line set about 50 feet, and still not cooling. The liquid line off the condensor is room temp. Outdoor temp about 85F. The chart he had that came with the unit says to charge to 243# on the liquid side, and it was close to that with a correct charge weight.

Anyhow, the distributer tubes from the orifice (or the captubes, if it's a captube coil) remain warm, and the house remains warm.

So, what's the diagnosis? And what's the treatment?

[Greg O]

What was the subcooling? Superheat? Return air temp? OA temp? Txv? Call someone that knows what they are doing? Greg

[G Henslee]

Quit entertaining the men folk in your 'ward', twinkletoes. And use Prep H.

-- Learn The Truth About The Mormon Cult

[TURTLE]

this is Turtle.

Stormy you just did not give enough info to try to give a good guess at it.

1] Did you use fresh freon ?

2] What was the return and discharge temp of air inside ?

3] What was the pressure when you come back the next day ?

4] You did not say what type system it was , heat pump, gas heat regular cool, or chill water system ?

5] After you said you weighted in a the correct charge you did not give the suction pressure or say if the suction line was cool. What was the pressure after you weighted it in ?

6] You did not give the temperature of inside the house during all this , What was it ?

Now with this i could maybe give a guess.

Now Stormy , here is what you want me to say. It's a stopped up cap tube drier which Rheem used 20+ years ago.

TURTLE

[Stormin Mormon]

this is Turtle.

Stormy you just did not give enough info to try to give a good guess at it.

1] Did you use fresh freon ? CY: No.

2] What was the return and discharge temp of air inside ? CY: Didn't measure. The suction line at the evaporator was warm, and also the distributer tubes were warm.

3] What was the pressure when you come back the next day ? CY: Shoulda took notes.

4] You did not say what type system it was , heat pump, gas heat regular cool, or chill water system ? CY: Sorry. Gas heat, fan forced hot air. With the Rheem split system for cooling only.

5] After you said you weighted in a the correct charge you did not give the suction pressure or say if the suction line was cool. What was the pressure after you weighted it in ? CY: Actually, much the same after weighing in a charge. Wish I'd wrote things down. I remember the suction pressure looked reasonable -- when I over charged it the first time, the pressure went up from 60 something to 80 something PSI on the suction side. The suction line at the condensing unit has never been cold since I got there.

6] You did not give the temperature of inside the house during all this , What was it ? CY: Forgot to check. Sorry.

Now with this i could maybe give a guess.

Now Stormy , here is what you want me to say. It's a stopped up cap tube drier which Rheem used 20+ years ago. CY: Without a filter drier in the liquid line, I was thinking some kind of restriction in the coil. The distributer tubes (or cap tubes, not sure if it's a captube or an orifice coil) were warm all through this. So, it seems to be a problem of some kind in the evaporator. Seems odd that the pressures would be OK at the condensing unit. However, it's possible that one or two distributer tubes are clogged, and the other two are flooding. Makes me wonder if it would cool on a massive under charge? At this point, the plan of action is to see if he wants to go the expense of changing the evaporator. Anyhow, I do thank you for your advice and counsell. Sure is rough to get started in the business without some one to share ideas, and talk about things.

TURTLE

[TURTLE]

yes stormy rheem did put a filter drier inside the evaperator coil just before the cap tubes split off or out of. the Cap tubeholder is a liquid line filter drier and can plug up just like a liquid line filter drier out at the condenser unit. And Yes you can over flood the evaperator coil with just 2 of the 4 tubes open and you will see this with the high head pressure your getting. Here is the first place to look here.

TURTLE