The Sounds of Our Rheem Condenser Unit

Our condenser has been replaced once already because of a horribly loud noise that occasionally happened on start-up...usually at night or early in the morning. The new unit is started doing the same thing. In 8/2011, Rheem indicated that the TXV in the inside blower unit should be replaced to correct the problem. The old one apparently allowed liquid to collect in the condenser unit, causing the "difficult" startup, especially when the unit had been off for several hours. The problem went away for one month (after the TXV replacement), but the problem came back again on 9/15/2011. Very frustrating.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• air
• conditioner
• condenser
• unit
• Rheem
• noise
• start-up
• noisy
• problem
• TXV
• recurred

[videoplasm]

Update 9/15/2011: Almost exactly one month after the TXV was replaced, the problem started again, and is consistently happening each morning and evening (after the unit has been off for awhile). And we had such high hopes...

[videoplasm]

See update above. It appears to have been fixed by replacing a faulty TXV in the indoor blower unit. This is not a heat pump system. The crankcase heater was one of the first things checked, and appears to have been functioning correctly.

[amysel100]

check the compressor

[NsmB1PrO]

I just dont know, why I gave a like on this video. :D

[84randomdude]

@videoplasm Ahh OK. I knew it had to be liquid in that compressor. Liquid is usually the only thing that would make a scroll compressor sound like that on start up. Thanks for the update. 

[Hv1245]

@84ramdomdude if it's a heat pump it guid just be a RE problem,

[84randomdude]

The noise seems to quiet down once the fan gets up to speed. It could be the compressor working against the head pressure, since the fan isn't running, but it wouldn't have been running anywhere near long enough to build hear pressure.

On the other hand, the compressor could be full of liquid on start up. This can be solved by adding a crankcase heater to the compressor.

[troubleshooter321]

i am not a ac person but this could very well be a open start or run cap across the compressor. This was a feb. post but your bill should go down significantly once this

problem is fixed.