HVAC heat pump, failed reversing valve and compressor

Split heat pump system with bad reversing valve & compressor.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• HVAC
• heat
• pump
• semi
• hermetic
• compressor
• reversing
• valve
• van
• west
• comfort
• air
• conditioning
• failure
• change
• out

[PutSome5tankOnIt]

Heat pumps are not my strongest area. I can remember only ONE faulty check valve at the indoor coil that was diagnosed by a guy that cleaned up after me. Not a common failure, in my experience.

Checking suction line temp by hand is dicey for the guys with field-worn mitts. I use the most sensitive part of my hand: it's the area between the index and middle fingers, at the base of the fingers. Trust me, it works.

[VanWestComfortHVAC]

@PutSome5tankOnIt What gets me is that it ran fine at start up, subcooling was on the money, temps were good.

I use the back of my hand in one shot, actually a fire fighter taught me to use the back of my hand to test for temp.

[FireConvoy88]

DUDE!

I m been there...mistakes happen. A lot of people don't understand the pressure service techs receive on a daily bases.

Like you said, all we can do is learn from our mistakes and keep trying to get better.

thx for the video

[VanWestComfortHVAC]

@FireConvoy88 I would rather post my mistakes, have others learn from them. My self esteem is not so fragile that I am unable to take some trolls calling me a hack or worse!

[crazyweasle]

I think maybe if you would have taken a simple super heat,you would have isolated the initial problem too the check valve in the first place ......I truly respect your honesty and integrety as quality service technician,keep traveling the road less traveled.

[makemorecoffee2000]

((continued)) 

always look at the small liquid line, it should always be at or above ambien temperature in the cooling mode, and it should be at or above indoor temperature in the heating mode. clogged chieck valves will make it seem like reversing valves have failed. it's happened to me once,,, if you get a complete clogged check valve, then you'll most likely see it as the compressor locks out on high pressure... and youll see a vaccu on the low side.

[makemorecoffee2000]

(continued) and you will have some cooling, the give away in this will be an exeptionally high subcooling. that is, the small line going to the indoor coil will be BELOW ambien temperature. say it's 89 oudoor temp, the small line going to the indoor coil will be maybe 80, or 60, yet you'll have a really high low suction pressure, and a low high headd and yet you'll have some cooling ((maybe a delta of 10 f)),,, in the heating mode a similar situation will ocurr,

[makemorecoffee2000]

(((continued)) of course a plugged check valve that is suppose to oppen will make the reversing valve leak from the high to the low side, if it's completely blocked it's hard to diagnose.. but if it's just partially bloked you will see a sudden pressure drop past the blocked check valve... one way you can determine if it's a bad valve or a bad check valve in the cooling mode is as follows. in the cooling mode you'll have a low head pressure, and a high suction

[makemorecoffee2000]

i think you may have replaced a good compressor my friend.... you can see the reversing valve thaw. the thing about compressors is that they either pump or they don't!!! and if they pump you'll have a HOT EXHAUST line from the compressor to the reversing valve.... and you may even have ULTRA LOW amp draw.... if you have a running compressor and and a cold or just LUKE warm exhaust pipe from the compressor then you most likely have a bad compressor.

[FireConvoy88]

So true dude

Thx for the sharing vidoes

[tstatech]

Great job, You went the extra mile on that one. I bet you grumbled all the way there when you got the call back. I hate it when I try to cover all the bases and still get bit. Keep the videos coming. I love to see the big stuff. Most of the RTUs I work on just have several herm recip or scroll compressors in them these days.

[PutSome5tankOnIt]

@VanWestComfortHVAC I agree with tapping the potential source of high temps with the back of the hand. You'd be much less susceptible to burns that register high on the pain scale. I'm usually not dealing with a fire situation on a service call. Regardless, it's better to be safe than sorry.