Carrier FC4BNF036 Air Handler (3 ton) sick

kaineb · 07-28-2007, 12:33 AM

Hello all, No0b With a quick question. Appreciate any help you are willing to give! So, Beginning of hot season it would take quite a while but the unit would eventually cool the house down from 80 during the day to 73 at night. 90 - 95 degree outside temp. All of a sudden one night it stopped cooling so well. I noticed that the cooler it is out the better the unit feels. Some times it feels mildly cool and other times ambient. I took apart the air handler to do a cleaning but everything was spotless. There are no strange noises, the unit had worked ok, etc. I have a 1500 sqft house, 1 zone, 3 ton unit. I noticed that the coil was rusted on the sides. Unit is 8 years old. I don't have the money for a pro right now to replace large items. Any suggestions? FYI the outside unit is 1 year old and clean. Everything kicks on when it should as well.

Farmer · 07-28-2007, 01:01 AM

If you can't afford a serviceman and don't have gauges and thermometers to get your superheat and subcooling and you don't have a cylinder of refrigerant, it may be a long hot summer for you.

At one year old, your condenser should still be in warranty.

kaineb · 07-28-2007, 10:11 AM

well the unit in question is actually the coil in the air handler in the attic, about 8 years old. The new unit is the one that is outside. Going to have a local guy come see if it is low in freon. We will see. From the looks of it since it is all rusty i suppose it needs to be replaced at some time.

But thank you for the comments. What is superheat?

Malcolm · 07-28-2007, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kaineb

well the unit in question is actually the coil in the air handler in the attic, about 8 years old. The new unit is the one that is outside. Going to have a local guy come see if it is low in freon. We will see. From the looks of it since it is all rusty i suppose it needs to be replaced at some time.

But thank you for the comments. What is superheat?

The units work as one. If your condensing unit was installed during the winter, it would have been hard to charge correctly. Moreover, there could be a leak on one of the outside connections. If it is still under warranty for the condenser, I would call the company that installed it to look at it. Don't mention anything about the coil as you do not know if it is leaking.