Quote:
Originally Posted by haigha
Recharged the AC with AC Pro High Mileage (more like long-lived!)....
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This has nothing to do with my X5 (thankfully), but does relate to
haigha's post, above.
It's been a bad mid-week 'til now (Wed-Sun), after our home HVAC began freezing up, and quit working. We spent several hot days & nights, with me cleaning the outside coils, changing the three filters, and cleaning the condensate line. Just when I thought it was working again (Friday morning, with condensate flowing again), the air coming from the vents was barely cool, and the lines and interior coils became even more heavily iced-up. So, we called a HVAC company.
He came after noon on Saturday, and though his company was highly recommended (to my wife), he seemed lost, had no leak detection gear (heck, I used to have leak sniffers for both propane and refrigerants in my gear, 10 years ago), and would go outside to talk to his boss on his phone, three times (45 minutes), while leaving us hanging. After I had helped him with the breakers, T-state, and even taking the outside unit apart so I could defrost it, he eventually found something that made him (and his boss, on the phone) happy. The inside coils had a thick coating of the same jelly-like scum that I had cleared from the condensate line.
NOTE: I had regularly inspected and vacuum-cleaned the topside of the inside coils (shaped like two radiators joined together at the top, in an A-shape), because we have had 4 cats and as many as 4 dogs in the house, to make sure no fur got past the filters and onto the outside of the coils. I had only (gently) vacuumed the underside without looking at it or touching the surface with my hands, since I can't easily bend or fit underneath. So, the scum must've built up slowly over the years.
As I said, I hadn't seen it, so I never suspected that as the problem. But when he did see it, he immediately said that he would have to remove the coil unit, and the blower motor, to be able to clean it...for $2200! Talk about an upselling scheme (which I had a feeling is what his manager was telling him to do, from the start).
We told him we'd think it over, and I told the wife that we could clean it ourselves, in situ. We called a friend/ex-inlaw/ex-HVAC serviceman, and I told him my plan (coil-cleaner spray, hot water spray, low-pressure compressed air, and overnight drying period). he said it might just work.
Next, off to Home Depot, late afternoon. I compiled a list of what we needed for the cleaning, plus extra filters, and landscaping timbers and treated plywood (for two other projects, since we hardly ever go past HD anymore), then went outside to clean the GMC to haul the timbers and plywood (my bigger 2500 HD pickup has a full bed loaded wth tools and camping gear). After washing it, I recharged the A/C, a yearly, first of summer chore that I've been doing for a decade or more), so we could at least be cool after almost three days of no heat relief. I used my A/C Quick-Fix kit.
Now, for the conclusion. After getting home (leaving the wood in the bed of the truck), I started the clean-up of the coils, first using a wet/dry vac, then a soft sponge, then spraying both sides of each bank with Simple Green A/C Coil Cleaner (non-corrosive), with scum, cleaner, water, etc, falling into a plastic box I put under it.. After letting it soak in for an hour, I sprayed hot (actually not so hot) water on the coil unit, let that soak in for awhile, and used the low-pressure compressed air to blow thru, then vacuumed from the inside, again. After three repeat cycles, I let my much younger and smaller wife try it for two mre wash-rinse-repeat cycles, before I sealed the unit up, with a box fan blowing thru the filter grille to dry it out, overnight. I needed help this morning, as both legs' sciatica was killing me, so the wife did a final rinse and dry, before we started it up at 9 am.
We have cold air, no freezing coils, and perhaps saved over $2k. Like I said, I ain't got time for this (sort of) crap, (no more).