Cwik
19-07-2010, 04:23 AM
So I had a call today (my day off) from the cafe my wife works at. They were complaining that their AC was not keeping up, normally I won't go out moonlighting, but their strapped for cash and I needed breakfast.
The first thing I noticed when I walked up to the condenser was that it was on the inside corner of 2 brick walls, one 40' and one 15' there was a garbage can leaning against the side of the unit and a third wall 15' away made for no airflow in that area whatsoever. the unit was throwing off plenty of heat, its stuffy little corner was probably 30 degrees F warmer then the area in the parking lot nearby. Also the condenser fins where covered with dirt so I hosed it off. The liquid line was hot, about as hot as a cup of coffee, and the suction was somewhat cool.
I took a walk inside, I had a 13 degree delta T, the air filter was very dirty, and the evap. coil was somewhat dusty and had a little mold growing on it. The unit was suspended above a drop ceiling and rather then having the return hooked up to the return vent it was just drawing air from the area above the drop ceiling. (the return vent was just left open) I'm going back to replace the air filter and give the evap coil a quick cleaning, I had to cut my visit short because they were opening up so I was unable to go any further.
The building is pretty old, its poorly insulated, has large windows high ceilings a few stoves in the back.
They said in years past the system has struggled to keep up, it seems to me that on top of a horrible installation the unit might be undersized.
Any thoughts?
The first thing I noticed when I walked up to the condenser was that it was on the inside corner of 2 brick walls, one 40' and one 15' there was a garbage can leaning against the side of the unit and a third wall 15' away made for no airflow in that area whatsoever. the unit was throwing off plenty of heat, its stuffy little corner was probably 30 degrees F warmer then the area in the parking lot nearby. Also the condenser fins where covered with dirt so I hosed it off. The liquid line was hot, about as hot as a cup of coffee, and the suction was somewhat cool.
I took a walk inside, I had a 13 degree delta T, the air filter was very dirty, and the evap. coil was somewhat dusty and had a little mold growing on it. The unit was suspended above a drop ceiling and rather then having the return hooked up to the return vent it was just drawing air from the area above the drop ceiling. (the return vent was just left open) I'm going back to replace the air filter and give the evap coil a quick cleaning, I had to cut my visit short because they were opening up so I was unable to go any further.
The building is pretty old, its poorly insulated, has large windows high ceilings a few stoves in the back.
They said in years past the system has struggled to keep up, it seems to me that on top of a horrible installation the unit might be undersized.
Any thoughts?