home HVAC work needed

[Rusted]

So my home AC is not doing a great job. I opened it up to see what the evaporator coils looked like. I can see and reach one of the three coils and i was plugged up pretty bad with dirt/dust/lint. I cleaned that up and the AC works better, but I am sure that the other two evaporator coils are in bad shape too. The problem is that I don't think you can get to the coils without tearing the top of the furnace apart. Maybe someone who knows what they are doing can clean the coils with some CLR or other chemical but I don't want to make it worse by experimenting.

Does anyone have any HVAC technicians that they would recomend? I am located in Sandy.

 

[I Lean]

Yep....Team Fred here. Carl Nielson. He's my favorite.

 

[Caleb]

Yep....Team Fred here. Carl Nielson. He's my favorite.

I'll have to hit him up. I'd like to add a second zone to my system if it's possible.

 

[TEAM FRED]

So my home AC is not doing a great job. I opened it up to see what the evaporator coils looked like. I can see and reach one of the three coils and i was plugged up pretty bad with dirt/dust/lint. I cleaned that up and the AC works better, but I am sure that the other two evaporator coils are in bad shape too. The problem is that I don't think you can get to the coils without tearing the top of the furnace apart. Maybe someone who knows what they are doing can clean the coils with some CLR or other chemical but I don't want to make it worse by experimenting.

Does anyone have any HVAC technicians that they would recomend? I am located in Sandy.

Sounds to me like you have a Carrier N-coil. They can be a little tricky to clean in place but it is possible.
To do it in place you can carefully use a BBQ brush the kind with wire bristles. One with a handle works well. Just comb with the grain of the coil and use a shop vac to clean up the dust that falls into the furnace.

Hope this helps you out. You can call with any questions. 801-643-0869 Carl

 

[mbryson]

Sounds to me like you have a Carrier N-coil. They can be a little tricky to clean in place but it is possible.
To do it in place you can carefully use a BBQ brush the kind with wire bristles. One with a handle works well. Just comb with the grain of the coil and use a shop vac to clean up the dust that falls into the furnace.

Hope this helps you out. You can call with any questions. 801-643-0869 Carl

Carl, I've got a similar issue. Do I just peel apart the sheetmetal ducting above the heating unit to gain access?

 

[TEAM FRED]

If your system is a upflow meaning airflow comes out the top furnace and them through the A/C coil. You need to access the bottom side of the coil, this is where the dirt will be.

 

[rockreligious]

I was going to say, hit up Carl, but looks like hes on the scene...by the way Carl, you should talk Uncle Clair into some A/C LOL

 

[Rusted]

Sounds to me like you have a Carrier N-coil. They can be a little tricky to clean in place but it is possible.
To do it in place you can carefully use a BBQ brush the kind with wire bristles. One with a handle works well. Just comb with the grain of the coil and use a shop vac to clean up the dust that falls into the furnace.

Hope this helps you out. You can call with any questions. 801-643-0869 Carl

Carrier N-Coil make sense. Today I tore into it and found that the 1/3 that I could see before was pretty clean, and to my surprise the 2/3 that I had to dig into to see was surprisingly clean. I was able to get a little out of there, but for the most part I don't think it is the problem. I blew some air on it with the air compressor and I am getting good airflow through the system.

Also between the shop vac and the air compressor hose I got quite a bit of dirt and dust out of the system. I have a new filter as well.

The coils are cool, the line in (3/8 copper) is room temperature comming in. The line out is cool, but not frosted or even close to frosted. I would not say it is really cold either, but if you left your hand on it for awhile it would feel cool.

I get ok, but not fantastic air flow through the house. The air comming out is about as cool

After the cleaning the house was at 81*, 8+ hours later and it has ran non-stop and I am still at 79*.

Any more ideas? what are the symptoms of not enough freon? Maybe this AC unit is not big enough for my house?

 

[Herzog]

Keith - I'm having similar issues. Starting to wonder if it just needs to be topped off. My lines don't feel as cold as they should but the coils look clean and everything else checks out.

 

[MR.CJ-7]

I just had one of the "big" furnace A/C companies out to "tune up" my system. They left me an estimate for $12K for a new furnace/AC unit to replace my 5 year old carrier N-coil They were even nice enough to leave me with a laundry list of parts that "need" to be replaced to the tune of $2K. Of course they had a scratch and dent sale, but I needed to act "right now" to get the savings. I thanked them, and asked them to finish the $49 tune up only and get the damn A/C back on as the house was getting warm

In fairness the coil/blower wheel is pretty skanky looking, but I think some cleaning is in order before junking the system.

Thanks for the write up on cleaning the coils, my biggest fear was how to take the unit apart to get at the coils, but I watched the service guy get at it while giving me his up-sell. It aint rocket science.