Replace Trane Outdoor A/C Unit - - PAGE 74.

May 14 2020:  The Trane outdoor air conditioner unit is out of warranty and has reached a point where repairing it is over half the cost of replacing it with a NEW unit with a 10-year warranty.  Kris Moore himself with Moore's Air and Heat came out to evaluate the unit on May 14 for a possible repair.  It was during that visit I learned of the cost to repair versus replacing with a new unit.  Kris had one of his installers come over with his service truck seen here with a new electrical contactor relay.

Here is a photo showing the leak on the old unit condenser coil which is the largest part of the outdoor unit.  Replacing that coil and the failing electrical contactor for the compressor would cost $1,600 and the old compressor and motor would still be there.  The price to replace the whole unit from Trane for $2,600 with a 10 year warranty made the decision easy.

This image of the old unit shows the leak location in more detail as the leaking coolant is visible on Kris Moore's finger.  I put my finger there after taking this photo and could feel the leak for myself.  The lower coolant pressure from the leak was causing the unit to run in short cycles which was the alert that something was wrong.

May 15, 2020:  Kris arranged to replace the old unit the next day (Friday).  The old unit installed in September 2013 has been disconnected and a new unit is ready to replace it.

The larger truck for doing installs brought the new unit on Friday Morning.  The old unit is loaded to be removed.

Brian Cole was the installer from Moore's Heat and air doing the work today.

The concrete slab has been swept clean and is ready for mounting the new unit.

The new unit was connected and Brian setup a vacuum pump to be sure there is no water vapor in the copper lines leading from the outdoor unit to the air handler in the house.  The original indoor unit is working perfectly after the coolant was installed about an hour after the vacuum pump had done its job.  Brian went to lunch while the pump worked.  He measured the temperature in the kitchen vent at 50 degrees F.  That was the same reading directly above the air handler.  The temperature inside the return air duct below the indoor cooling radiator was 74 degrees, a 24-degree change to the air passing through the air handler cabinet.

Here is the NEW condensing unit anchored to the existing concrete slab. and running.

The Moore's Air and Heat sticker is displayed on the top corner of the unit.

The view behind the unit shows the additional anchors to the concrete slab and the connections to the unit.

I took another photo of the unit from the north side showing the connections for coolant and the electrical connections.

Upon closer inspection of the above photo, I noticed what appeared to be condensation from the main tubing with the cold coolant from the air handler unit in the house.  I put my finger in the round puddle of liquid below the connections and was surprised to feel it as "oily" indicating a possible leak from the connectors.

I wiped off the water / oil mix to see if it would come back and it did when I touched it later.  I called Kris Moore leaving a message about sending him a web page link to this new web page on my web site.

Here is the label with model number and serial number with the manufactured date of APRIL 2020 clearly marked for the 10 year warranty.

After everything was working, I set the thermostat in the kitchen to the normal setting of 77 degrees F.