Explosion heard in condensing unit

[summerblues]

Explosion heard in condensing unit, well the unit is on the roof and the apartment is just below it, a loud noise was heard from a 1.5 ton condensing unit, no cooling was reported by tenant, with outside ambient temp of 80 degrees,I had 20 psi on lower side, 150 on high side.I suspected a leak. Anyways I added freon and brought the low side to 60 psi, high side 200,
without going into too many details I'm wondering what caused that explosion noise and possibly made the compresor leak ?

[beenthere]

Thats what a service tech on site is suppose to find out.

Can't tell what did it from my monitor.

[frigetater]

lol..:D

[Rusty199]

Nothing I can think of that would cause the noise. If the noise was from a sudden leak, it would be empty. Also 1.5 ton unit means no start capacitor to blow out.
Are you sur the noise was the condenser?

[hvaclover]

Nothing I can think of that would cause the noise. If the noise was from a sudden leak, it would be empty. Also 1.5 ton unit means no start capacitor to blow out.
Are you sur the noise was the condenser?

Maybe it had "gas":rolleyes:

[summerblues]

I am the tech, sudden loud bang and then when I checked it was low on freon,
what could cause that ?

[summerblues]

by the way, Frigerator get that stupid picture out of here !

[walnuttree]

Maybe Al-qudea planted a bomb

[summerblues]

I'm seriously starting to consider that, can I tell that to my boss ?

[gonekuku]

Maybe the "Explosion" and leak were not related. Maybe somebody's car backfired and shortly after this the tenant also noticed that the AC wasn't working.

I myself have mistaken a 1000 lb OR table being pushed down a hospital hall as an earthquake.

So did you fix the leak?

[frigetater]

by the way, Frigerator get that stupid picture out of here !


K M A <-------"Tech"...hahahha...now thats funny...so Mr. "Tech"...get on the roof and find out....damn sure not gonna find the problem complaining about my pic

[Shophound]

Explosion heard in condensing unit, well the unit is on the roof and the apartment is just below it, a loud noise was heard from a 1.5 ton condensing unit, no cooling was reported by tenant, with outside ambient temp of 80 degrees,I had 20 psi on lower side, 150 on high side.I suspected a leak. Anyways I added freon and brought the low side to 60 psi, high side 200,
without going into too many details I'm wondering what caused that explosion noise and possibly made the compresor leak ?

If you don't know where it's leaking from then how do you know the "explosion" sound and low refrigerant are related? Was the unit cooling right up to the very moment the explosion happened?

Any explosion loud enough to be heard from within an apartment that came from a condensing unit would be forceful enough to blow the entire charge, such as if one of the compressor terminals blew. If it was an electrical component that made the bang, you'd probably have a tripped breaker and a smokey looking part inside the condenser. And you wouldn't be scratching your head and talking about leaks, you'd be looking for what caused the component to explode.

Could've been the tenant heard a *BOOM*, freaked out and called the leasing office, and while she had them on the phone she mentioned that since the weather had been warming up lately she had tried her a/c and it wasn't doing well, so now she remembered to report that as well. Only relation between *BOOM* and a/c not cooling well was tenant calling in *BOOM* and then remembering to turn in a work order for the a/c.

I was once in the apartment biz...I know how it went...:D

[beenthere]

Tell us what you checked that you found didn't make the noise.

And we might be able to tell you what else you should have checked.

[smokin68]

You have no way of knowing a loud noise came from a rooftop condensing unit unless you're standing there when it does it. Coincidental.

[beenthere]

You have no way of knowing a loud noise came from a rooftop condensing unit unless you're standing there when it does it. Coincidental.


Even if you find the line voltage wires welded together, you still don't know the noise came from the condenser. :)

[smokin68]

Even if you find the line voltage wires welded together, you still don't know the noise came from the condenser. :)

double post

[smokin68]

Even if you find the line voltage wires welded together, you still don't know the noise came from the condenser. :)

If you can hear a fuse pop in your apartment from a rooftop unit, you're hearing is fantastic. Noone sneeks around your house...:D

[hvaclover]

If you can hear a fuse pop in your apartment from a rooftop unit, you're hearing is fantastic. Noone sneeks around your house...:D

Or from be:p hind him:D

[beenthere]

If you can hear a fuse pop in your apartment from a rooftop unit, you're hearing is fantastic. Noone sneeks around your house...:D

LOL :)

[jasond1011]

if its a trane or an american standard check the crank case heater on bottom of the compressor. darn sure makes a twelve gage sound if she goes to ground. resetting a breaker could have cleared before you got there and low charge was co-incidental. Bottom line is its cooling so wait and see. if the anomally recurrrs they'll call.....