mystery low voltage problem/ brain fart?

[jim hoover]

Hi, all, I'm brand new to the forum but in the trade since 87. Installed a Payne 2 ton 13 SEER r-410A heatpump system in a customers house, 7.5 kw strip heat. $ job took 3 hrs start to finish, and re-used customers honeywell 5000. 2 days later, the od unit is froze up in 30 temps and sounds like a cat trying to get out on defrost. Reversing valve is too small from factory. switched to Goodman od unit, ran fine, a few days later cust has no heat. found popped fuse and no cause for pop. replaced fuse, heat for a few days and pop again, now customer is getting pissed. Ohm'd all stat wires, all the same, no indication of a rub or staple problem, pulled all stat wires from in the walls to show new copper, re-wired, ran fine today, popped again tonight. customer is threatening me with voodoo bad ****, haitian so I believe her! but meanwhile there has to be a logical reason it's popping, I'm just brain farting enough to not find it. Any help appreciated, don't want to be a zombie! Jim

[ClimateCntlJohn]

Hey Jim. So, it sounds like the low volt problem started after you switched the OD unit? I would start simple and make sure the XFMR in the AH is tapped right depending on type of HV feeding it. Energize each circuit independentely (G, W1, O, and Y) and measure your current on the LV side of the XFMR and see if you get a large jump. It would also help if you took out one time fuse and hooked up a resetable one while your troublehsootin' to save some fuses too. If you don't get anywhere with that, I would double check where all the wiring enter's cabinets to ensure its not chaffing. Check the factory wiring too on the outdoor unit. It could be that when the RV is energized for defrost, as 24v is sent to the valve, some wiring may be chaffed against the copper or pinched somewhere against cabinet. Also, you re-used stat? Double check the wiring and programming on the thing.

[mark beiser]

3 hours to install a complete system?

[beenthere]

3 hours to install a complete system?

That stood out to me too.

[garyed]

If I understand this right, you put a new split system in, a few days later you replaced the outdoor unit with a different brand unit because of a problem & now you're having a problem with the fuse blowing in the inside unit. You might want to try putting new shingles on the roof to see if that solves the fuse problem. All kidding aside have you tried running the unit in cooling? Since the short sounds intermittent maybe it happens when the unit goes into defrost & there's a wiring problem or a bad RV solenoid.

[dandyme]

I real concerned with the hp brand swapping thing.....................something stinks

[beshvac]

I real concerned with the hp brand swapping thing.....................something stinks

X2

He can always just throw another outdoor unit at it. Since he already used a payne and gooman...how about a Haier.

[coolerguy]

Hi, all, I'm brand new to the forum but in the trade since 87. Installed a Payne 2 ton 13 SEER r-410A heatpump system in a customers house, 7.5 kw strip heat. $ job took 3 hrs start to finish, and re-used customers honeywell 5000. 2 days later, the od unit is froze up in 30 temps and sounds like a cat trying to get out on defrost. Reversing valve is too small from factory. switched to Goodman od unit, ran fine, a few days later cust has no heat. found popped fuse and no cause for pop. replaced fuse, heat for a few days and pop again, now customer is getting pissed. Ohm'd all stat wires, all the same, no indication of a rub or staple problem, pulled all stat wires from in the walls to show new copper, re-wired, ran fine today, popped again tonight. customer is threatening me with voodoo bad ****, haitian so I believe her! but meanwhile there has to be a logical reason it's popping, I'm just brain farting enough to not find it. Any help appreciated, don't want to be a zombie! Jim

A new Payne to A new goodman ? In matter of day because of a wiring problem ? Did you change out indoor unit ? 3 hours ? Did you use a vacuum pump ? How did you determine the reversing valve was "too small" ? Im not sure I understand that ? As for the voodoo, maybe prayer, spiritual healing and holy water may help on this issue or even with faults with the equipment.

[timebuilder]

I real concerned with the hp brand swapping thing.....................something stinks

In Philly, they say "it fell off the back of a truck...."

[syndicated]

On a 3 hour install, I bet there's lots of tin tape holding things together. Maybe that's the problem.

[garyed]

If you've really been in the trade for 25 years then you'd understand why by what you posted, its hard to believe you've been in the trade for 25 years.

[Joehvac25]

Voodoo huh? The worst I had a customer do to me was make me eat crappy food they made in front of them lol, sometimes it's hard to say no when people offer you things.

[2sac]

'm more concerned about the whole brain fart thing. My brain used to do that when I had what doctors diagnosed "$hit for brains" I think I got it all out, although some would wonder...