Trane XE1100 4 ton blows condensers

[Temsamany]

I live here in hot Sacramento CA. My 16 year old Trane XE 1100 model Seer 11 TTN048SC100AC 4 ton unit blew a 50mfd 440v capacitor last August. Here it is 14 months later and it blew again. My trusted repairman said it is drawing high amperage which is blowing the Capacitor, probably because the compressor is old and going out. I opted to try another capacitor and that solved the problem for the time being. I don't want to have to change out both the Heater and AC at great expense. I could have the compressor replaced. I figure that would give it another 15 years, but wonder if this is wise. Don't know if I can keep a R-22 unit going for 15 more years since the change-over to new refrigerants. I am also afraid if I don't replace the compressor now it won't be available in the future, and then I will definitely be forced to put in new heat and air. Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[ArtThib]

was the 14mo old cap a plastic one?

[the dangling wrangler]

Do you really think, you can stretch another fifteen years out of this unit? I don't. But, Good Luck.

[bmathews]

Your unit has lived it's life. It is time to replace it. If you don't have the $$$, then continue replacing the capacitor until the unit goes. Hopefully you can save the money to replace it. Replacing the compressor is a very foolish thing to do on a unit this old. First of all, you won't save much money just replacing the compressor. The compressor costs almost as much as a new unit costs and the labor and time to replace it is more. The sum of the parts of a condenser is probably 4-5 times what a unit costs. On top of this, you will get a 1 year warranty on the compressor and absolutely no warranty on the still old motor, capacitor, contactors, condenser coil, etc... Short term, it is probably cheaper, long term, like more than a year, you WILL lose.

[Temsamany]

Thanks for the replies:
The 14 month old capacitor was metal.
I was told I would need to replace both the heater and air conditioner with a seer 13 unit. On a scale of cost, the compressor alone would be and replacing everything would be . That's what I'm weighing





Pricing Removed

[the dangling wrangler]

You can only do, what your finances allow. A new system is a sure thing, the repair is a gamble.

[Swampfox]

Capacitors are cheap and have a very high failure rate, I doubt there is anything wrong with your compressor.

[buttwheat]

Well if its built like the old GE's it very well could make it that 30 years. I just changed out a working 31 y.o. GE heat pump this week.

[Rlattime3]

Has your condenser coil been cleaned lately? Do you know what your head pressure is while running? A dirty coil is a common cause for failing capacitors.

[genesis]

Most of the time over the years when I see a capacitor blow there are several obvious reasons
1. Loose connections or a bad contactor causing low voltage to the load.
2. Wrong size capacitor
3. Power spikes after a storm
4. Cruddy voltage supply from the provider. You measure voltage drops
during peak periods of the day.

[smittyii]

Has your condenser coil been cleaned lately? Do you know what your head pressure is while running? A dirty coil is a common cause for failing capacitors.

proper maintenance and service is required,especially on a 16 yr old system. call the guy who keeps changing caps and ask him if he has done any cleaning on the system.

[Temsamany]

Capacitors are cheap and have a very high failure rate, I doubt there is anything wrong with your compressor.

Thanks,
I like this answer the best!