Need help with coil ID / Replacement justification

[jsbaker99]

OK so I hope someone can help me. I am trying to justify to the other half why our 2 year old condenser sounds like a freight train on start up and our electric bills just keep climbing. Today's mail brought a nice $417 whopper. Highest last year was $350 in aug. this is June an $417 already. We are buying a house from my parents. About 2 years ago they had our condenser replaced on their dime by someone who I am convinced was a hack. The installer was trying to pickup side jobs while he was out back installing the condenser and his service vehicle of choice was about an 85 chevy celebrity wagon. They had a 3 ton condenser installed with what was thought to be an exisiting 2.5 ton evap. coil. The installer never verified anything inside, infact I don't think he ever came in the house. No sales men we ever here my dad did the whole purchase over the phone. So now it has come to light that the existing coil which was replaced about 10 years ago is not a 2.5 ton. The original coil started leaking and an old co worker of my dad's who did a/c on the side (whole nother story) but he is licensed and still in business was supposed to be replacing it with the same size, it appears he did not. Came someone please tell me what size the coil listed below is so I can provide some proof that this is in now way a matched system and is in no way effecient.

The condensing unit is a ckl-3601 I believe, it's dark now but I can check it tomorrow if need be.

Please tell me what size this coil is and what kind of match if any this system is.


The coil is made by inter city products.

Cased coil Model #Epc5548jb1
Contains #Epa5548sb1
restrictor installed 82 which has been marked out and has 78 written in pen.

[BaldLoonie]

Goodman CKL36 is noisy anyway. If not charged properly or has bad compressor or fan motor, could be worse.

The coil is a 4 ton ICP coil, not a proper match for a 3 ton 10 SEER Goodman. Way oversizing the coil like that may be fine in a dry climate but kills latent capacity (dehumidification) in a humid climate. You still are running around 10 SEER I would think.

First step is have someone do an accurate heat gain on the house to size properly. If the Goodman 3 ton is correct, get a matched Goodman A coil installed. Make sure blower is set for 1200 CFM. Check for duct leakage or heat gain from poorly insulated duct.

[jsbaker99]

We were thinking it was 4.5 or 5 ton but 4 sounds right. Do you know what it's capacity would be with the 78 restrictor installed? would this mismatched setup cause excessively high electric bills? The noise from the condesing unit is defiantely from the compressor, we pulled the disconnect and reinserted it so that the time delay would kick in. When just the fans are running the unit is a quiet as could be, it is a world of difference once the compressor kicked back in. The noise from the compressor is kinda like a harmonic vibration. It starts low about 30 seconds to one minute after the unit starts up and gets progressivly louder and is gone after about another minute or two. Could whatever is causing the compressor noise be causing the power problem and not the mismatch? We have watched the electric meter on startup and it will jump an go into over drive for about a minute when the unit frist turns on. The owner of the company that sent hack johnny to do the install came out about 2 weeks before their one year responsibilty ran out last year and agreed the compressor needed to be replaced. Of course then they started giving me some run around about a $60 handling fee and avoiding my calls and by the time I gave in it was past one year. I have some 5 or 10 year extended labor warranty from goodman so maybe we can recover some cost if the compressor needs to be replaced. I am going to call a real company to give a diagnosis this week wether the other half agress with me or not.

[Mr Bill]

Originally posted by jsbaker99
we pulled the disconnect and reinserted it so that the time delay would kick in. When just the fans are running the unit is a quiet as could be, it is a world of difference once the compressor kicked back in.

How did anything kick in if the delay was holding it out correctly? you must have had the compressor in overload and was not starting and the fan only was running I would not do that very much with an already noisy compressor.

[jsbaker99]

It wasn't on overload. I was talking about the delay that keeps the compressor from short cycling (I believe that is the term) or coming right back on when it has just turned off. The fan comes back on and then the compressor comes back on about 5 minutes later.

[MadeinUSA]

Originally posted by jsbaker99
his service vehicle of choice was about an 85 chevy celebrity wagon.
The installer never verified anything inside, infact I don't think he ever came in the house.
The condensing unit is a ckl-3601

This is exactly why when you choose not to go with a goodDUMB product, your chances of a correct installation go up 10 fold.

Get a REAL company to come replace your compressor before it hammers and creates acid throughout your system. Also, have them either install an expansion valve or change your coil out.