Jurassic rooftop

[mark beiser]

2nd call today, "not cooling well" at an eye doctors place.

Climb up on the roof and see a whole row of these dinosaurs. The water is from me cleaning the condensor coil on the one I'm working on.


Looks like its on at least its 2nd compressor. Bubba didn't bother to line up the mounts with the studs sticking up out of the bottom of the unit. The "new" compressor has been going strong for at least 20 years though...



The run cap bandit has been here, well, maybe his father anyway. That thing has been hanging there taped to the wires for a long LONG time. They just don't make good duct tape like that anymore!



Something they don't prepair the kids for in tech school. Systems that normally operate at condensing temperatures 45º-50º above ambient.
Once I cleaned the condensor coils the head pressure dropped from around 450 psig to something more consistant with operation at 90º outdoor and 75º indoor temperatures.



Ok, well lets just say that "normal" is a relative thing. In this case, 330 psig is "normal" on a 90 degree day for one of these 43 year old dinosaurs.



This is a brand I hadn't seen before. It is the 2nd newest unit on the roof, I assume it is from sometime in the late 60's to early 70's.
Who made "Twin-Air" brand equipment?



I didn't take a picture, but the newest unit on the roof is a POS Carrier that was installed about 2 years ago. I would be willing to bet that it will die before the last of the 1962 vintage Fedders units dies.

[Edited by mark beiser on 07-26-2005 at 07:25 PM]

[heatpumpjesus]

there used to be a fedders plant in frederick, md. i think it is now called roterex and they make compressors.

[BaldLoonie]

Twinair could be an old Tappan.

[bumpkin]

1962??? That thing would have rotted away with all the old cars if it were in my area.

[tpa-fl]

I'd love to know the "SEER" of that thing... I'd hate to pay the electric bill required to feed that beast

[james mo]

I kinda like the background of the first picture...Package unit, horizontal discharge into uninsulated round elbows. Are you sure the water wasn't condensate from the supply elbow on that unit?

[mark beiser]

Originally posted by james mo
I kinda like the background of the first picture...Package unit, horizontal discharge into uninsulated round elbows. Are you sure the water wasn't condensate from the supply elbow on that unit?

That is the Twin-Air unit, and yeah, those elbows are not insulated. The supply one probably sweats a lot, but it wasn't rusty.
The roof was dry before I cleaned the condensor coil on that Fedders unit.

[flyntg]

i see fedder's equipment from time to time. i believe they still make window-shakers, but i havent seen any real equipment that looked any newer than you posted.

[BaldLoonie]

Originally posted by flyntg
i see fedder's equipment from time to time. i believe they still make window-shakers, but i havent seen any real equipment that looked any newer than you posted.

They're back Made in PRC if you know where that is!

[flyntg]

sounds like PRC = Peoples Republic of China.

they can keep them, for all of me.

[mark beiser]

I need to go snap a picture of an old Fedders condensing unit in a split system from 1978 that still has its origonal compressor, unbelievably amazing!

For those that don't understand why that is amazing, please understand that Fedders was using rotory compressors in thier split systems during that time period. Very very few of those compressors survived the summer of 1980, and most were still under warranty at that time. I have seen many Fedders units from that time, and all but the one has a recip compressor as a replacement.

[ricm]

Most of the old York Sunline RTU's are still faithfully cranking out the cool after they were installed in 1970 when they built the mall... 115 units, when I apprenticed... I must have replaced a million filters on these puppies. Last time I drove thru the city... all those that I could see from the ground were still there.

Just for fun, I would like to take a six pack of beer, and pull the doors off these units... to see what has been done to them over the years.

[poppa]

twin air a R 502? I saw one years ago on a house in Lake Highlands.