Looking for ansewers..

[paulc7]

I was hoping someone might have an ansewer to a problem I'm having with an American Standard coil. The coil to this unit has been replaced 6 times and is needing to be replaced again. Thank goodness for the extended warranty. My A/C man tells me that he doesn't know what is causing the failures with each one but they all develope leaks in less than a year. We live in Pleasanton Texas. We are just your average family with no use of anything I can think of that might cause this thing to keep failing. It is a 3.5 ton heat pump unit with the air handler in the attick. The unit is now 8 years old and I think must be a lemon. It was one of American Standards fancier units when we purchased it. I would appriciate any input. Thanks.

[Cagey57]

6 coils, Really, 6 coils. I think mister A/C man is getting a kick back on that warranty. I would be draging a factory rep up to that attic if I couldn't figure out why the 2nd one died.

This sound really fishy.

If your lucky someone with intimate experience with AmStd will read this and have a magic answer, other wise I would call another A/C guy for a second opinion as long as that extended warranty will allow someone else to do the work.........

[the dangling wrangler]

Have you been shown any leaks to date? If no, why not? Hard to believe, six coils in a row are bad.

[I_bend_metal]

Indoor coil or outdoor coil??

American Standard units have the spine fin coils and the roto-lock compressors.....

Might not be the coil....might be the roto-lock fittings that are leaking....

[paulc7]

Thanks for all the advice. No I have not been shown where the A coil is actually leaking. I have been up there with him when he used his sniffer. I am going to call American Standard and see if I can get someone else out to look at it. I have always thought it strange that all they would do is just keep replacing these coils, the folks at A S, I mean. You would think they would become curious as to what is going on. My A/C man says that he has several of these units in other houses and that this one is the only one they have seen this problem with.

[Some Dude]

Thats really odd, i was an American Standard dealer for years and although i did not like the coils i never had any problems with them.
Could there be something in the home or attic, fumes????? That would degrade aluminum?

[vmc1161]

Thats really odd, i was an American Standard dealer for years and although i did not like the coils i never had any problems with them.
Could there be something in the home or attic, fumes????? That would degrade aluminum?

Chinese sheet rock ...


Six coils… please ... in thirty-five years I have not had six bad evaporator coils. There was some blown in insulation that was causing problems years ago ... so ... maybe ... but chemicals eating up a coil would not be covered by the warranty. Also after a few why would they keep replacing them instead of the complete a/h. Maybe the leak is because the suction line is porous and that is why he gets a hit in the attic … maybe …


.

[Some Dude]

Chinese sheet rock ...


Six coils… please ... in thirty-five years I have not had six bad evaporator coils. There was some blown in insulation that was causing problems years ago ... so ... maybe ... but chemicals eating up a coil would not be covered by the warranty. Also after a few why would they keep replacing them instead of the complete a/h. Maybe the leak is because the suction line is porous and that is why he gets a hit in the attic … maybe …


.

Good call v That may be it.

[paulc7]

The attic does have the cellulose insulation blown into it. It was purchased at Home Depot back in late 2002 the same year the a/c unit was installed. Is there any more info on that problem that you can expand on. Thanks.

[the dangling wrangler]

Same contractor do the original installation, as well as all the repair work?


I'm guessing, a bad install from the get-go.

[ACFIXR]

13 year dealer 2 bad coils.American Standard coils are the highest performing coils on the market when it comes to pressure drop and sensible heat removal. My 2 bad coils had plugged distributor tubes, no leakers yet.

[mikesands]

A classic case of technician error, if its too dumb to be true then it isnt, there is no way you had 6 bad coils.

[DPeoples]

it seems as if the tech can figure it out and just wants to keep replacing the evap.coil...get a second opinion...

[paulc7]

Thanks for all the great comments and advice. I did get a hold of an American Standard Rep. He knows the installer. He is going to get with him to get all the info on the repair work. He was telling me that they have had similar problem in Seguin TX because of sulfure. Most of south Texas has sulfer in the water. The curious thing here would be there are 4 houses here, all have central air units. The other 3 are less than 3 years old, and none have ever had any problems at all. They too are all American Standard units, the only difference is they all use the R-22 refrigerant. Mine the one with all the leaks uses the R-410a. I will update as soon as hear from the rep.

[vmc1161]

Thanks for all the great comments and advice. I did get a hold of an American Standard Rep. He knows the installer. He is going to get with him to get all the info on the repair work. He was telling me that they have had similar problem in Seguin TX because of sulfure. Most of south Texas has sulfer in the water. The curious thing here would be there are 4 houses here, all have central air units. The other 3 are less than 3 years old, and none have ever had any problems at all. They too are all American Standard units, the only difference is they all use the R-22 refrigerant. Mine the one with all the leaks uses the R-410a. I will update as soon as hear from the rep.

Thanks for getting back to us ... I am very interested in what the cause is, so please let us know ...

.

[ISOTHERMAL]

I was hoping someone might have an ansewer to a problem I'm having with an American Standard coil. The coil to this unit has been replaced 6 times and is needing to be replaced again. Thank goodness for the extended warranty. My A/C man tells me that he doesn't know what is causing the failures with each one but they all develope leaks in less than a year. We live in Pleasanton Texas. We are just your average family with no use of anything I can think of that might cause this thing to keep failing. It is a 3.5 ton heat pump unit with the air handler in the attick. The unit is now 8 years old and I think must be a lemon. It was one of American Standards fancier units when we purchased it. I would appriciate any input. Thanks.

Are they actually proving that the coils are developing leaks? What methods are they using? ....Maybe the leak is elsewhere

[I_bend_metal]

Are they actually proving that the coils are developing leaks? What methods are they using? ....Maybe the leak is elsewhere

That's what I am thinking too......

I hope this dude keeps us posted on the outcome......

[forcryinoutloud]

American Standard/Trane has a program in place for extended warranty evaporator coil replacements. Any evap coil, regardless of age that is replaced under extended warranty gets sent to the factory to be tested.

If they cannot confirm the techs diagnosis the warranty claim is not paid, and the contractor eats the complete cost of the work performed and materials used, including the coil.

I don't think that many coils will be sent back without the contractor being absolutely sure the problem was properly diagnosed.

[Mr Chesapeake]

Off topic, but I have to ask it. What is an ansewer?

By the way, I work for a company that sells Trane as it's primary system, and I have come across quite a few of them that had leaks. Maybe about 5 or 6 in the past 2 years, but it does happen. However, 6 times in a row? That's just preposterous.

[paulc7]

Hi Everyone,

To reinterate from the last time. I talked to the factory rep,(Stuart), at American Standard. We went trough the whole thing about the sulfur in the area and all. He mentioned "Sick building syndom" and that they really don't know what is causing the failures of the evaporator coil. I checked the Chinese sheetrock theory. That as with sulfur will turn the copper black. Thats not the problem because the copper is pristine. Long story short, they came in and replaced another coil at the end of June. It too has since failed. This one in just 4 months. The installer who has an excellent reputation and American Standard swears by him, says there is no indicatiion of any corrosionon the coil. It will develope these leaks that are just a pin hole, and I think he told me usually only one. He thinks it is some kind of chemcal reaction to something in the house. I tend to disagree. I have gone through the house and cannot identify anything that is uncommon to other households. I'm certainly not an expert in this matter, but is it possible there might be some sort of electrolysis? There is no problem with the refigerators in the house, just the A/C unit. I'm wondering too, if just simply replacing the intire unit wouldn't solve this dilemma. Since there is no indication of corrosion, maybe its something wrong with the unit itself? I would appriciate all of you thoughts once again, and thanks so much. Paul S Cardwell