Way OT: central air fried for 14x70 mobile home

I already KNEW it was going to happen sooner or later. One of the local HVAC men kept it going last summer at about $250 x 3 calls.

He is NOT interested in finding just an outside a/c unit, he claims I need to change the whole system out. It is a two piece unit, but old meaning 1987.

The a/c unit fried today and stinks of burned wiring. TOO FAR GONE.

I had already done some research on the net for replacement a/c units, and am only coming up with the same song and dance he is telling me, that I need to replace the furnace and a/c as a unit. Parts alone are about 2900 plus shipping and installation if I go that route.

This old trailer has windows that slide to the side instead of up and down like normal windows, only one will open up wide enough to accept a small (5000 btu) window a/c. It is in my "computer room" which is the smallest room in the whole trailer, no practical way to make cool air turn two corners to our bedroom.

I need to buy some time. Portable units that the hoses can be mounted in the rinky dink windows we have are available up to 14,000 btu.

12,000 btu cool, with heat also can be bought for less than $500 with shipping. The wife already wants one for her horse trailer, smaller ones that are only practical for it are $300 or so.

I know it is a short term solution, but would 12,000 btu, also rated as a 1 ton, keep our bedroom cool enough to at least get some sleep?

DOUG

Put the little one-ton out in the living room. It'll surprise you by keeping the whole house cool.

Too noisey to put in the bedroom IMHO.

Allan

Have you checked on the units that hang on wall and have outside units like large ones.. I saw one at an ac place and they said all you need was 2 small holes in wall ...


http://www.heatandcool.com/Ductless-Mini-Split-Air-Conditioner-p/kswm018-h213.htm



MAY GOD BLESS THE USA

WONDER WHAT BURNED UP IN IT, I COULD JUST BE AN ELECTRIC MOTOR... A/C GUYS ARE NATORIOUS FOR WANTING TO PUT NEW EQUIPMENT IN WHEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM... YOU CAN BET THAT " YOU NEED A NEW SYSTEM"" WILL COME OUT OF THEIR MOUTH WHEN YOU CALL THEM...

You would be surprised at what these new window ac units can do.
My house is older and the windows are only 24" wide I have no furnace because I heat with wood.
I have three 5000 btu a/c units one in the livingroom, one in the bedroom and one in the kitchen it will get down right cold in here with all three running my house is one level 1085 square feet probably the size of your trailer.
I purchased these units from wal-mart $100.each
all three are Maytag units.

As a general rule 1 ton (12000 BTU) will adequately cool 500 square feet of space. Window units work well now. Larger window units can be purchased as heat pumps which work very well down to 35-40 degrees. Do you have gas heat? According to the EPA you cannot buy an AC as it has freon in it. You must have a freon card. That is where it gets sticky. Allen is right to a point as I would suggest you put a 24000 btu unit in the living room and a window exhaust fan in the BR to draw the cool air. Been doing AC for 40 years. I also llike the roll around AC with the hose exhaust but would prefer window units for your application. A 2 ton system machinery cost in the area of 2000 plus labor Henry email open [email protected]

Without reading the other replies, 5000 btu will keep a 12x12 bedroom pretty cold. Walmart had some for $88 last year, haven't looked this year.
Local savage store had some of those heat/air units for $225. I offered $175 and he told me wait a couple weeks for him to try to sell at the higher price. Waited, went back and he said he didn't want to sell for my price. A-hole.
We have some casement windows that you need the vertical air for, put a regular window air up on it's side for a year, worked well, now it's in a regular window and still blowing cold.

It could be something cheap like a 100 buck motor or a capacitor or maybe the relay stuck and got fried. If he was out there 3 times last year keeping it going then it sounds like a freon leak. Were your lines freezing up and then the coil in the ac freezes up so much it blocks the blowing air? (it would run but not much air would come out) The usual sign of low freon probably from a leak. EPA frowns on techs that keep feeding leaking ac units and some of those cheaper coils just begin to leak after a number of years. Cheaper to replace than the labor trying to find and fix a leak which may not be fixable anyway.

If it was blowing capacitors which caused the service calls then maybe your compressor was on the verge of lockup and finally did. Then you would want to replace the whole outside unit.

I have my own guages, cannister of freon, and I can buy wholesale so I'm in better shape that you and it doesn't sound like you are up on ac units if you were paying $250 bucks per call last summer.

If you can afford $750 for service calls then it sounds like you are loaded. Spring for 1 or 2 one ton units or a bigger 2 ton. Check for 220 ac outlets. I doubt you have any so you need 120 volt units. It would cost more than it is worth to put in 220v outlets. There is a 100% or more markup on ac units. If you knew what you are doing, you can get them online. Even lowes sells them.

Who knows, maybe you need to or may want to replace the heater while you are at it. Those mobile homes used some odd sized units so you have to measure every thing. When you go to changing the heater, then it all has to match up to the duct work or else it costs a bunch extra to match up the duct work.

Even those sliding windows are removable. Maybe remove the whole glass and fill the opening in with something. There is also an active market for people stealing ac units for the copper so don't put it in where someone can drive up and grab it out of the window.

(quoted from post at 05:55:05 06/18/09) WONDER WHAT BURNED UP IN IT, I COULD JUST BE AN ELECTRIC MOTOR... A/C GUYS ARE NATORIOUS FOR WANTING TO PUT NEW EQUIPMENT IN WHEN YOU HAVE A PROBLEM... YOU CAN BET THAT " YOU NEED A NEW SYSTEM"" WILL COME OUT OF THEIR MOUTH WHEN YOU CALL THEM...

Click to expand...

Sounds like the boy got screwed. Too bad I wasn't around. Here's the sad truth on trailer AC units

First, many state laws codes are incredibly restrictive. In WA state, trailers do not fall under housing codes, but state L and I. There's some stupid reg that the system has to "match" meaning that if a used trailer with say, a Coleman gas furnace, you cannot adapt a Lennox AC unit.

Additionally, many trailier systems are so incredibly tight for size and modularized, that adaptation of other units is nigh impossible, anyway.

I do agree, though, that this may or may not be a less expensive problem. One thing you SHOULD have done long ago is to get a second opinion. Just what was supposed to be wrong that you've put so much money into this unit?

Also, with the recent transition of R22 to other refrigerants--of which I haven't kept up as I'm retired--replacing an OD unit with a mismatched ID unit could be a problem. Back in the "R22" days it was no problem for me to replace an OD unit REGARDLESS of the brand of the indoor section, possibly replace the metering device, and recharge as necessary.

ON THE OTHER HAND if you have a unit that was originally sloppily sized and installed, and has been plagued with leaks, bandaids and poorly done repairs---the repair guy could very well be right

So, LUCASBOY, the namesake of which is of one of the most awful automotive electrics on the planet, be careful who you 'dis. I'm pretty proud of being honest in my years of HVAC repairs.

Yep had the same type of problem about 2 years ago on my mobile home. AC unit burned up big time so bad it had a hole in the compressor. I did the window units till the one that the AC/heat company ordered came in. I went with a heat pump type system and sure glad I did. Cost $5000 but saves a lot of power so figure in a year or 2 more it will have payed for its self

I GET YOUR POINT,, BUT THATS JUST THE WAY ALL THE A/C COMPANIES ARE AROUND HERE SINCE FREON BECAME REGISTERED USER ONLY. THEY ARE POMPUS @SS'S THAT WONT FIX ANYTHING IF ITS OVER A FEW YEARS OLD.

It was blowing capacitors and frying the breaker. Plenty of freon, compressor going bad. DOUG

GO to wally world and buy a few of the small window air conditioners. Because of the laws governing SEER requirements they are just as efficient as the big units. The problem is most trailers (older ones) don't have windows that they fit in. In my first house my brother and I just sawzalled holes in the walls between the studs, threw some 2x4's above and below, and we had zoned high efficiency AC in every room.

Dont let anyone tell you you cant just put in a condenser unit, I put in 3 different ones with my old air handler when I was too broke to buy new stuff.. I got them from a buddy that picks up scrap metal. Now Im not saying theyll last forever or have a 18SEER but they cooled my joint and I never had to give more tham $35 for a 3 ton condenser...matter of fact Ive still got a 3 ton cond unit in my container in north florida, still got gas in it!, Im gonna scrounge a air handler with a heat strip and use it in said container/shop whenever I get moved up there. its not that Im cheap...just poor!...okok so I guess Im kinda on the cheap side too...Sure a nice new system would be great but theres more than one way to stay cool...good luck...OCG

A 5K unit will NOT keep a 12X12 room cool IF 3 of the walls are external walls. I had a 7500 BTU window unit that barely kept up on a hot day. I had a 24K window unit in my living room. The combination of both were enough to keep the whole place cool (14 X 70).