Why Must I Replace My Indoor
Coil?
When new, your air conditioner or heat pump should have consisted of 5 properly matched components:
1. Indoor evaporator coil and or fan coil
2. Outdoor condensing coil
3. Correct sized refrigerant tubing
4. Properly sized circuit breaker
and fuses
5. Properly sized electrical wiring
When properly assembled, they
will produce a specific amount of cooling at a specific
rated efficiency. Capacity and efficiency ratings are
produced by the manufacturer under strict testing conditions.
Any substitution of any of the components will produce
a variation in either capacity or efficiency (or both).
When an old outdoor condensing unit fails, it is very
important that the indoor coil be matched and
replaced at the same time for a number of reasons. Some
of them are:
1. Impossibility of attaining capacity and efficiency ratings of the new condensing unit if the indoor coil is not changed.
2. The emphasis on "high efficiency" during the past few years has brought about some startling
technological changes in equipment. Installing
a new high efficiency condensing unit with even a
5 year old indoor coil is inviting trouble.
3. It is very common to have compressor
failure in a new unit after just one or two years
when an old indoor coil is used. Manufacturers of air
conditioners and compressors alike are unanimous in
stating that over 63% of the failures of outdoor condensing
units are caused by a restriction or refrigerant leak
in the indoor coil.
4. The warranty does not protect
you from compressor failure due to an old indoor coil.
Manufacturers test bad compressors and can tell the
cause of failure. If due to a bad coil,
they may disallow and void the warranty.
At the very minimum, if maximum
efficiency, reliability and safety are to be achieved,
we recommend replacing the condensing unit and the indoor
coil plus a very careful check of refrigerant lines and
circuit breaker and fuses.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Since this page was initially written, a substantial change has been mandated by the Dept of Energy that makes the changing of an indoor coil almost mandatory when a new condenser unit is installed. The following is excerpted from our newsletter of 6/14/07 and incidentally is another excellent reason for subscribing to our FREE newsletter (you can read the entire newsletter from our archives by clicking here).
Excerpt:
“…beginning on Jan 23, 2006, when the U.S Dept of Energy mandated that all new cooling units would have a SEER rating of 13 (for a definition of SEER, click here). Formerly the minimum SEER rating was 10. The new 13 SEER rating is almost a 30% increase in efficiency and represents among other things, a serious change in design.
On the plus side, the mandated increase has many benefits, not the least of them being a substantial decrease in the annual amount of energy required to operate the nation’s cooling systems. On the minus side, there is a glaring problem when it comes time to have an existing condenser with a SEER of 10 or less replaced.
That’s because the outdoor unit (condenser) is only half (although the most expensive half) of a split-system. The air handler, refrigerant lines and evaporator coil, constitute the inside half of the system. Working in tandem, the outside and inside units must be matched in size and efficiency for best results (and to avoid damaging the new unit that may result in costly repairs, to say nothing of frustration and inconvenience).
In order to produce a SEER of 13, manufacturers had to drastically redesign their systems. The new units are considerably larger in physical size and require strict adherence to connecting the condensing units to matching indoor coil units, using the correct size refrigeration tubing with the correct refrigerant charge, if the desired results are to be obtained…and therein lays the potential for fraud or scams.
Remember: The company
You Choose To Install and Service Your System Will
Determine The Degree of Comfort and Satisfaction
You Enjoy.
Got a question? Need more information? Have a constructive
comment? Click
here.
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