Okay I have to re evaluate the hvac guy. The unit kicked the breaker again last night and so I called the guy this morning and he came back out today to recheck. He put another capacitor on along with a boost capacitor for a hard start but that did not work. He then started testing for a bad compressor and when he went to pull the wire plug from the compressor to test it he found the compressor had been really hot and the wires running along side the compressor had melted stuck to the compressor and he could not get the plug out because it had gotten to hot and was stuck. He tested the end of the wires going to the compressor and said it had an open winding somewhere inside. Looks like Monday will be a long day.

I have three options:

1)put a new compressor in a 12yr old unit for around $900-$1000 OUCH

2)replace with new unit for around $3500-$4000 BIGGER OUCH

3)swap with a 3yr old unit not being used but under warranty from the property in the country for around $600

I am going for option 3 as I can not use the unit on the house in the country.

After the swap on Monday we will see how it goes. I really need to not have anymore problems with the only rental I have especially because I have the convention to go to in a short while. Not to mention the fact I would like to make money not loose it.

On a side note I also called the utilities company and they came out and checked for any problems on there end since there was the plant fire last week. The hvac has had problems ever since but the hvac guy said there should be no connection.

6,

For my first dozen homes that never had central air here in the Hot San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, I used to buy used A/C equipment from owners who added onto their home an needed a larger system. This meant that I had to do a lot of service work.

In the beginning of real estate investing I had replaced bad units with someone else’s system as Robert described but back then units had shelve life of 25yrs. Today shelve life can be be half that, so best to just replace. Your unit age is a perfect example.

Also, is this a package unit or split system?

Thank you all for the responses. I had a much longer comment and when I hit submit something happened to it. Much shorter version. I am getting a second opinion on Monday.

I agree with Vee about Short.

I agree with others about used units but one in country is hardly used and is under a little more warranty and is just sitting there waiting to be used.

I've been an airplane mechanic since i been 14. I'm now 68. I'm not a car mech because I wouldn't work in a profession in which I didn't trust my work withs. Same goes for AC and heating. Learn what you can as fast as you can you U understand the system.

Fact is he put a capacitor on-- and it worked? I don't think so. Cause now he put on a hard start kit and it worked? And then not? When you have compressor wires burned they just don't come on and off like a lite switch. So either the compressor was bad right off or he doesn't know what the heck he's doing. I think if you pull those 3 wires off the compressor you'll see at least 1 burned off the terminal if not 2. there's a kit to fix them.

As far as replace. If you can get the model number from your unit-- the compressor-- try to get it drop shipped to you. Then find your off duty tech with torch and Freon to put it in. Total should be around 600. TAXTAGTITLE whole shebang!!!

Most HVAC guys will credit you the first call if they get the replacement job. So no lost money there.

I've done HVAC for decades. I can easily see replacing a capacitor and moving on. If the capacitor is obviously bad, and the unit starts up with a replacement... readings could easily be normal until things heat up again.

I've replaced a capacitor, had the unit run normally, and come back the next day to find a failed compressor. In this case, the compressor was probably causing the first capacitor to fail, and the second put it over the edge. You can't really know that in advance.

Thank you all again.

myob, good to see you back.

gevans, thank you for the insider explanation.

6 bye I'm not really back but in the middle of the pacific ocean between HI and Vancouver BC.

give yourself this little lesson on AC units. 1st don't be bambosseled by ac people saying how complicated it is-- it's not but they love making regular folks think there the kings of comfort when they get them working.

What is it with these hvac guys? I do seem to be up and running now. Turns out the unit from the country was no longer under warranty, my bad. Needed a high pressure switch but the guy really didn't want to change it. He told me he could just leave the jumper wire on and there were other saftey measures in place for the compressor. He wanted to charge me $20 per pound for the freon and the unit takes almost 9 pounds. I asked him why couldn't he recover the freon and put it back in when done changing the part. He didn't have his gauges and almost didn't have any brazing rod and didn't have his recovery machine or empty tank he could catch some freon in. He did however have scales so he weighed the amount of freon going in. He took off around $100 for the freon after my discussion with him. All total repair second unit(hopefully)and swap out $665. I can live with that but I won't be using this guy again either. That is two bad references.

myob, thank you a lot for the information. I now have my old unit and the old pressure switch in storage to play with when I have time. It is not hooked up to electricity I will just be looking at parts and learning how to test them I hope.