We have a two-stage heat pump/air handler (electric auxiliary heat) heating system. Kelvinator is the name on the heat pump, and the system was installed as part of the new house construction three years ago this June. The heat pump went Tango Uniform on Thursday afternoon after working just fine on Thursday morning. The panel breaker flipped, and upon resetting the breaker, the heat pump started up and the breaker flipped again in approximately one second. I thought to myself it was a bad capacitator, motor or compressor and called the HVAC company.
They just left. The compressor is dead, and they are not exactly sure why, but think the cause will be evident when it is replaced. They wondered if the purge and refrigerant install at the initial install was done correctly and was the unit working correctly as a two-stage system. The tech bled some refrigerant off a valve and noted that it smelled normal and not burned. The exterior coils were clean and intact. It looks as though the compressor will be covered under the five-year warranty.
It will be a 4-5 hour job for $ 2100 if the compressor is warrantied and $ 4100 if the compressor is not. They were able to find the necessary 2.5-3 ton compressor in Seattle and it will be shipped up to the HVAC company in a couple of days. By signing up for a one year service plan, I was able to reduce certain of the charges by 15% plus getting the annual check out and service call.
So for the HVAC gurus here, any ideas as to the dead compressor? And more importantly, is there anything I should be doing to prevent future problems? The tech did say that the builder installed relatively low-end systems, and they will probably have a 10-12 year service life before needing replacement.