Why do Trane, Ruud, Goodman, etc. put those horrible covers on their A/C compressors?

DanInNaperville

It makes it impossible to check, much less clean, the cooling fins.
I think Goodman calls theirs an acoustic cover - which makes sense since once the compressor burns out from trying to shed heat through a thick layer of dandelion, milkweed, and cottonwood seeds, it gets downright silent.
I have a 30 year old weather king unit that I can check with a glance and clean with a shop vac in about 3 minutes.
The 4 year old Ruud sitting next to it requires the removal of 34 screws of differing lengths just to check whether or not the unit's clogged.
Why are they designed that way? Is it so they'll burn out and the company can sell another unit? During cottonwood season I sometimes have to clean off the units twice in a week. You can't even check the Ruud, and I've seen almost all of the alternatives using the same awful design (weather king was bought out by Rheem and now uses the same horrible case design).
Is MrCool the only one left making a coil guard that doesn't block easy inspection? It seems to be a pretty marginal company in terms of size and options, but it's better than something that runs at about 2 SEER because the coil is blocked.

newagedawn

welcome to my world, get over it

HVACNUT

Because people want quiet.
No biggie.

nicholas bonham-carter

What about making a cover out of some porous cloth to go over the whole unit? That cover will catch all the fluff, and can easily be cleaned, instead of having to dismantle the metal cover.—NBC

DanInNaperville

nicholas bonham-carter said:

What about making a cover out of some porous cloth to go over the whole unit? That cover will catch all the fluff, and can easily be cleaned, instead of having to dismantle the metal cover.—NBC

Maybe nylon screen over a frame? It would have to be something that would neither fall apart nor clog up when wet.

GBart

NOISE

Scroll compressors are noisy, without them you'd be looking at 80-100db, with them 50-60db.

There shouldn't be any reason to remove them to clean a coil.

JUGHNE

I think we are talking about two different covers.
Gbart, I believe, is talking about the soft "cozy" cover right over the compressor for noise.

Dan, I believe, is referring to the tight louvers on the outer jacket.
Rheen/Ruud had these years ago. For a really good clean the entire jacket needed to come off. If it was washed yearly then the backwash from inside out was usually enough. Needing to lift the fan grill only for that.
I always advise people to shut the AC off while mowing the grass...….that usually is forgotten.
If you had the hailstorms we get in the Midwest, as a homeowner you are glad for the real steel guarding the Al fins.

And then my own question is what do you do with none guarded micro channel coil after a good (bad) hailstorm?

GBart

Aye that is what I was talking about.

There's a huge difference between a condenser and a compressor.

DanInNaperville

JUGHNE said:

And then my own question is what do you do with none guarded micro channel coil after a good (bad) hailstorm?

That's a good point. At my previous house, I went with a Kenmore (rebranded Heil) over a Trane (both offered at same price, same specs, same installation cost) because the kenmore had an open wire case over the coils and the Trane has one of those cabinets. We had a number of hailstorms over the years but nothing more than an inch. It was never a problem but if it were big enough hail, at some point it certainly would have caused damage (but it was never an issue in ~20 years of having that unit and my homeowners insurance does cover hail damage).
What the insurance would not cover would be burnout from a blocked (therefore improperly maintained) compressor/condenser unit.
The guy that Sears sent out was really helpful but was surprised that I wanted the Kenmore (Heil). Trane was doing a lot of advertising at the time and apparently considered to be a premium unit. It was only because there was sale on the Trane that the two systems were the same cost and he said that most of his customers had gone with Trane even when it was costing somewhat more.
But a clogged unit is useless, no matter how great when first installed.
He also refused to sell me a larger (more expensive) unit until I told him we were about to put a 700 sq ft addition onto the house and tie it into the unit (which I never got around to). His load calculation said we would be OK (actually better off) with a smaller less expensive unit and he didn't want to sell me the bigger one. Good guys and they did an excellent job on the installation, too. Never had an issue with it in all those years other than the condensation line clogging a couple times (we have cats that shed a lot of hair that gets into things) and I cleared that in 30 seconds with a coat hanger.

ChrisJ

As has been mentioned, the acoustic cover on the compressor it self is for noise. Also, in my opinion, it should stop, or at least greatly reduce sweating as it keeps most of the air off of the compressor shell. The compressor is cooled by return gas, not surrounding air.


As far as the louvered shell around the condenser, that's to protect the condenser. Is it really necessary, I have no idea. I guess it depends on what goes on in your yard or around the unit. It's probably primarily a selling feature and perhaps even more cosmetic than functional.

Why is your unit getting dirty so fast that this is a problem? Is it near a clothes dryer vent?

DanInNaperville

Nearby cottonwood trees seems to be the cause of the occasional "instant" clog. During the couple of weeks during which they spread their dandelion like cotton seeds the condenser fins can require cleaning every few days - a real headache if there's a full cover. For a non handy homeowner, I imagine having central A/C is basically not possible.

mikeg2015

Some units, the louvers covers come off with jsut a few sheet metal screws. On Lennox, they have sort of a hinge, so remove 16 scfews and all 4 covers pivot open. You can also lift them off the hinges. On the flip side, my Lennox is the loudest compressor in the same price class I
Ve owned. But thats mainly because of no compressor blanket and the cheaper fan design. My Carriers were whisper quiet but open enough to clean pretty easy with a hose.

On Goodman, be careful. the fins are so thin they bend easily with any sort of pressure.

mikeg2015

PRetty common to use regular fiberglass screen material over Make-up air units that draw 100% outside air. We have 13 units at my work bringing in almost 400,000CFM of air. I got them all 90% clean in about 30 minutes using just a small broom one day. The next week they were coated again. Thunderstorms sometimes clean them off partially.

DanInNaperville

mikeg2015 said:

Some units, the louvers covers come off with jsut a few sheet metal screws.

Do you happen to recall which ones had only a few screws?
Thanks!
Dan

DanInNaperville

mikeg2015 said:

PRetty common to use regular fiberglass screen material over Make-up air units that draw 100% outside air. We have 13 units at my work bringing in almost 400,000CFM of air. I got them all 90% clean in about 30 minutes using just a small broom one day. The next week they were coated again. Thunderstorms sometimes clean them off partially.

Fiberglass screen is a great idea. It would probably clog up more quickly, but be a breeze to maintain.
I used to be able to run a push broom over my old Kenmore A/C condenser to clean it. Just the one unit so it took less than a minute to get the thing brushed off and flowing again. It was pretty noisy, but it sure beat being useless!