# HVAC Noisy, not cooling. Bad compressor or low freon?



## Steve60513 (7 mo ago)

Had a new Ameristar 16 SEER unit installed almost exactly a year ago. The unit was impressively quiet when installed. Late in the Summer of '21, the unit started to get loud, and then it quit cooling. A/C Tech came out and put his gauges on the unit and couldn't find any issues. Said he added "just a squirt" of freon. Problem went away, has been working find and quiet again. Until today.

Today it kicked on pretty noisy:






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Then the system turned off due to thermostat, when I restarted it it was quiet -- almost TOO quiet. And the line to the evaporator coils was warm to the touch. I think the compressor is probably not running. No cooling at register.






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A few minutes later, it started cooling but not that much -- 12 degree (76F to 64F) drop from room temperature to register and unit sounded relatively "normal." It's currently running at a delta of 14 degrees (76 room temp, 62 vent temp).






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Sent all of this evidence to the HVAC tech who put it in and he immediately suspects that the compressor is bad and will need to be replaced. But he can't get here for several days to diagnose the issue, and then who knows how long it might take to get compressor.

I question whether the symptoms really point to compressor failure, and wonder if I'm getting the runaround from my HVAC guy. Wouldn't a failed compressor CONTINUE to make noise as long as the compressor is running? It seems to me that the more likely explanation is that the system is limping along on a low freon charge because i've got a leak.

Thoughts? Any advice would be appreciated, it's gonna be the hottest week of the summer.


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## channellxbob (Sep 27, 2020)

Well anything is possible. I'd give the technician a chance before getting bent out of shape. Compressors rarely go bad, but it does happen. Scrolls are notoriously durable, even when abused. Those delta show some cooling and not all that far off if under heavy latent load, but are a concern issue. Let the tech sort it out, I'd be willing to bet he'll make every honest effort.


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## Steven123cool (Mar 2, 2021)

I’m with you; noisy and no cooling intermittent. Sounds like the metering device is clogged and starving the compressor. It would also explain the high temp of your liquid line. When a compresssor is bad it does not work.


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