rusty:
About the compressors. I haven't cut any compressors open in the last 10-12 years or so. My back says I can't even pick um up anymore. But I have opened up probly 500 or better in the 30 years I spent scraping the dead AC units I brought home from my job as an HVAC installer.
I spent more than one Saturday cutting open 30-40 compressors at a time, and then most of the rest of my weekend to break um down ready for the fire.
I remember well how ragged I would get after going through all that work and finding an aluminum winding. I was ragged even further when I wouldn't catch it and through the aluminum winding in the fire with the copper windings and drip that aluminum all over the good stuff.
In the 30-40 or so that I cut , I would average maybe 4 of them would be aluminum. I mite need a refresher but I seem to remember that most all of the aluminum ones was coming from the 2.5 ton or smaller with the black shell. Pay attention to anything with a suction line 5/8 or smaller. I think the round tan ones (GE# and the red round ones # Trane) had a higher percent of aluminum windings also.
When you handel a bunch of compressors you start to get a feel for witch ones feel like they are a little lite. Kinda pay attention to the mass to weight ratio when your moving them around.
But that isn't rock solid ether, You still have to cut them to confirm, only to find out you knew it was lite one
I never could lock in as to what ones had the aluminum windings. At one point I was trying to pay attention to the serial numbers, looking for some code in the numbers to come up on all the aluminum stuff. But now were talking Tacumpsie, copeland, Sunstrand, Trane, GE, ?? (spllzing?
). We know they haven't standardized anything. Hard to take notes when your all greasy, so that didn't reveal anything.
I know the fractional fan motors especially < 1/2 HP with a sticker for a rating tag and not a riveted rating tag is very likely to be aluminum.
Just rambling
Ray
PS: Hint, you know your going to have to pick up every one of those compressors about 4 times before your done with it, so when you remove it from the AC be sure to leave a 4-5-6" stub on the suction line sticking out. It makes one heck of a good handle. Watch that back.
