Air Conditioning, Heating and Plumbing - Advice, Discussion and Tips from ARS®/Rescue Rooter®. Welcome to the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect, your online resource center for information, answers and interactive advice about air conditioning, heating, plumbing and drain maintenance. As part of our commitment to providing exceptional service, we created the ARS/Rescue Rooter Home Connect to be a useful tool with many helpful ways to find what you need.
My central air conditioning unit was stolen (the one outside that I think is called the compressor). I had a 13 seer 2 ton. I have received several bids for the work, and I have been informed that I will have to change out my whole unit, inside and out. This is very expensive. Is that true and would it be okay if I bought a used compressor that is a 3 ton? What can happen when using a unit that is bigger than the other parts of the AC unit? Will it be overworked?
Purchasing a larger compressor than the one you have will not be a good option. An air conditioning system has to be matched properly in order to work. If your outdoor unit is a larger one than the indoor section is designed for, then the system will freeze and/or destroy the compressor. There are many things to consider, such as the refrigerant your system uses and the type of indoor coil and the age of the indoor coil. Since you had a 13 SEER outdoor unit, it is possible that your indoor coil is new enough and versatile enough to be re-used with a new outdoor unit. If however the indoor coil is older than the outdoor unit, then it would probably not be a possibility to re-use it, and it would require a replacement along with the outdoor unit. If you have a heat pump or electric heat, then the whole indoor unit would need to be replaced. I suggest you follow the advice of a reputable professional HVAC contractor, such as ARS/Rescue Rooter, who will provide information on the wide range of energy saving high efficiency systems now available.
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