Exterior Coil damage

[rlskfoster]

In December a post was shown that had what everyone agreed was dog urine damage to the exterior coil. Well I ran across the same thing today. The question I have is concerning performance of the system. The unit was an older janitrol but it ran quietly and differentials ranged from 17 to 19 degrees.

So the unit is functioning but it has coil damage similar in size to the other post. How much do you guys think this type of damage effects the operation of the unit.

I told him that it was running fine but I could not tell him what extent it affected the performance.

Any A/C guys out there know to what extent damaged or even flattened coils affects performance.

Thanks,

Buster

[chrisprickett]

It really depends. Urine will corrode the fins. Smooshing them will inhibit their ability to disipate heat. That's two strikes, and you say it's an "older" unit. You never can tell, but I wouldn't bet the farm.

[Bill Kibbel]

I freaked when I read that you operated a cooling system in February. I just drove home through a blinding snow squall and guess I forgot there are different climates in this country.

I personally don't rely too heavily on the temp. difference readings as the sole determining factor of a system's performance. Too often, inadequate return air flow can create acceptable delta T's when, in fact, the system is performing poorly. If it looked like the one that was posted earlier, I don't think I would have a problem reporting it as damaged, beyond repair and in need of replacement.

[rlskfoster]

I should have mentioned that we had a couple of days with mid 70's this past week and we had actually turned the unit on after we got there because the house was pretty warm. Back to reality yesterday and today--mid 50's. Two questions- what are delta T's and did you say snow? I don't see that much snow-ice from time to time but not alot of honest to goodness snow.

Client was gonna have system checked out by a HVAC tech because of this and an out of balance fan motor on inside unit. I was just curious about the whole thing.

[kurt]

You certainly can't get in trouble noting the damage & questioning the condition in your report; you saw a problem, you informed the customer, & you told them of the possible problems.

Referring this sort of thing back to a mfg's. rep is a good, smart, & safe approach. There is the distinct possibility that minor fin damage won't mean squat, but I doubt any mfg. is going to bless it.

Plus, you're in Texas where AC equipment gets hammered. It's old, it's beat up, fins are damaged; at minimum, you tell the customer that future performance life is completely unknown & that they should expect to replace it.

[kurt]

Hey, you snuck a post in under mine!

Delta T's = Difference of Temperature

[rlskfoster]

[^]I like that! I'm gonna use that when we have the giant temperature swings we get from day to day around. I'll just say, "can ya'll believe the Delta T's we been having lately."

Buster