Home Guides Home Home Improvement Can a Central Air Conditioner Compressor Motor Be Rebuilt? Email Reddit Central air conditioner motor compressors can be rebuilt. Whether you can rebuild a central air conditioner compressor motor is not a simple "yes" or "no" question. No, it cannot be rebuilt in the field when servicing a central air conditioning system. Defective motor compressors are replaced in the field with new or reconditioned units. The malfunctioning motor compressor is sent back to the factory to be reconditioned, then sold as a reconditioned unit. No Full Servicing The motor compressors for central air conditioning units are hermetically sealed units with no user-serviceable parts. The motor and compressor are contained in the same housing with the housing halves welded together. Field servicing is limited to replacing the motor compressor’s start relays, run capacitors and starting capacitors. Remanufacturing Special tools and jigs are required to cut open the housing so defective parts can be replaced.

After this, reconditioning special welders are used to weld the housing together again. The special tools and jigs are quite expensive, and it would not be cost effective for the average service shop to purchase them. : Air Conditioner Compressor, A Troubleshooting GuideInspectAPedia: Air Conditioning and Heat Pump Compressor/Condenser Unit RepairsAmerican Hermetics: Our Remanufacturing Process -- The American Way Photo Credits Comstock/Comstock/Getty Images Suggest a Correction Let's get some housekeeping topics out of the way before we tackle the unique components that make up a standard air conditioner. The biggest job an air conditioner has to do is to cool the indoor air. That's not all it does, though. Air conditioners monitor and regulate the air temperature via a thermostat. They also have an onboard filter that removes airborne particulates from the circulating air. Air conditioners function as dehumidifiers. Because temperature is a key component of relative humidity, reducing the temperature of a volume of humid air causes it to release a portion of its moisture.

That's why there are drains and moisture-collecting pans near or attached to air conditioners, and why air conditioners discharge water when they operate on humid days.air conditioning fan on or auto Still, the major parts of an air conditioner manage refrigerant and move air in two directions: indoors and outside:ac window unit lock Evaporator -Condenser -Expansion valve -Compressor -how do portable air conditioning units work The cold side of an air conditioner contains the evaporator and a fan that blows air over the chilled coils and into the room. The hot side contains the compressor, condenser and another fan to vent hot air coming off the compressed refrigerant to the outdoors. In between the two sets of coils, there's an expansion valve.

It regulates the amount of compressed liquid refrigerant moving into the evaporator. Once in the evaporator, the refrigerant experiences a pressure drop, expands and changes back into a gas. The compressor is actually a large electric pump that pressurizes the refrigerant gas as part of the process of turning it back into a liquid. There are some additional sensors, timers and valves, but the evaporator, compressor, condenser and expansion valve are the main components of an air conditioner. Although this is a conventional setup for an air conditioner, there are a couple of variations you should know about. Window air conditioners have all these components mounted into a relatively small metal box that installs into a window opening. The hot air vents from the back of the unit, while the condenser coils and a fan cool and re-circulate indoor air. Bigger air conditioners work a little differently: Central air conditioners share a control thermostat with a home's heating system, and the compressor and condenser, the hot side of the unit, isn't even in the house.

It's in a separate all-weather housing outdoors. In very large buildings, like hotels and hospitals, the exterior condensing unit is often mounted somewhere on the roof.Refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors provide air conditioning, heat pumping,  and refrigeration for large-scale facilities and equipment. They use compression to raise the temperature of a low-pressure gas, and also remove vapor from the evaporator. Most refrigeration compressors (refrigerant compressors) are large, mechanical units that form the heart of industrial cooling, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Many air conditioning compressors are also large-scale mechanical devices; however, these compressors are designed specifically for air conditioning systems and do not provide heating or ventilation functions. Refrigerant compressors work by taking in low pressure gas on the inlet and compressing it mechanically.  Different types of compression mechanisms are what differentiate compressors (discussed below).

This compression creates a high temperature, high pressure gas - an essential step in the overarching refrigeration cycle. The refrigeration cycle or heat pump cycle is the model  describing the transfer of heat from regions of lower temperature to regions of higher temperature. It defines the operating principles behind refrigerators, air conditioners, heaters, and other "heat pumping" devices. This diagram presents a visual overview of the refrigeration cycle: The letters A-D indicate the different system components. The numbers 1-5 indicate the different physical states of the refrigerant fluid as it moves through the system. This video provides further explanation of the refrigeration cycle: Video Credit: Learn Enginering / CC BY-SA 4.0 Temperature-entropy and pressure-enthalpy diagrams are often used to construct and describe these systems. They define the properties of the fluid at different stages in the system. The diagram below depicts temperature-entropy a typical refrigeration cycle:

The following diagram shows pressure-entropy of a typical refrigeration cycle: There are a number of different types of compressors used for refrigeration and air conditioning. Like pumps, all "heat pumps" can first be categorized as either positive displacement or non-positive displacement (centrifugal). Positive displacement compressors have chambers which decrease in volume during compression, while non-positive displacement compressors have fixed-volume chambers. Beyond this distinction, each type differs based on its specific mechanism for fluid compression. The five main types of compressors are piston, rotary, screw, scroll, and centrifugal. Piston compressors, also called reciprocating compressors, use a piston and cylinder arrangement to provide compressive force - like combustion engines or piston pumps. The reciprocating motion of the piston due to external power compresses the refrigerant inside the cylinder. Piston compressors have a low initial cost and a simple, easy to install design.

They have a large power output range and can reach extremely high pressures. However, they have high maintenance costs, potential vibrational issues, and are not typically designed to run continuously at full capacity. Rotary compressors have two rotating elements, like gears, between which the refrigerant is compressed. These compressors are very efficient because the actions of taking in refrigerant and compressing refrigerant occur simultaneously. They have very few moving parts, low rotational speeds, low initial and maintenance costs, and are forgiving in dirty environments. However, they are limited to smaller volumes of the gas and produce less pressure than other types of compressors. The following diagram shows rotary vane compressor operation. Screw compressors use a pair of helical rotors or screws which mesh together to compress the refrigerant between them. They can produce high pressure for a small quantity of gas and consume less power than reciprocating compressors.

They have low to medium initial and maintenance costs and few moving parts. However, they have difficulty in dirty environments, high rotational speeds, and shorter life expectancies than other designs. Scroll compressors use two offset spiral disks nested together to compress the refrigerant. The upper disk is stationary while the lower disk moves in orbital fashion. Scroll compressors are quiet, smooth-operating units with few moving parts and the highest efficiency ratio of all compressor types. They also are more flexible for handling refrigerants in the liquid. However, as fully hermetic designs, scroll compressors cannot be easily repaired. They also typically cannot rotate in both directions. Scroll compressors are commonly used in automobile air conditioning systems and commercial chillers. Centrifugal compressors use the rotating action of an impeller wheel to exert centrifugal force on refrigerant inside a round chamber (volute). Unlike other designs, centrifugal compressors do not operate on the positive displacement principle, but have fixed volume chambers. 

They are well suited to compressing large volumes of refrigerant to relatively low pressures. The compressive force generated by an impeller wheel is small, so systems that use centrifugal compressors usually employ two or more stages (impellers wheels) in series to generate high compressive forces. Centrifugal compressors are desirable for their simple design, few moving parts, and energy efficiency when operating multiple stages. Usually compressors are designed to work with a particular type of refrigerant. Selecting a proper refrigeration compressor or air conditioning compressor requires finding a compressor rated for the desired refrigerant for the application. Refrigerants are given names such as R-12 or R-134a from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE). Ideal refrigerants have favorable thermodynamic properties and are chemically inert (noncorrosive), environmentally friendly (degradable), and safe (nontoxic, nonflammable).

The desired fluid should have a boiling point somewhat below the target temperature, a high heat of vaporization, moderate liquid density, high gas density, and a high critical temperature. There are a number of specifications to consider when selecting compressors. These include capacity, condensing temperature, evaporating temperature, flow rate, and power. Charts like this one are provided by the compressor's manufacturer, allowing engineers to make these adjustments properly once in the system: Refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors also carry power-source specifications defined by voltage / frequency / phase. Common choices include 12 VDC and 24 VDC, as well as 115/60/1, 230/50/1, 208-230/60/1, 208-230/60/3, 380/50/3, 460/60/3 and 575/60/3. Refrigeration compressors and air conditioning compressors can incorporate a number of features which may be important for certain applications. Standards related to refrigeration and air conditioning compressors include: