Compressor troubleshooting

[joesquid]

So here I was driving to Philly for two weeks of engineer training and the guy re-charging my compressor (original unit from Westinghouse WC-44SK) calls me and says that the compressor siezed up upon initial startup after he recharged the system.

The initial symptoms that led me to believe the compressor was low on charge were:
1.  Box not getting very cold
2.  First two passes in the evap iced up, following passes only cool to the touch
3.  Compressor got pretty hot after running 30 minutes

So I take it a local refirgeration repair company and the guy says he's fairly certain it needs a recharge.  He said he evacuated it and re-charged it (I failed to ask what he used) then he said he tried to run it and that was when the compressor siezed.  Fortunately he's not charging me anything for the attempt.  So here are my questions:

1.  Is there any way to repair this compressor?
2.  Would it be worth the attempt?
3.  Should I just save up and by a new deck from Eric at Global Compressors?

Thanks for any and all inputs!

[Yarochrehc]

Eric,
See if you can find out what type of refrigerant he used, it's possible that you can still save it?

Bob

[BrianB]

Eric -

My Cavalier 55D had the very same symptoms. Box not getting very cold, icing, got really hot (and finally crapped out). Turns out the 50 year old compressor had moved on to where dead compressors go.

As of today, my deck is shipping out with FedEx Ground from Global Compressors. I can't wait to get it re-installed.

More than likely he didn't use R-12. If that's true, he probably used an R-12 "compatible".

I think trying to get the compressor itself physically fixed would be quite expensive. If you are looking to keep the deck 100% stock, this is what you will have to do. Otherwise, you can have a new compressor, condensor fan, wiring harness, drier and, temperature control hooked up by Global. After shipping both ways, your probably looking at around $460.

Remember also, if you want to get a new deck, you'll have to get one from somebody that knows the exact configuration in all respects. The evap., as you well know, sits horizontal and has to fit inside the welded brackets.

Maybe you could ship the deck to Eric or whomever you choose to do the work and have them give you a completely new lower deck and re-use you upper's. Unless of course they have an evap. that will fit perfectly in the OEM brackets without hindering the operation of the vending mech.