MWF FEED
5th October 2022, 12:30 PM
The recent post about compressor service costs reminded me of a recent experience with our 5yr old ducted Panasonic air con - came home one Friday evening from a day out - turned on the AC for some heating and after a short while noticed things weren't warming up, after a lot of pressing buttons on the controller and turning off the power to reset the unit I eventually came to the conclusion there was a fault, the code was P22 - external fan failure. I'm not getting any younger and my wife has banned me from getting on the roof so a Panasonic tech was called on the Monday, within 15 min he had diagnosed external fan failure and narrowed it down to the top fan motor - that will be $140 please - we will send you a quote to fix. Next day's email has a quote for $985 to replace said fan motor - once I accept they will order the part - as I'm banned from getting on the roof so the quote is accepted and a return email advises the part has been ordered and should arrive within 7 days, this is about the time there was a cold snap and night temp is down to 5deg so we sit under blankets in the evenings while watching TV. 9 days later an email advises that the part has arrived and a contractor will call next day to install said part.
The contractor arrives and I'm a bit surprised to see a lady with a foreign accent (turns out she is an electrical engineer from Bolivia) but as long as the job is done doesn't matter who does it, I show her the external unit, she places the ladder against the gutter but lack of room between house and fence means the ladder base is hard against the fence with not much room for a person to squeeze in between the two - I suggest she put the ladder at the front of the house and walk over the roof - once she is on the roof I watch from below.
Not sure what it was - maybe my presence intimidates her - but she seems unsure of what to do - with the covers off the outdoor unit she looks at it for some time until I suggest she remove the motor and fan blades as one unit and once this is off and on the ground the fan can be removed, the new motor installed and the fan blades refitted. She decides to try to remove the fan blades first and then the motor, she did not take spanners/sockets onto the roof so I offer to bring my sockets, once I'm on the roof I hold the fan while she tries to undo the holding nut - it's not budging so I suggest that it shouldn't be that hard and maybe it is a LH thread - this doesn't sink in maybe because of the language barrier, I don't want to be too forcefull as after all she is the air con tech and I'm just a retiree. Eventually she agrees to remove the motor/fan as I suggested - with this off I take it down to the ground and remove the nut (LH thread) and fan blades, I climb back onto the roof and support the new fan motor while she puts the first screw in - the fan blades go on but need a whack from a plastic hammer to fully seat home before the nut can be started (once again I'm up and down the ladder to fetch a plastic hammer), I get off the roof and leave the final cable connecting and covers to her. Once done she commissions the unit and makes sure all is working - thanks me for my help and leaves.
In her defence the outdoor unit is very close to the edge of the roof, and one can't work from the front where you should, but you need to reach around - it isn't comfortable or convenient working on the edge of a sloping roof, and even worse if one is uncomfortable with heights, would she have done the job if I hadn't been there to help? more than likely yes, just would have taken a bit longer, would I have assisted a male tech in the same situation - yes.
The fan motor is (I think) a brushelss DC motor the red wire in the pic had burnt through - I've cut the plastic away from around the wire entry point and I'll get around to joining the red wire back on and add some sort of cable strain relief, I think it will work ok and I'll have a spare for future, if I need it.
Attached Images
https://metalworkforums.com/images/attach/jpg.gif 20221005_101332.jpg (https://metalworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=400064&d=1664930838) (111.3 KB)
Read the full thread at metalworkforums.com... (https://metalworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=208504&goto=newpost)
The contractor arrives and I'm a bit surprised to see a lady with a foreign accent (turns out she is an electrical engineer from Bolivia) but as long as the job is done doesn't matter who does it, I show her the external unit, she places the ladder against the gutter but lack of room between house and fence means the ladder base is hard against the fence with not much room for a person to squeeze in between the two - I suggest she put the ladder at the front of the house and walk over the roof - once she is on the roof I watch from below.
Not sure what it was - maybe my presence intimidates her - but she seems unsure of what to do - with the covers off the outdoor unit she looks at it for some time until I suggest she remove the motor and fan blades as one unit and once this is off and on the ground the fan can be removed, the new motor installed and the fan blades refitted. She decides to try to remove the fan blades first and then the motor, she did not take spanners/sockets onto the roof so I offer to bring my sockets, once I'm on the roof I hold the fan while she tries to undo the holding nut - it's not budging so I suggest that it shouldn't be that hard and maybe it is a LH thread - this doesn't sink in maybe because of the language barrier, I don't want to be too forcefull as after all she is the air con tech and I'm just a retiree. Eventually she agrees to remove the motor/fan as I suggested - with this off I take it down to the ground and remove the nut (LH thread) and fan blades, I climb back onto the roof and support the new fan motor while she puts the first screw in - the fan blades go on but need a whack from a plastic hammer to fully seat home before the nut can be started (once again I'm up and down the ladder to fetch a plastic hammer), I get off the roof and leave the final cable connecting and covers to her. Once done she commissions the unit and makes sure all is working - thanks me for my help and leaves.
In her defence the outdoor unit is very close to the edge of the roof, and one can't work from the front where you should, but you need to reach around - it isn't comfortable or convenient working on the edge of a sloping roof, and even worse if one is uncomfortable with heights, would she have done the job if I hadn't been there to help? more than likely yes, just would have taken a bit longer, would I have assisted a male tech in the same situation - yes.
The fan motor is (I think) a brushelss DC motor the red wire in the pic had burnt through - I've cut the plastic away from around the wire entry point and I'll get around to joining the red wire back on and add some sort of cable strain relief, I think it will work ok and I'll have a spare for future, if I need it.
Attached Images
https://metalworkforums.com/images/attach/jpg.gif 20221005_101332.jpg (https://metalworkforums.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=400064&d=1664930838) (111.3 KB)
Read the full thread at metalworkforums.com... (https://metalworkforums.com/showthread.php?t=208504&goto=newpost)