Expert: Howard Livingston - 6/23/2009

Question
We installed a new frigidaire hvac unit in 2004. We have had nothing but trouble w/ the temperature since. Only when it starts to get hot around June-Nov. We set our temp on 76 & it runs all day til evening unless you shut it off. Like just now its set to 76 & says its 81 in here. So I just shut the ac off. Usually after about a month of this the ac starts leaking & flooding my living room floor. The drain pan is not enough. We have to put buckets under there & empty them out 2-3x daily. (The system is in a closet in my living area). Also occasionally after a month or so it'll freeze outside. BUT the lea & freezing occurs after the temp. starts messing up. We have had over a dozen repair men come fix it & while half just made money off us (charged by hr.) & still did not know that problem. We have ad 3 people say coil, 2 say condenser, & rest just didn't know. I ac company replaced the coil october 2007, put in some type of extender copper pipe w/ a black round thing on it (sorry dont know what its called) First he did not know the problem thats when they did the pipe, that did not work came back out & used nitro to look for a leak & no leak, but said there could still be a small one somewhere & charged it. When that didnt work then they changed coil out. Wen they did this everything stopped leaks, freezing, & temp. That did work for a while. Winter came it was fine then summer  2008 same prob. Different techs came out from other companies & nobody knows the prob. The guy that was here said it was not the coil but could not figure the prob. so he changed a few orbs, I think. (Things that are on coil). He said it was over charged so he let out a little freon. He was here for 2 1/2 weeks & still did not know the prob. He contacted Frigidaire customer service tech & they said to change coil again so he changed entire coil again & it worked. Now its messing up again. Started last week. We had to replace our entire carpet last yr. & I need to figure the cause before the leaking starts again.

Answer
Reminds me of a problem with 2 heat pumps 2 friends had installed themselves. Both had compressors fail repeatedly. It was a factory flaw on the line with capillary tubes misplaced. I think that is your problem. Smething went wrong on the factory mfg. line where they make them by the hundreds. You really need both inside & outside replaced at one time. Probably a faulty compressor is involved too. It's just a lemon that can never be repaired, just replace it.
Now, get hold of the local sales rep for your brand equipment. Get his name from the supply house selling that brand.Give him all the facts you have, hopefully a lot. Insist on replacing everything for free. They can do it & have before. Lots of luck. There needs to be a lemon law for this stuff also.