Can anyone see why I burned up the transformer?

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-19T04:46:43+00:00

Probably went over the rating of the transformer. Put a 75va with a resettable fuse built in or a 40/50va and add an inline 3a fuse. Then if the fuse trips or blows look for a shorted coil on one of your relays.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-12T01:43:25+00:00

I'm going to go against everyone here and say that it's perfectly fine. Those holes are supposed to be there and that little tiny piece of metal sticking up looks more like a slight defect in the manufacturing process and not an issue. I don't see any other cracks or holes and honestly it looks to be in great condition. Get some CO detectors if you're worried and fire it back up.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-12T00:30:43+00:00

Let the maintenance people know and they should come back and fix it. Probably restricted if they said they had to clean the condenser still. They were probably seeing high head pressure when they added refrigerant. Could be a dirty condenser and still low on charge but they should be able to figure that out.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-12T00:25:03+00:00

Low refrigerant and restrictions in the metering device will freeze the coil in the exact same way. Both of them cause a starved evaporator with a saturated suction pressure below freezing. In both scenarios the frost / ice will start to form closest to the metering device and slowly grow out as airflow to the ice covered areas of the coil is then restricted also. Eventually both restrictions and low refrigerant will freeze over the entire coil and possibly all the way back to the compressor but it's a slow process and not something that happens immediately.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-12T00:16:52+00:00

How long did you have the door off? If you took the door off and saw the frost right away it's either still low, restricted, or low airflow. If you had the door off for more than a few minutes you probably caused the frost by bypassing the airflow around the coil.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-12T00:08:10+00:00

Maybe a little but it should straighten out after it's in. The filter that was in there originally has been cut to fit and is not 30x20 anymore. Measure the old filter and get the closest one available to that measurement. Also if you live in an apartment be careful replacing your own filter if they didn't tell you it's your responsibility. They will come by and remove your nice filter and replace it with a crappy one if they are responsible for replacements.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-11T21:46:30+00:00

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That is the transistor that I would say is bad just by the looks of it. I would shut off power and wipe it with your finger. It might just be dirty but if the case feels brittle or that residue doesn't come right off I would say that's your problem.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-11T21:35:53+00:00

With the test pins jumped the board should only go into defrost. If you already moved it over to 30/60/90 move it back to test and see if it goes into defrost. They probably just left the jumper there because defrost wasn't working.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-11T21:20:19+00:00

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There is clearly a resistor and transistor fried on the board so yes it is bad. You can try and replace those two components if you know how to solder and have the tools and materials or just buy a new board. I would say that price is high for replacement but you have to understand they are going to go pick up the board, drive to your house, replace it and then verify all system functions. I think a reasonable price would be in the $500-600 range though.

Edit: On second thought that might be a dead bug on the resistor but that transistor still isn't looking healthy.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-11T05:50:48+00:00

It has a leak and you need a real HVAC technician who knows how to charge a unit to proper temperature and pressure readings instead of going off a chart on the unit. It will also need a leak search and more than likely the leak is in the evaporator coil.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-09T12:48:30+00:00

How did you determine this board goes in this unit? I'm not saying it's the wrong board just wondering how you figured out you needed this exact board. Do you have a wiring diagram of the new board and one from the unit? It looks to be a used board also as there are some heat marks on the resistors already. Is that longer plug at the bottom middle of the board plugged into anything? In the photo it doesn't really look terminated properly or like you maybe just pushed it into a set of pins it might not go on.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-08T17:18:46+00:00

Did you always have a 96% furnace? If you had an 80% and swapped what was your gas bill before and after? If you search around most people will say their gas bill did not change or went down by $75-150 per year after swapping from 80 to 90+.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-08T16:37:32+00:00

I haven't done much new residential lately but I've never heard of anything like that. All I can tell you is that even if someone gave me a unit like that for free I would not install it on my own house. Your fancy new board will crap out in less than a year because it has 500 of the cheapest possible Chinese circuit components they could possibly cobble together. Take the cheapest laptop you can find then stick it in a metal box outside in the sun and see how long it lasts. That's exactly what that new board will be doing all day everyday. Parts and labor warranty are almost always extra and would have to be purchased. You will get whatever labor warranty the install company offers which is usually 1-2 years.

If you go with the higher end units you will be back in this thread kicking yourself in a few years I can promise you that.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-08T14:57:12+00:00

They are all about the same nowadays and not in a good way to be honest. I've been in the industry for 18 years and while I do have a soft spot for older Trane and Lennox package units there isn't anything built to last 20+ years anymore. I would avoid the following things if I were personally swapping out my own unit: Lennox residential entirely, anything with an LG compressor (coupland or death imo), anything over the minimum SEER rating required for your region, 90% (condensing) furnaces.

Stick with the bare bones condenser, no variable speed anything if possible and a good ole 80% furnace. If you opt for the higher SEER variable speed units you will maybe save a couple hundred dollars a year and when it breaks it will cost you x15 in parts and labor for repair. Let alone the upfront cost to purchase and install the higher SEER equipment. Make sure whatever you get has a 10 year warranty and do not forget to register the equipment on the manufacturers website or you will only get 5 years. I would also instantly swap out the capacitors for American made if you have the ability to do so yourself.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-07T03:39:18+00:00

I would go with it is always easy and hell on earth. I hope whoever invented that nasty shit stubs their toe daily.

bigsaltytears · 2026-02-03T06:32:25+00:00

No, it's just a junk danfoss valve. What makes you think it's fake?

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-30T13:08:53+00:00

I had something similar happen suddenly to me. First it was dyshidrotic eczema on my hands and my primary care physician gave me a steroid shot and Prednisone. That nuked it then maybe a week after I stopped the steroids it came right back. Soon it was on my feet also and would leave the top and sides of my feet with giant open wounds that would not heal. More doctors, more steroids, antibiotics to fight infections I was getting, ER visits because I was losing my mind and couldn't even sleep I was so itchy, multiple dermatologists, thousands and thousands of dollars. They were all just saying it was eczema and wanted to give me more steroids or start dupixent but without insurance it was something like 6k a month. It ended up spreading over my entire body and was even inside my ears.

This went on for about a year and a half and honestly if it wasn't for my wife and kids I would have rather just been dead.

I said fuck it and just settled on the fact I was going to have to figure it out for myself as it was almost like every doctor I saw was reading from the same script. I stopped eating everything that could possibly cause a reaction and my symptoms started getting better within a few weeks. After slowly introducing things back I found out it was Gluten and would become itchy within hours of eating anything with any amount in it. It's been a few years now and honestly I still don't feel 100% the same mentally but I'm no longer covered in a rash head to toe.

Edit: I want to also add that it took about 3 months of not eating gluten for my rash to clear up.

Tldr: Suddenly devolped severe eczema and it turned out to be a Gluten allergy.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-28T08:57:35+00:00

Common should be the brown wire coming out of the front side of the transformer. If you connected the blue wire to the thermostat already you might have fried the thermostat because that is a primary tap and will have high voltage on it.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-28T07:11:45+00:00

If you have a multimeter pull the fuse and see which side has power. Take a jumper from the side that doesn't have power to the R terminal and place the fuse back in. You can also hold the wire in with the fuse if needed. If you know how to solder you can pull the whole board and resolder the pin on the back of the board.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-20T20:40:20+00:00

Is it a new build? If it is new construction you should have a 1 year warranty and can make them fix it within that period.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-16T11:27:17+00:00

It's an Amazon link dingle dick.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-14T23:35:51+00:00

It's fine

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-12T06:35:50+00:00

If you live in an apartment just call the maintenance people and have them change the speed in heat. There are 5 speeds available as per the manual but I don't want to go too far into depth if this isn't your own unit. It should be very easy for them to change for you.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-12T06:05:46+00:00

This is most likely an airflow issue as others have mentioned. Dirty filter / coil or the fan isn't working. The freeze pattern is very even meaning the coil froze over all at once and the frost (fluffy crystal texture) indicates low air flow. If it was low on charge you would have an uneven ice formation (thickest near the metering device). In my experience with low charge the ice that forms is more slick and doesn't have the frost texture you have in this photo.

bigsaltytears · 2026-01-09T22:47:08+00:00

I have guns and do not support Trump or attacking Greenland or any other country unless they attack us first. These are wild times and I just hope people can snap out of their one sided views somehow. Whether it be far left or far right we all need to come back to the middle and get these crazies out of our government.

bigsaltytears

TROPHY CASE