I dunno if anyone here cares about this, but I figure someone might since it’s energy related hah.
I just learned that some newer air conditioner outdoor condensing units (in my case with a scroll compressor) come with a crankcase heater. This contraption will heat the lubricant in the compressor so the refrigerant “boils” and doesn’t soak into the lubricant oil.
The worst case is if a compressor that has been idle for months ... and then the first time it turns on, the lubricant froths causing damage to the compressor.
So why would you care about this inane topic? If you’re like me you weren’t expecting to run the air conditioner between October and March. But these crankcase heaters take 40 watts of power.
The better condensing units will have a relay or thermo-couple set point driven switch to only run the crankcase heater when it’s very cold. But I bought two top of the line Lennox Signature series in 2020, and they only have a “dumb” crankcase heater that runs 24/7 no matter what.
Since, I have two condensers, I’ve basically been running what amounts to an 80 watt bulb non stop for the last few months for absolutely no reason. That’s about 57 kWh of power in December that literally did nothing for me.
The easy fix for me is to just kill the breakers heading to my condensers. But, I need to remember to run the crankcase heater about 24 hours before the first time my air conditioning runs in the summer. This way the heater has enough time to boil out the refrigerant from the lubricant. It also helps I’m in East Bay Northern California and it never gets that cold. I don’t even prep my sprinkler and spigots for the winter since it doesn’t freeze.
Some more info is here.
Crankcase Heaters and Compressors | HVAC Refrigeration
TLDR, if you have a crankcase heater on your air conditioning condenser, you could be wasting money.
I just learned that some newer air conditioner outdoor condensing units (in my case with a scroll compressor) come with a crankcase heater. This contraption will heat the lubricant in the compressor so the refrigerant “boils” and doesn’t soak into the lubricant oil.
The worst case is if a compressor that has been idle for months ... and then the first time it turns on, the lubricant froths causing damage to the compressor.
So why would you care about this inane topic? If you’re like me you weren’t expecting to run the air conditioner between October and March. But these crankcase heaters take 40 watts of power.
The better condensing units will have a relay or thermo-couple set point driven switch to only run the crankcase heater when it’s very cold. But I bought two top of the line Lennox Signature series in 2020, and they only have a “dumb” crankcase heater that runs 24/7 no matter what.
Since, I have two condensers, I’ve basically been running what amounts to an 80 watt bulb non stop for the last few months for absolutely no reason. That’s about 57 kWh of power in December that literally did nothing for me.
The easy fix for me is to just kill the breakers heading to my condensers. But, I need to remember to run the crankcase heater about 24 hours before the first time my air conditioning runs in the summer. This way the heater has enough time to boil out the refrigerant from the lubricant. It also helps I’m in East Bay Northern California and it never gets that cold. I don’t even prep my sprinkler and spigots for the winter since it doesn’t freeze.
Some more info is here.
Crankcase Heaters and Compressors | HVAC Refrigeration
TLDR, if you have a crankcase heater on your air conditioning condenser, you could be wasting money.