Central ac compressor with sawzall

Does it matter what brand a compressor is if it's aluminum or copper wire? The central ac's I got are mostly bristol and 3 copelands. Not sure about the window ac's yet. I got a Milwaukee sawzall cost me 139 and some Diablo blades 12in some medium metal some thick metal bi metal maybe I shoulda went with the carbide ones?. I used a carbide medium blade on one today never did that B4 always used a hacksaw haha took me two days with a hacksaw and very exhausting not all the way through mind you 4hrs and 4hrs. That was years ago. So i figured since I got 10 central ac and 27 window and 1water cooler compressors to do that I'd try my had at a sawzall I'm sorta afraid of sparks haha so I don't like grinders. I started at the weldline the the cut line looked like a spiral ham haha started low then went high near the top haha. Cut pretty good I thought took me a hour to get the motor part out only because it didn't cut straight and plus I had a screw that wasent cooperating I got 3 out then had to use channel locks boy I got lucky on that got motor out it's 26lbs 15oz haven't broke it down yet going to wait till I get them all into motor piles then break them down. I got fan motors to do also. So I like the sawzall like a can opener haha.

It's hard to answer some of the questions Mike. You probably know more about sealed units & air conditioning units because you do so many of them. Sparks don't seem to be a problem for some reason. People use torches and plasma cutters to cut open the sealed units. You see it on the youtube videos.

I think you would want to cut either above -or- below the weld line. The metal at the weld line is much thicker and harder. That's a place to avoid cutting if you can. It might ruin your blades.

I tried a cermet circular saw blade for cutting open a couple of 275 gallon fuel barrels last month. That worked REALLY well. I guess the cermet is like some kind of super tough carbide blade ? Anyhow .... it didn't make sparks and made fast work of it.

I've used Diablo sawzall blades before. They are good blades but i think all the fancy Diablo stuff is just advertising. The other brands are good. The Ace Hardware brand is what i use but i'm mostly cutting soft metals these days.

It wouldn't hurt to try a carbide sawzall blade. Maybe it would work better for your purposes. We all have our own way of doing things. It's trial end error to see what works best for you personally.

I watched a youtube video where the guy processed a sealed unit in about five minutes yesterday. I guess he hit on a way of doing things that works well for him and wanted to share it with everybody else.

It's hard to say with any electric motor these days. I'm seeing a lot more with aluminum windings now. The aluminum wound ones are cheaper to make but they don't seem to hold up like a copper wound one does.

Maybe it's like that with sealed unit motors too. A cheap window ac unit that was bought at the big box store probably wouldn't have the quality of build as the higher price brand name one.

Experience will probably be the best teacher. Do enough sealed units and you'll eventually figure out which brands use copper and which ones use aluminum. I would imagine that the larger central unit ones would be more likely to have copper windings. Central AC's aren't cheap to buy.

Originally Posted by greytruck

Its not the brands of compressors that are alum wound, its the model of compressor. They are different looking. i can tell you just by looking at them. I never found a alum wound rotary compressor from a window unit. and almost all scroll compressors are copper wound. its the centrial air hematic ones, they are larger on top than the bottom if you get what im saying. thats why i say i can tell by looking.

The one pictured in the link is copper wound but if the top half of the unit is larger than the bottom, its usualy alum. But im not 100% on this but thats my take on them. https://www.grainger.com/product/161...5e1ca96c6354c7

I do know that the smaller ones that use flammable refrigerant are alum wound. the ones that have that yellow triangle sticker on them with the flame. also dont mess with LG fridge compressors. the yard guys say they are alum wound and their buyer dont want them

Thanks also do you get at least 1 lb of copper from a ac compressor or does it vary ?.

Originally Posted by mike1

Thanks also do you get at least 1 lb of copper from a ac compressor or does it vary ?.

Honestly i never weighed copper from a window unit compressor mike.... next time you do one, post your results and let us know

I will. So is there a cool down time for the sawzall can I do more than one tank if one tank takes me 1 hr to cut open will the saw over heat if I try and do another one?. Since I don't wanna burn up the saw motor and have it become scrap to. Considering I just bought it yesterday.

Originally Posted by greytruck

Honestly i never weighed copper from a window unit compressor mike.... next time you do one, post your results and let us know

I did one today after I cut open another central one I had to cut the top of the window ac one near the lid should I have cut it farther down? I couldn't get the motor out I had to snip the wires and pull the strands some at a time I'd like to get the whole thing out like I can the central ones ideas?. Oh I forgot I got 2lb 10oz so are they going to be consistent ? If so I'll have 70lbs or so. What about the central ones?.

Originally Posted by mike1

I did one today after I cut open another central one I had to cut the top of the window ac one near the lid should I have cut it farther down? I couldn't get the motor out I had to snip the wires and pull the strands some at a time I'd like to get the whole thing out like I can the central ones ideas?. Oh I forgot I got 2lb 10oz so are they going to be consistent ? If so I'll have 70lbs or so. What about the central ones?.

There are some kinds that you have to cut the top off ... and then make one or two cuts straight up and down. They are like a circulator pump motor that way.

Watch this youtube video. Go in to about 5.33 and it shows one way of getting the motor out of the sealed unit that's giving you a problem. (Hope this helps.)

This is another way that the difficult ones are done with a sawzall. YMMV

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wLX1-EZqdyk

Originally Posted by mike1

I did one today after I cut open another central one I had to cut the top of the window ac one near the lid should I have cut it farther down? I couldn't get the motor out I had to snip the wires and pull the strands some at a time I'd like to get the whole thing out like I can the central ones ideas?. Oh I forgot I got 2lb 10oz so are they going to be consistent ? If so I'll have 70lbs or so. What about the central ones?.

Like i said in the other post, i just throw the copper in my bucket and weigh when full. i do know that from central units you can get anyware from 5 - 10 lbs of copper. but the 10 lbs are from the 220lb sealed units from rooftops.

Check out simple man on youtube. he has alot of videos breaking down compressors.

Originally Posted by greytruck

Like i said in the other post, i just throw the copper in my bucket and weigh when full. i do know that from central units you can get anyware from 5 - 10 lbs of copper. but the 10 lbs are from the 220lb sealed units from rooftops.

Check out simple man on youtube. he has alot of videos breaking down compressors.

I had to hunt for him. Finding videos on youtube can be a little hard for me sometimes cause there are so many different ones to sort through. Figured i would post this video from simple man to make it easier for everyone else. Thanks for the heads up. I like his videos because he doesn't talk endlessly like some of the other ones do. The chatty ones waste a lot of time before getting to the point.

Originally Posted by hills

I had to hunt for him. Finding videos on youtube can be a little hard for me sometimes cause there are so many different ones to sort through. Figured i would post this video from simple man to make it easier for everyone else. Thanks for the heads up. I like his videos because he doesn't talk endlessly like some of the other ones do. The chatty ones waste a lot of time before getting to the point.

I should have said serch "simple man scrap" or else alot of Lynyrd Skynyr videos pop up. He does a good job. i get inspired by him to get my butt going on my motor and compressor pile at times

Got to admit .... it's got me thinking about it. Looks like i'll have access to quite a few compressors later on in the summer after the freon units we have on hand have been pumped out and tagged by the refrigeration tech. The windings come out a lot easier when they are all lubed up.

Originally Posted by hills

Got to admit .... it's got me thinking about it. Looks like i'll have access to quite a few compressors later on in the summer after the freon units we have on hand have been pumped out and tagged by the refrigeration tech. The windings come out a lot easier when they are all lubed up.

For sure, way easier to get out than a regular electric motor windings.