Window ac units - Page 4

Originally Posted by mike1

So how many ac units can you strip down to dirty rad , compressor and fan motor? If I can fit 50 window ac units in a shed how fast theoretically should it take to break them down to dirty rads,fan motors,wires and compressors? Is it possible to do that in a week? 4 hrs after work Mon-thurs?. Plus some hours on Sat.

I don't know Mike. Running the compactor and directing the customers takes up most of my work day. Breaking down the Freon units is just something i do when i'm not doing everything else.

If i was to guess ... maybe it takes ten or fifteen minutes per unit to tear it all down to the compressor & the rads while keeping the freon still inside. It would be less if the freon had already been pumped out like the way you are doing them.



Here's the main thing: There must be something like 30 phillips head sheet metal screws holding it all together. Make good and sure that you don't strip any of those heads. Take the time to clean the rusty heads or the heads filled with dirt with a small pick. If you don't have a positive lock between the bit tip and the head of the screw ... it will strip. You've got a real time eater upper if you get a stripped head. You either gotta grind the head off or drill the screw out. It's a PITA when you are just trying to bang the job out and you run into a roadblock.

Bear in mind ... you're gonna have a fair amount of plastic & styrofoam trash to get rid of. That will eat up some time. Also ... the blower motor fan assembly will take a bit of work to get the electric motor out. ( I usually just chuck the whole works rather than waste any time fussing with it. )

I had another window AC come in at the end of the workday today. I will try timing the breakdown tomorrow if i get a quiet spell.

Mike:

I did a couple of more window ac's. I would allow 20 minutes per unit for the basic teardown. Don't bother with the fan blower motors. One was easy to harvest. The other one was a real boogersnot. Most are difficult and time consuming.

I tore down the easy blower motor for copper. That was time consuming because it was wound so tight. I think you would be better off to sell a motor whole if you can manage to get all the plastic attachments off.

Overall ... you'll get a sealed unit and a couple of cu/al radiators. A little bit of low value wire and a bit of steel. Each unit will give you a smaller trash barrel of plastic & styrofoam trash to get rid of.

Best of luck with your 50 units. Experience will be the best teacher with those ones. You might find they're worth doing or you might find they're not worth doing. It's all situational.

Originally Posted by hills

Mike:

I did a couple of more window ac's. I would allow 20 minutes per unit for the basic teardown. Don't bother with the fan blower motors. One was easy to harvest. The other one was a real boogersnot. Most are difficult and time consuming.

I tore down the easy blower motor for copper. That was time consuming because it was wound so tight. I think you would be better off to sell a motor whole if you can manage to get all the plastic attachments off.

Overall ... you'll get a sealed unit and a couple of cu/al radiators. A little bit of low value wire and a bit of steel. Each unit will give you a smaller trash barrel of plastic & styrofoam trash to get rid of.

Best of luck with your 50 units. Experience will be the best teacher with those ones. You might find they're worth doing or you might find they're not worth doing. It's all situational.

Wow nice. Some have big fan motors and some have two small ones not sure why that is. Most of the ones I'm going to do are general electric brand. Did a real small window ac from a guy apparently the compressor tanks are static in weight no matter what the size of the AC 2lbs copper in window AC and 4lbs copper in central ac compressor. The rads clean were 3lb 8oz. The ones I'm doing are a lot bigger than that.

I rarely come across copper wire from breaker boxes when construction crews cut the wires off from site and the trailer comes back usually aluminum wire still .75 a lb of ya strip it I have a stripper for that since the jacket is really hard.

Id say out of the three central ac,A coils and window ac units I would say window units are the slowest to do given all the screws I hate Philips they strip out easily some ac models are harder to do then others. I saw one that had radiators shapes like a mini central ac with curved rads that is different. Also saw one that has half tinsel and half regular that is also different. You never know what kinda of radiators you will see.

Originally Posted by mike1

Id say out of the three central ac,A coils and window ac units I would say window units are the slowest to do given all the screws I hate Philips they strip out easily some ac models are harder to do then others. I saw one that had radiators shapes like a mini central ac with curved rads that is different. Also saw one that has half tinsel and half regular that is also different. You never know what kinda of radiators you will see.

Most of the window ac's that i do are fastened together with 1/2" phillips head sheet metal screws. You just need to be patient and make sure that you have a good fit between the screw head and the bit tip. You can feel it when there's a good fit. You can also feel it when the fit isn't good.

If it doesn't feel right ... take a minute and clean the dirt or rust out of the screw head. Take your bit tip out of the impact driver and pound it into the slot with a hammer so you get a tight fit that way. Sometimes your bit tip is worn. Use a new one.

You won't have very many heads strip out on you if you keep it tight.

Yeah ... one of the window ac's i did yesterday had a rad that was curved.

Window AC's are like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.

Originally Posted by alloy2

Phillips, Robertson, Torx and security screws no problem, if you have an arc welder use the cheapest rods you can purchase. With the ground clamp attached to the A/C unit touch the head of the screw with the rod.

The copper clad carbon rods work better as the loosened screw won't stick to the rod which sometimes happens.

I cut up 18 aluminum electric trolley bus's using carbon rods with a portable gas driven welder.

The 4" angle grinder with a 1/16" thick cutting wheel seems to work pretty well for trimming off the heads of sheet metal screws where the head stripped.

If you are doing any amount of window ac's try flipping them bottom up before you start your breakdown. Look for any sheet metal screws poking through and trim them flush. Maybe even punch them through with a 1/8" nail punch.

There's usually two poking out. Sometimes there are as many as six poking through.

You would be amazed at how much easier the teardown goes when you open the ac up. It practically falls apart in your hands.

I've never tried it .... but i would imagine it would be a similar thing if you had your arc welder sitting right there on the bench and close to hand as well.

Anything that makes the job go easier is a good tool. Burn-n-turn !

Turning an AC over isnt too great of a idea. All the oil goes threw the lines and makes the job even messier.

Originally Posted by greytruck

Turning an AC over isnt too great of a idea. All the oil goes threw the lines and makes the job even messier.

I guess it's situational. I keep the sealed unit / copper aluminum radiator assembly intact with all of the Freon & oil inside. I put it off to the side and call in the Freon tech to do his part after we've accumulated 50 units.

His rig pumps out all the oil and the Freon in one shot. It all gets recycled / reused when he gets back to the shop.

Mike was saying earlier that the ac's he's getting have already had the Freon removed.

Otherwise ... yeah ... the teardown procedure would have to be different so that the oil doesn't run through everything.

I wonder if tipping the ac on it's side with the sealed unit on the bottom would keep the oil from running into the rads. That would still allow you to cut off any sheet metal screws sticking out through the bottom.

Originally Posted by hills

I guess it's situational. I keep the sealed unit / copper aluminum radiator assembly intact with all of the Freon & oil inside. I put it off to the side and call in the Freon tech to do his part after we've accumulated 50 units.

His rig pumps out all the oil and the Freon in one shot. It all gets recycled / reused when he gets back to the shop.

Mike was saying earlier that the ac's he's getting have already had the Freon removed.

Otherwise ... yeah ... the teardown procedure would have to be different so that the oil doesn't run through everything.

I wonder if tipping the ac on it's side with the sealed unit on the bottom would keep the oil from running into the rads. That would still allow you to cut off any sheet metal screws sticking out through the bottom.

I guess you got it easy with the tech recovering the freon from the units. It seems if you have it on its side the same thing happens. But if you do it fast and not let it sit for a while like on the side of the road for hours, the oil shouldnt get to far since its oil and moves kind of slow. I always hated finding window units or dehumidifiers lying on their side cause when you cut the copper tubing and clean the ends off the rads there is always a ton of oil in them. its like a fridge, they say dont lay it on its side and then try to plug it in and run it. wait 24 hrs standing up. but the oil is still in the lines later when you scrap it.

Instead of cutting the screws, you can just hit them with a hammer and should pop out. that usually works good. ive done it a few times. i saw a guy on youtube do that. you know, monkey see monkey do lol

Originally Posted by greytruck

I guess you got it easy with the tech recovering the freon from the units. It seems if you have it on its side the same thing happens. But if you do it fast and not let it sit for a while like on the side of the road for hours, the oil shouldnt get to far since its oil and moves kind of slow. I always hated finding window units or dehumidifiers lying on their side cause when you cut the copper tubing and clean the ends off the rads there is always a ton of oil in them. its like a fridge, they say dont lay it on its side and then try to plug it in and run it. wait 24 hrs standing up. but the oil is still in the lines later when you scrap it.

Instead of cutting the screws, you can just hit them with a hammer and should pop out. that usually works good. ive done it a few times. i saw a guy on youtube do that. you know, monkey see monkey do lol

Thanks for the tip. I'll try hitting them with a hammer next time round. The grinder works well enough but it always puts dust up in the air. If there's a way of doing the job without making dust or smoke ... i'm all in favor of it.

Having the tech pump out the oil and Freon helps but it's still a messy job. There's always some oily residue to contend with. I feel bad for the tech. He's on the road five days a week and stays overnight at different hotels. No chance to clean up. He stays in the same clothes for five days and is covered in oil by the end of it all.

The last time through ... he set off the methane sniffer in our shop when he walked past. I have no idea of what all that was about but i guess that every job has it's risks & hazards.

Originally Posted by hills

The grinder works well enough but it always puts dust up in the air. If there's a way of doing the job without making dust or smoke ... i'm all in favor of it.

I hear ya. I try to only use my grinder if its last resort. not a big fan of the dust or how they kick back at times.

I got a portable bandsaw i use to cut pretty much everything. Steel, alum, Stainless, brass, copper, Transformers, Coil ends, and motor windings. Not too thick of blade kerf compared to sawzall and grinder blades. Only problem is the cutting with is only 5in wide. still can cut the winding off blower motors and such but got to keep turning them in the vise.

The hermetically sealed A/C, refrigerator compressor only contains 3 to 4 ounces of oil.

The compressor motor rests on springs internally to isolate noise to further dampen noise the compressor sits on rubber mounts.

The reason it's advisable not to transport a fridge on its side is should the motor slip off one of its internal spring mounts, the motor while running would bang against the inside of the canister making a heck of a racket.

Originally Posted by greytruck

I hear ya. I try to only use my grinder if its last resort. not a big fan of the dust or how they kick back at times.

I got a portable bandsaw i use to cut pretty much everything. Steel, alum, Stainless, brass, copper, Transformers, Coil ends, and motor windings. Not too thick of blade kerf compared to sawzall and grinder blades. Only problem is the cutting with is only 5in wide. still can cut the winding off blower motors and such but got to keep turning them in the vise.

So I figured it out all the 160 ac compressors is going to be 320lbs of copper plus 3200 lbs of steel fun fun not a fan of steel. Plus probably 160lbs in loop ends I figure a lb of loops per ac?. Not sure about all those ac cords haha 100lbs???. Plus a crap ton of motors haha. Going to be breaking it all down for a while haha. I should be able to break 50 down before I get the next load of 50 then the last load will be 60 mainly just want to get all the rads,compressors and fan motors broke down so I can finish them off later. Main goal is to get them all out of the work place. Then just cut rad ends off all at once haha. Then break down fan motors then compressors last. Going to take me a bit that's for sure. The hard part is breaking down 50 of them before next friday since I only have 3hrs after work eatch dsy to do it plus I work til 11 noon on Fridays then I have sat and sunday to do them I'm sure it's doable. Still end up with a little bit of oil when I cut the ends off not much tho. The one tech was like there is going to be a little bit of oil left.

Correction 2880 lb after copper is extracted

Originally Posted by mike1

Correction 2880 lb after copper is extracted

If each compressor contained 4 pounds of copper wire you'll end up with 640 lbs. Now deduct the cost of consumables, zip cut blades, sawzall blades, band-aids. fuel for waste disposal.

Originally Posted by mike1

So I figured it out all the 160 ac compressors is going to be 320lbs of copper plus 3200 lbs of steel fun fun not a fan of steel. Plus probably 160lbs in loop ends I figure a lb of loops per ac?. Not sure about all those ac cords haha 100lbs???. Plus a crap ton of motors haha. Going to be breaking it all down for a while haha. I should be able to break 50 down before I get the next load of 50 then the last load will be 60 mainly just want to get all the rads,compressors and fan motors broke down so I can finish them off later. Main goal is to get them all out of the work place. Then just cut rad ends off all at once haha. Then break down fan motors then compressors last. Going to take me a bit that's for sure. The hard part is breaking down 50 of them before next friday since I only have 3hrs after work eatch dsy to do it plus I work til 11 noon on Fridays then I have sat and sunday to do them I'm sure it's doable. Still end up with a little bit of oil when I cut the ends off not much tho. The one tech was like there is going to be a little bit of oil left.

You should probably just sell the compressors and motors as is. its alot of time and money spent on blades and wear and tear on tools. Believe me ive been there.

I noticed alot of the big time AC scrappers on youtube dont cut open their sealed units. Big Country Scrapper and Gold Champ for examples.They just turn and burn on them. Get that $$$ and on to the next project. I use to keep everything to breakdown to clean metals. But after having a half a 2 car garage full of low grade material i didnt want to bother with, i decided to sell it as dirty or breakage just to save time and not be overwhelmed.