Post by ckfan on Jun 6, 2016 13:48:35 GMT
Hello everyone,
As many of you know I just acquired 9 antique units from Travis and his friend Lou. One of Lou's favorite machines would have to be the beautiful CA-1-A16 that I was able to get. Lou was bittersweet about parting with it but I promised him that I would take care of it. Now, I have already tried the unit and it powers right on. I let it sit overnight plugged in before I tried it. I believe that somebody replaced the heater with one of those "pipe heaters" that keeps pipes from freezing because the heater is only drawing 6 watts according to my meter. First off, I know that the minimum wattage drawn by the original heaters would have been double that. I'm not quite sure if this heater will be enough but I figure that since it is always going to be in a conditioned room (and not on a freezing cold porch), it should be ok. Please let me know if you think that it is not ok to be using only a 6 watt heater. Anyways, after letting it sit overnight I powered it on. It immediately sprang to life, I really like the sound of the unloader humming as it powers on. I immediately noticed that pesky rattle that you CA buffs talk about. It was quite noticeable. I shut it off after 5 minutes because it didn't go away. The unit is not in the cabinet at the moment but even still the evaporator only got mildly cool. Travis told me that he suspects the unit needs a purge. This unit was rebuilt at some point because there is a rebuild sticker on the float valve housing. Apparently this unit has been purged several times already according to Travis. So, I plan to purge it again following the directions in the CA manual. I have a general idea of what I'm doing but I want to make sure I get it right.
I also got a hermetic service kit from Travis yesterday. He was nice enough to source one for me. I have already removed the top cover for the service port but can't seem to figure out how the splined key goes in. Do you remove the top screw with a flat blade screwdriver first? Anyways, if you seasoned CA guys could give me a little advice in addition to the steps outlined in the manual I would greatly appreciate it. I just want this to go well and not suck air in or blow excess refrigerant out. I really like this unit and want it to have the best chance to succeed!
Signed,
A Happy New CA owner.
As many of you know I just acquired 9 antique units from Travis and his friend Lou. One of Lou's favorite machines would have to be the beautiful CA-1-A16 that I was able to get. Lou was bittersweet about parting with it but I promised him that I would take care of it. Now, I have already tried the unit and it powers right on. I let it sit overnight plugged in before I tried it. I believe that somebody replaced the heater with one of those "pipe heaters" that keeps pipes from freezing because the heater is only drawing 6 watts according to my meter. First off, I know that the minimum wattage drawn by the original heaters would have been double that. I'm not quite sure if this heater will be enough but I figure that since it is always going to be in a conditioned room (and not on a freezing cold porch), it should be ok. Please let me know if you think that it is not ok to be using only a 6 watt heater. Anyways, after letting it sit overnight I powered it on. It immediately sprang to life, I really like the sound of the unloader humming as it powers on. I immediately noticed that pesky rattle that you CA buffs talk about. It was quite noticeable. I shut it off after 5 minutes because it didn't go away. The unit is not in the cabinet at the moment but even still the evaporator only got mildly cool. Travis told me that he suspects the unit needs a purge. This unit was rebuilt at some point because there is a rebuild sticker on the float valve housing. Apparently this unit has been purged several times already according to Travis. So, I plan to purge it again following the directions in the CA manual. I have a general idea of what I'm doing but I want to make sure I get it right.
I also got a hermetic service kit from Travis yesterday. He was nice enough to source one for me. I have already removed the top cover for the service port but can't seem to figure out how the splined key goes in. Do you remove the top screw with a flat blade screwdriver first? Anyways, if you seasoned CA guys could give me a little advice in addition to the steps outlined in the manual I would greatly appreciate it. I just want this to go well and not suck air in or blow excess refrigerant out. I really like this unit and want it to have the best chance to succeed!
Signed,
A Happy New CA owner.
