When winding insulation fails, the arc and heat break down oil and refrigerant into acids and carbon, and the system smells sharp and acrid when opened. A mild burnout leaves dark oil; a severe one leaves black sludge through the lines. Cleanup means recovering the charge, replacing the compressor and liquid line drier, adding a suction line filter-drier, and testing the oil for acid until it reads clean.
Smelled it as soon as I cracked the port, it's a burnout, put a suction drier on the order with the compressor.
Use an acid test kit on the oil after a compressor failure; it decides whether a suction drier is needed.
Also heard as
- compressor burnout
Related terms
Filter-drier
A canister of desiccant in the refrigerant line that traps moisture, acid and debris.
Compressor
The pump that raises refrigerant vapor from evaporator pressure to condenser pressure and keeps it circulating.
Recovery
Removing refrigerant from a system into a recovery cylinder instead of venting it to the atmosphere.
LRA
Locked rotor amps: the current a motor draws at the instant of starting, before it turns, listed on the nameplate.