10kw Airtemp Ducted Aircon w/ faulty PCB

January 1, 2007 1:31 PM

I'm trying to help some friends who've just been told that the part that's fried on their central (residential) aircon is the one part that isn't available anymore. (In Australia.)

They have what appears to be a "10kw Airtemp Ducted Airconditioner" that was installed in 1993. They tell me that the PCB is burnt out, as has happened once before. I have a copy of Service Bulletin SB034 Issue 3, dated 8/8/2000, from "Emailair" which talks about "Phasefale PCBs Upgrade Kit VD01045 Lovelocks Part No V309015" and a problem where a faulty fan speed relay burns out the PCB.

If anyone can help source the part, that would be great. They really don't want to throw out something they paid A$6.5k for less than 15 years ago.

posted by krisjohn to home & garden (4 answers total)

Can you find the specific part that burned out (not the entire PCB) and find a local electronics shop that can solder a new one back on for you?
posted by SirStan at 4:39 PM on January 1, 2007

I think 'Airtemp' was a house brand of Email - I've certainly seen a lot of Airtemp-branded stuff around in semi-industrial applications, from the time when Email were big local suppliers of everything.

Lovelocks were a major A/C parts/tools/etc supplier, who were bought out by Heatcraft a few years ago.
Emailair were a division of Email, most of which was acquired by Electrolux a few years ago too (though I'm not sure about their A/C & refrigeration division - they may have morphed into Airwell).
Phasefale are manufacturers & distributors of A/C control equipment.

Email always had a good rep for supplying parts for long-outdated appliances; hopefully some of that rep has rubbed off on their suppliers / descendants. Good luck!
posted by Pinback at 4:44 PM on January 1, 2007

Nice, thank you Pinback.
posted by krisjohn at 6:54 PM on January 1, 2007

Follow up: I contacted Heatcraft. They indicated they had the parts necessary. I forwarded the details to my friends, who were subsequently put in touch with a better local repair person, who as in turn able to fix the problem by cabling around the partially burnt-out part. Looks like Pinback's tip knocked a zero off the end of their repair/replacement costs. Thanks again.
posted by krisjohn at 9:52 PM on January 15, 2007