Copper thieves stole tubing and damaged the orifice extension stub on a Carrier N-coil 2-ton unit.

There is step by step instructions in the online manual. I found the 3/4 ton (1 size smaller than yours) manual very easily. I suggest you read this. But there is 2 screws located behind caps under the discharge air swing fin. I suggest 2 people if you plan on working on the tube behind the unit, you don't want to damage the copper tubing, located in the exact same location.

If you need further help, reach me via phone at https://www.6ya.com/expert/thomas_092728000e6acb79

If in fact the coil is less than five years old then the parts should be under warranty. Labor only charge. As for the tubing, all coils have very thin walled tubing as to transfer heat more effectively. Aspen coils did have defected coils which were manufactured for a number of brands at about the time you purchased your unit. The manufacture may step up and help if you contact them directly, customer support from Carrier. Estimated cost for labor depending where you live should be between $500 to $800 dollars depending on installation. It could be a little more if it is an attic installation.

This is a 3 and 1/2 ton unit.
The 042 in the model number is the tonnage of your carrier unit.
AC tonnage is based on 12,000 btu per ton.
12,000.....1 ton
18,000.....1 and 1/2 ton
24,000.....2 ton
30,000.....2 and 1/2 ton
36,000.....3 ton
42,000.....3 and 1/2 ton
48,000.....4 ton
60,000.....5 ton.
There is no 4 and 1/2 ton unit.

Hi,
It seems as though you have an unrelated water leak....
Often the water supplies are copper tubing....
Copper tubing and concrete do not get along well...
but hey it lasts till the warranty is up....
and they can't see it from their house...

heatman101

Hi,
The model you gave is for a 3 ton or 36000 BTU unit...that is what the 36 stands for in the model number...

heatman101

The orifice is the metering device inside the evaporator coil and comes installed from the factory in the coil itself. Some condensers do come with orifices taped to the side of the unit, but they only do that to ensure you have the right size orifice. Sometimes you will have a 3 ton evaporator and a 2.5 ton condenser. In this case you want to change the orifice so that it meters the refrigerant correctly. But if you have a 3 ton condenser and a 3 ton coil, which is normal, you don't have to do anything. So to answer your question, your coil already came with a orifice inside and nothing needs to be done unless there are two different sized units as described above. Hope I didn't bore you too much and helped you with your question!

Is the joint where the crack is copper to copper or copper to aluminum? With this being a Carrier, it could be either. If copper to copper, it can be re-welded (repaired) with no problem. If copper to aluminum, there is an epoxy on the market that will repair it if it's not to big. If it's to large of a leak, you will indeed have to replace it. A word of advice. I you do replace it, don't let the contractor sale you another aluminum coil unit.
I'm not sure where you are located so this price may be more or less. Although it should be in the ball park.
It looks like what you have is a 5 ton unit by the model number but I'm not sure if it's a heat pump or not. Plus I'm not sure how old it is so I'll give you a price based on these facts.
Your unit

1. being a 5 ton unit
2. an older unit with R22 Freon
3. Being straight air (Not a Heat Pump)

If your contractor will replace the unit with one with R22. (No more made after 01/01/2010.) I would charge around $2800. If the contractor can't find or will not look for a R22 replacement they will have to replace not only the outside unit but also the inside coil. For this I would charge around $3800. To replace the complete system with a 13 SEER ( R410A unit) I would charge around $5200. The difference in prices I gave is if you wanted a YORK or a Goodman. A Goodman will be around $1000 less than a YORK. The most expensive brand on the market is a TRANE. I'm a YORK dealer and to be honest with you, a Goodman is just as good and does the same thing as any of the other brands. They also offer from a 13 SEER to a 16 SEER. YORK offers up to an 18 SEER as well as TRANE. If your unit is not more than 8 years old, I would only replace the outside unit myself but I assure you that the salesman will advise you to replace the whole unit. This is what they get paid for and that's were the company stands to make the largest profit. There are companies in my area that will tell customers that coils can't be repaired. That once they leak, they have to be replaced or at least the coil.
Just be smart and do not let the service company sale you something you do not need.Good luck. Sorry to be so lengthy. I'm just trying to give you as much information as I can and I hope it helps you make a wise decision, not a costly one.

That is a fairly large difference. It is usually ok to have the inside evap. coil and blower up to 1 ton larger than the outside condenser. That will make the unit slightly more efficient as well as less likely to freeze up on low airflow situations. It is not recommended to install a new condenser on an old evap coil. There has been a lot of changes to the design of the coils in the last little while. For example a 10 year old 2 ton coil may only have 3 cubic feet of volume but a new 2 ton coil may have 4 cubit feet of volume.

There are many factors that may have infulenced the decision on what size condenser to install. Many of which can only be done by visiting the home and doing alot of work, checking the duct sizing bioth supply and return, inspecting the insulation and windows of the home etc. etc. Most of the time that never gets done. You can blame the contractor for not doing a complete check, but at the same time you can blame the customer because many contractors that are that good loose the job to a cheaper bid that did not no any of the research. It is a catch 22 for everyone involved.

There is ALOT more to sizing equipment that many people think, sadly that also includes many HVAC contractors. Way too many people use "rule of thumbs" or flat out "guess".

Sorry for the rant but your queston can only be answered by a good well educated HVAC contractor visiting your home. That type of a contractor is getting hard to find these days in such a price competetive world.

This tubbing carries the refrigerant. The small line is flowing to their inside air handler. If the line is hot it is an indication that the outside unit is not able to release the heat. The most common reason is that the coil (looks like a car radiator) is dirty or plugged. This can be cleaned with a brush or sometimes a garden hose. They do make acid type cleaners for doing this, but the use of the acids are restricted in some areas.

By the way the other black pipe should have a larger copper line behind the black insulation. That line should be cold and sweaty like a nice glass of ice tea:)

I recently contacted Carrier Corp after our routine annual HVAC check on our residential system indicated that our 4 ton AC unit and 3 ton unit had leaking evaporator coils.
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They basically told me to shove it in a very curt letter - In other words even though a leaking evaporator coil is a manufacturing defect they will not offer any financial assistance in replacing the failed evaporator coils.
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I spoke to several HVAC engineers and they indicated Carrier has a high percentage of evaporator coils and compressor failures on residental HVAC systems.
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The copper wall of the evaporator coil is being drawn thinner than in earlier years and the R22 being acidic slowly eats through the copper tubing.
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Evaporator coils should not fail according to the HVAC Engineers if properly manufactured.

The Bear