Compressor went out on 4 ton unit. want to upgrade to 5 ton A/C. Have been told need bigger blower unit. Can I exchange to blower unit that will handle 5 ton A/C?

You have to replace both the inside and out parts.

Does this happen to be the number on the indoor blower coil. The 4860 would either be set up to handle either 4 or 5 tons. If this is so, you need to look on the outdoor condenser to see whether a 4 or 5 ton condenser was coupled to the unit.

Hi, this depends on the compressor that is installed in this unit. It may be a Copeland scroll, a Tecumseh, its hard to say. Most compressors are around 2 hp for a 3 ton unit. On the data plate it will tell you the h.p. of the blower and condenser fan motors such as 1/4 h.p., or 1/3. If you can get the name and model numbers from the top of your compressor, you can call a a/c, Refrigeration parts house, wholesale and they will have it in there manuals. The B.T.U. rating for your compressor is 36,000. There are 12,000 BTU's per ton of cooling, this is something that almost no one knows, but now you do. If it were a smaller unit such as a 2 and 1/2 ton, it would be 30,000 B.T.U.'s. You can look at the model number of a unit and you will see numbers like this, 024, 2-ton, 030, 21/2 ton, and 036 a 3 ton unit and so on. Your compressor alone will be in the range of a 2 horse unit, which ever the brand of compressor they installed in it. Please don't forget to rate me on this as I know you will be kind. I will be here if you ever need help on repairs or trouble-shooting your unit in the future, just use my user name below.
Sincerely,
Shastalaker7
A/C, Heating, & Refrigeration Contractor

if your indoor unit is 1.5 ton the answer is no
if your indoor unit is 2.0 ton then you can jump to that size.
Note :your duct system may have been designed for a 1.5 ton and may need to be reconfigured for a size increase.
Your hvac contractor should know this?

This evaporator core is R-22 / R-410A compatible. The Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TXV) is for R-22. If retrofitting to R-410A, a new TXV metering device would be required, but the evap. core itself could be re-used (as long as you stick with the same Tonnage you have now). If upgrading to a higher tonnage system (like going from 4-Ton to 5-Ton), then you would need a totally new evaporator core.

they would need to change the coil indoors to a 3 ton. If the blower speed can be increased it should be fine.

Square footage is how you determine what size of an AC you need, say two bedroom house with 1500 square feet would require a 3 ton unit but I would go to a 4 or 5 ton depending on brand and what you may do in the future, Like adding a bedroom or bathroom and how many people will be living in the house, a heat pump normally last longer the bigger it is and is more efficient than a smaller size. Just think like this, a 3 ton will run 30 minutes to an hour longer to cool the same space as a 5 ton so if the five ton does it 30 minutes faster it will not run as long. And when it has to pull down the temperature again it will do it much faster. So less run time means faster heat or cooling and less energy is used. I have found that the bigger units are made better and last longer as a general rule. And to understand the 3-ton and 5 ton let me say that it means how long it takes 3 tons of ice to bring the temperature down 10 degrees, the old BTU’s British thermal units. However the bigger the unit the more well built it is normally and the less maintenance required. 5 tons of ice would get it cooler faster. But one thing to keep in mind a heat pump is only good for 20 degrees temperature range, for instance if the high range is 80 then the low side would be 60 in order for it to be efficient so if you have it set in the house at 72 degrees on the high side and low side would be 52 degrees. But the larger the unit the less time it would take it to recover from the heat differential.

Sure but you need ot have an AC man to replace it and vac down the system plust change the dryer/reciever.

Check the fan relay switch in the air handler.
Check the fan motor capacitor.
Check the fan blower wheel for binding.

If your outdoor fan is a vertical discharge in other words if the fan blows the air up from the top of the unit then one foot from house is fine, but if it is horizontal discharge or blows it out the side then the airflow needs to be directed away from the house or the unit needs to be moved away from the house far enough that it doesn’t restrict the airflow.
For the blower running on high speed a 4 ton unit is usually 1600 cfm so on low cfm it may seem like high speed. There should be some speed taps on the indoor pc board and if you look in your installation guide it should tell you what taps you need to get the lower airflow if its not correct.
For the luke warm air in the 2 ton mode, the coil is a still 4 tons but the compressor now is only pumping 2 tons of refrigerant so the discharge temperature and head pressure will be much lower and that is what determines how much heat you get, so you will get less heat. The 2 ton mode is for times when you only need a little heat or cool, when you need more then you will get the 2nd stage which is the full 4 tons of heat.