"No HVAC company wants to work on it."

This is advice from experts. You don't like it and want advice from amateurs?

Tanks don't fun forever, my friend. It's earned its retirement, the time has come.

Good luck.

If it's not leaking refrigerant, find a good one-man, independent, repair company. They'll fix it for you. Big companies don't want anything to do with old stuff like this. I had a ca 1975 GE Weathertron Heatpump which just went on and on. I eventually got a gas furnace for operational cost reasons (upstate New York) and kept the Weathertron as an AC. Last I heard, after moving, was that it was still going strong.

Wouldn't you expect, sktn, that replacing a 40+ year old unit will lead to operating cost savings that will help pay for the replacement? And how about savings that will also come from the repair of what could be very likely, massive duct and plenum leakage from 45 year old ducts? Such repairs should be done with any equipment replacement, to minimize the loss of conditioned air. Too many reasons favoring moving on and few or none favoring handing on.

I believe this was primarily the reason GE got out of the air conditioning business.

Trane who bought GE put their name on it, and a short few years later were bought out by American Standard the plumbing company. American Standard did well with it for quite awhile.

They made alot of the parts that made up the system.

GE continued to provide capacitors and motors on into the early 2000s to 2007 or 2008.

That time period American Standard was prepping the company to sell it all off. It's a storied past to say the least. It would be a good fit for a museum.

------------ can it be fixed? ------------

intermittent problems can be difficult to track down. This will revolve into a part changing whack-a-mole festival most likely when it comes to an ac unit this old.

What is the house situation? Are you keeping this house, selling soon / flipping it?

When the unit does run, does it cool?

what kind of thermostat does it have? you didn't put a nest on this thing did you? LOL. Sorry I have to ask. Billion dollar gadget market chasing the gimmick money.

You should be able to identify parts from diagrams in the installation manual. If you don't have one, you may be able to get a copy online. Here's a potential source:

http://homeappliance.manualsonline.com/support/ge-appliances/heat-pump/

If the relay contacts aren't welded, the relay is staying engaged because its receiving a signal to its coil; look elsewhere.

I'm not planning on being here long enough to offset the cost of a new system. The unit functions fine when it is running but is not as efficient as a new one would be. If I had changed this system the first time an "expert" told me to, I would have already have had to buy another one. It doesn't leak refrigerant and the compressor is solid. The thermostat is a Honeywell. I put in in many years ago when the original one crapped out. I am curious what the device with the screw adjust that says colder is. There is a wire coming off of it that extends out below the fan that looks like a temperature sensor. Here is a photo of the complete electrical and what's left of the schematic.

Thanks!

If you live in an area where air conditioning is widespread and expected, when it comes time to sell the house, the cost of the job you haven't had done will be mentally subtracted from offers from interested buyers. Spend the money now and enjoy the benefits yourself. As you consider it, don't overlook the likely state of your ductwork too. Unless that work has been done for a furnace upgrade, you can expect that in the meantime you're spending money on cooling (and maybe heating) that isn't finding its way to where you want it.

Good luck.

I couldn't find parts list for your model but for similar models the price of parts are stupid expensive. There are substitutions for most relays but you must know how the relay functions in order to figure out a suitable substitute. I suggest preserving what's left of the schematic and having someone study it in attempt to figure out a possible substitute. It appears to be a simple 3 pole/double throw relay with the addition of a temperature sensor which makes it unique. The sensor almost certainly disables operation below a certain air temperature while in heating mode. Examine the relay closely for a mfgr name,part # and diagram of poles. From your description of symptoms, it sounds like contacts are sticking (first stage of welding that is real common for relays). Try something like 1k-2k grit sandpaper and/or business card to clean contacts. Do you need the heat function to work or do you have alternate means of heating? As a last resort an accomplished electrician can likely eliminate the relay and hardwire for cooling. You might find people on hvac forums more cooperative and if you are lucky,someone close to your location that will come help you get it up and going. Good luck.

Okay. I'll admit that I'm a big value-for-the-money guy. If you can keep the antique heat pump operating for even another year for the cost of a couple of parts, then I say go for it. The other dimension (which other posters appear ignorant of) is that the worth of your (still operating) system to the Smithsonian Institution is increasing each year. Carry on, sir HVAC knight! For truth, justice and the Raymerican way!

There is some satisfaction by a DIYer of repairing a 47 year old AC condenser. Compare this to today's equipment which typically lasts 17 years! Keep up posted on your repair progress.

"Okay. I'll admit that I'm a big value-for-the-money guy."

Just like people, "things" get old, get infirm and die. Nothing lives forever. For me, a non-DIYer, there's great satisfaction pursuing known solutions that can be reasonably expected to resolve problems for some period of time and knowing that no mind-share need be futilely wasted on an ongoing basis trying to avoid or deny reality.

The discussion would be completely different if the machine wasn't still running except for an intermittent 'cut out' problem.

It's life beyond this year is in question as well as every year beyond the next year after that.

If anything this is an example of just how hard my job can be 'sometimes' and yet you guys come in here and fight me for it every day.

Everything is a joke to you Ray? I just find it funny what people like to fight over.

I view it as getting a customer by actually fixing something. That leads to it breaking again. The same thing can and does happen to new equipment all the time. Being able to fix things is a skill.

I mentioned the 8 track tape. Who here has a record collection. Who here knows what a record is? The record went away because of long rewind times? ha, ha, ha.

"Who here has a record collection. Who here knows what a record is?"

I have a collection of LPs and 45s (some dating to the 1960s), and a 1978 JCPenney MCS turntable on my hi-fi system on which to play them (which admittedly I haven't played any in years). No 8-tracks but some cassettes and a 1981 Pioneer deck.

I could care less that liberals think I should only have the latest EPA approved and code compliant things and shouldn't own firearms.

I have a collection of LPs and 45s (some dating to the 1960s), and a 1978 JCPenney MCS turntable on my hi-fi system on which to play them (which admittedly I haven't played any in years). No 8-tracks but some cassettes and a 1981 Pioneer deck.

imagine how much disposable income was required for all that ground breaking tech?

1981 Pioneer deck? I'd like to see the views from that deck. ha, ha. Has the wood rotted or warped any?

It was a Pioneer deck that was discovered by early pioneers. We'd sit around on that deck and tell stories of the old days. ha, ha.

Not that it's any concern of yours .... The turntable was part of a Christmas gift so no cost to me. Some of the vinyl records were my mother's. My purchases were years before CDs and MP3s and Internet streaming. The other choice then was radio, until cassettes became popular (I was never a consumer of 8-track or reel-to-reel). The Pioneer deck was bought a few years ago via eBay and is the TOL sibling to a lower Pioneer model I had when the line was in production. It works perfectly, all functions. Photo by your request.

relax dadoes, what I said was a joke.

Hooray for GE Weatherton Heap Pumps! Luckily I found someone with R22 to top up mine. Would love to know which relay does what, so a schematic and a theory of operation. would be great. There must be a timer relay for defrost, probably in outside unit. There appears to be two starting capacitors (fan and compressor motors?). Probably a relay for the reversing valve? Anyway I loved this thread, since every local HVAC person tells me to get rid of it and put in a $10K unit.