Just because the compressor runs for 5 seconds, only means it runs. It doesn't mean it will keep running. This is why people buy new equipment when doing such things.

The difference from an AC that works versus one that is not working: 5 minutes.

How could my AC be broken, it was working 5 minutes ago?

(what I have heard over the years...)

On top of this how do you know it is sized properly to handle the load of where you are putting it?

Do you know how old the unit is?

The answer to your question is no.

Hi klem1

Could you give me a reason why I can not run it for 5 secs ! , just to check everything is wired up correctly , my problem my risk if it only works for a short time after gassing it , not bothered about that at the moment , so klem1 can you tell me why I can not test the system for a couple of seconds ! .

cheers

spike

Main reason is because the best havc tech West of the Mississippi can't tell one thing meaningful about a compressor under those conditions,you can't either. Another good reason is the moment the compressor starts oil will spray out under high pressure coating everything within 20 feet. One more in case you are still not convinced. You have no way of determining how much oil was lost and compressors require an exact amount of oil. And finally,you have no clue what you are doing,otherwise you wouldn't ask about such misguided notion. Come to think of it,there's nothing preventing you from trying it. Go do it then come back and tell us how it turned out.

Why don't you tell us how old it is?

National average life of an AC is 15 years.

You can move it to another location, run it for 5 seconds.... do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around isn't going to change the life span of this machine one bit.

If you want to put it together as a project, then so be it. I suspect, though that it is an older R-22 unit so you could be looking at a significant cost (several hundred dollars) to charge it with R-22 (assumimg you have a license to obtain it) only to have it crap out on you in a couple of hours, days, weeks, months, years................