Given the equipment you need, just get a guy to vacuum out the refrigerant, disconnect the refrigerant lines, you do the electric and physical moving of the condenser, guy comes back, brazes, purges, vacuum tests and recharges. Should cost about $400-$500.

Keep looking for someone whos not going to rip you off.

Doing as sktn suggests might work for you but I will add that lines must be protected from anything entering them while open. If insect,dirt or any of a dozen other things get inside line all the vacuuming in the world won't help and flushing is expensive and inexact.

I vote for getting pros to do everything except electric.

I appreciate all the advice guys. I did ask the HVAC contractors that came out if they would just take care of the refrigerant for me, two said no, they do the entire job or nothing, and the third guy said it would be $1500 instead of $2k. No offense to HVAC contractors but I thought that was ridiculous, which is why I joined this form. If you guys have any video links to complete the work, please let me know. I could only find videos to vacuum out or add refrigerant. Nothing from getting the refrigerant from the AC back to the evaporator.

Thanks,

Dan

You are in the same boat as an old boy at work that's looking for instructions on diy vasectomy and volunteers to practice on. Everyone suggested he attend medical school and I'm suggesting you sign up for hvac trade school. Some things are slow getting off the ground but all things are possible with sufficient determination.

Dan,

There's a good number of AC units out there that can not perform the function you are wanting to do. Some manufacturers give outlines to not perform this function and doing so will damage the compressor. Other units could suffer damage by doing something during this process that can cause damage to the compressor. Knowing what to do is important and sometimes more important than knowing "what NOT to do".

If you think all that matters is that the unit turns on and off, sure go for it. It could wind up costing more than $2k for your experiment.

If the function can not be performed the costs go up, because the refrigerant will need to be reclaimed into an EPA approved reclaim jug.

If damage is done to the compressor during this process you may not know it for some time. Not all damage that can be done to a compressor is immediately realized. A heat wave comes to reveal the incompetency of previous services performed on the unit, lack of maintenance or a real need to fix something because it broke or whatever the case may be.

You said this unit in question is 1 year old, so it's not like an old unit that was made 10 or 20 years ago that were more or less made to perform this process without much fan fare.

To do it in the DIY realm... this implies that you know enough to do it yourself without any help. Running to a influencer that is paid in views or notoriety is not likely to do much for you.

I service the Katy, Texas area.

Thank you so much. Your response was well constructed and extremely thorough. This is why i joined this forum.

Well there's your answer Dan,it was in plain sight all along. Everyone was stumped until Chas Ross pointed you to mfgr's installation instructions.

It apparently wasn't in such plain sight, klem1. The issue of maximum equivalent length wasn't raised by HVAC "professionals" nor was the warranty issue. It might be because it's not a plug-and-play replacement question and requires a design competency.

I meant hiding in plain sight as in we couldn't see the forest for the trees because we were too busy stumbling over our own feet until you pointed it out. Stick around incase line liength falls withing approved specs and Dan needs a few step by step procedural instructions. As for warranty, I won't tell and Dan sure isn't going to tell mfgr about the alteration,would you?

I think the potential warranty issues will be minimized by having the original installation contractor perform the relocation. They become the go-between with respect to warranty issues.

Adding 12 feet of lineset under most scenarios isn't going to run into long length problems. Certainly if the lineset length is already long 70 feet or more then it's just another issue that could cause a problem at some point. Most modern day AC's (split ducted ac system) can have upto 80 ft long linesets until you start running into restrictions (depending unit size, vertical rise limitations etc). The bigger factor IMHO is oil return to the compressor.

Adding lineset will require adjustment to the refrigerant charge of the system.

So the initial post wasn't to illustrate every gotchya. Here to do it for you not show you how.

To the warranty of a unit: That is effected a couple of ways: if it is moved from the original install to a different location but this is typically about taking it from one property and installing it at another property. Not moving to a new location at the same property. Typically the warranty is only going to cover replacement of a covered part over a certain time span usually 10 years. Doesn't cover labor, maintenance, freight, inflation fees, Freon (refrigerant), diagnosis (service) fees / or any other fee that is implemented / made up by a distributor and or manufacturer.

BUT: moving the AC condenser requires it to be properly installed. Lineset length requirements would certainly come into play there. This plays into a specification of installed improperly. So this would void a warranty. There's more to lineset length requirements, there's also proper oil return to the compressor. This job isn't about just doing something for the sake of doing it. I mean there are HVAC companies out there that do just that. So you have to understand why there might be a reason(s) why a certain HVAC contractor may run from a system they didn't install. (Part of the reason I even get involved in these discussions here to put some explanation behind it.)

HVAC is in many cases like gambling. You got to know when to walk away as well as when to run. (Mildly flammable refrigerants incoming) So this situation is likely only to get worse. Likely why you've had companies tell you: "We do the whole job or we don't do it".

If the house is a two story house + equipment in attic central located 9ft ceilings 30-40 ft adding 12 ft to that might put over all length at 42-52 ft. Well within the limitation range of 80ft. There could be some differences among manufacturers / models etc. This info is from a run of the mill entry level machine. (IPC / Carrier model). This particular model can go upto 250 feet long with required accessories starting at 81 feet long.

Always best to use the original installing contractor, unless you've discovered problems with such.

I am always going to be asking questions on a 1-3 year old unit that is broken with some major issue / why it is you called me. Because this isn't always about today... it's also about tomorrow and the next day after and so on. I want to know what I am walking into. (The nitty gritty details people often disregard, thinking that everything is the same no matter who you call.)