Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Get help with Packaged Units
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005Servicing and replacing all-in-one heating and cooling units that sit on a pad beside the building or on its roof, including the curb, duct and utility connections a new unit has to fit.
01Packaged units
Because every part shares one cabinet, one symptom can have causes in several sections of the unit.
With every part in one cabinet, a single failure can stop both seasons. A technician checks power, controls, the blower and the heating and cooling sections in turn to find the part responsible.
A ceiling stain under a rooftop unit can come from a failing curb seal, worn roof flashing or the unit’s own condensate. Finding which one decides whether the fix is on the unit or on the roof.
Everything in a packaged unit lives outdoors in one cabinet, exposed to sun and weather. Corroded panels, a rusting base pan and parts failing in turn suggest the whole unit is wearing out rather than one component.
A dirty filter or coil, a slipping blower or a duct connection that has pulled loose where it passes through the wall or roof can all cut the air reaching the rooms.
02Types of unit
Both cool the same way. The difference is how they make heat in winter.
Electric cooling with a gas burner and heat exchanger built into the same cabinet. It gives strong heat in cold weather, needs a gas supply to the unit, and carries the same combustion safety checks as any gas furnace.
The refrigerant circuit runs in reverse to heat as well as cool, usually with electric heat strips inside the cabinet for the coldest days and defrost cycles. It needs no gas line and suits areas with milder winters or no gas service.
Packaged Units
Serving Abilene, TX.
03Where they fit
A packaged unit trades indoor space for an outdoor footprint.
Buildings on a slab with no basement and little attic room, manufactured houses and many small commercial buildings have nowhere indoors to put a furnace or air handler. A packaged unit solves that by keeping all the equipment outside, with a supply and a return duct passing through the wall or roof. Service happens outdoors too, without anyone working inside the building.
The trade-off is exposure. Every part, including the blower and controls, lives in the weather, and the duct connections where the air enters the building have to stay sealed against rain and pests. Those joints matter as much to the system as the equipment inside the cabinet.
04Replacement
A new packaged unit rarely drops straight into the old one’s place. These decide the extra work.
Newer cabinets are often a different size from the old ones, so a rooftop unit may need an adapter curb to meet the existing opening, and a ground unit a new or larger pad. The roof around the curb is flashed and sealed again once the unit is set.
The supply and return openings on the new unit may not line up with the old ones. Transitions are built to join them, and the joints where the ducts pass into the building are sealed against air leaks and weather.
A ground unit needs a clear path to move equipment in and out. A rooftop unit usually needs a crane, and the lift is planned around roof access, power lines and the hours the building is in use.
05Questions
A split system has equipment in two places: a furnace or air handler inside and a condenser outside, joined by refrigerant lines. A packaged unit puts all of it in one outdoor cabinet, so nothing takes up indoor space and no refrigerant lines run into the building.
Often, if there is space indoors for the air handler or furnace and a route for the refrigerant lines and drain. The ducts that ran to the outdoor cabinet then have to be reconnected to the new indoor equipment, which is the larger part of the change.
The unit is too heavy and bulky to carry up by hand, and lifting it onto the curb in one piece protects the roof. The lift is planned around access to the building, overhead lines and nearby traffic.
What the system is doing, when it started, what the thermostat is set to and what it reads, and whether the outdoor unit is running. The age of the equipment and a photo of its label help a technician arrive prepared.
Lone Star Cooling and Heating
Call Lone Star Cooling and Heating, have us call you, or describe the issue.
Prefer to talk?
Call (325) 219-0005