The Snowball Story: A Misdiagnosis That Proved a Point
In 1972, a Trane Climatuff compressor was sent back to the factory in Tyler, Texas — supposedly dead. It was misdiagnosed. But when Trane engineers hooked it up on a proper test bench with correct airflow, proper refrigerant charge, and the right electrical setup — it ran perfectly.
The compressor was never broken. It was misdiagnosed. Something in the system caused symptoms that got blamed on the compressor. So Trane decided to see what it could really take. They put it through continuous liquid flood-back, 24/7.
It ran for 28 years. They called it Snowball — because it encased itself in a block of ice. At 3,500 RPM, that's the equivalent of driving 14.8 million miles. Snowball II started in 2000 and is still running today.
The lesson? Compressors rarely die from being compressors. They get misdiagnosed because the real problem — bad ductwork, wrong airflow, poor system design — is never investigated. We investigate everything.
Read the full story