help A/C stopped. any mechanic/recos...

[grumpygrady]

Hi i am in pasadena and my ac stopped. Thermostat is working, breaker ok, recirc fan running, outside fan in unit not turning - no cool air.

Can do cash - need a reco for repairman - not a good time for this to break...

:>

thanks

GRUMPY

[Market Price]

Hi i am in pasadena and my ac stopped. Thermostat is working, breaker ok, recirc fan running, outside fan in unit not turning - no cool air.

Can do cash - need a reco for repairman - not a good time for this to break...

:>

thanks

GRUMPY

I decided to teach myself HVAC after putting a bunch of the tech's kids through college.
The most likely causes are a bad capacitor or contactor. Of course it could be a loose connection on the low voltage leads going to the outside unit. It could also be a failure of both the compressor and the fan, but that is unlikely, unless the fan failed. and the unit continued to work, and subsequently caused the compressor to fail. There are other things it could be that are unit specific.
I would stay away from the large companies with the tv and radio adds, and try to find a reputable small local company. I don't know if he goes that far, but Jeff at Aire Care has always been a straight shooter with me.

[27 sailfish]

I just went through something similar with my daughter's house.

Sounds like the capacitor went bad - very common trouble. This part gives the fan motor extra power to start.

Go outside and feel top of the fan motor. If hot - turn thermostat to OFF. Allow fan to cool - 6 hours on so.

If motor is not hot - or after cools off - turn thermostat to COOL - fan AUTO.

Go outside to unit and using a dowel rod or handle of wooden spoon , going on fan blade tip through safety guard - spin fan blade clockwise.

Hopefully fan starts moving. If so - 100% capacitor. I can replace it for you Monday afternoon - part is about $15.00 ( I have account ). List is about $45.00.

Rick Adams is friend of mine who does AC repairs 443 604 -0786. He is near you - good guy. Tell him Skip from Arundel Insulation gave you his number.

He likely carries part in his truck.

[grumpygrady]

thanks skip. so fan motor not hot. compressor is warm would not say hot... no problem putting hand on it and leaving it there. i pulled capacitor and tested with multimeter - 2000 ohms black to C and red to herm it did nothing staying at reading of 1; then to fan same thing - would then cause multimeter to go blank. so, i'd like to think its capacitor, but dont know what to think.... tried to spin the fan but nothing... left message at the number you gave. thx
:>

[russellraven]

I just went through something similar with my daughter's house.

Sounds like the capacitor went bad - very common trouble. This part gives the fan motor extra power to start.

Go outside and feel top of the fan motor. If hot - turn thermostat to OFF. Allow fan to cool - 6 hours on so.

If motor is not hot - or after cools off - turn thermostat to COOL - fan AUTO.

Go outside to unit and using a dowel rod or handle of wooden spoon , going on fan blade tip through safety guard - spin fan blade clockwise.

Hopefully fan starts moving. If so - 100% capacitor. I can replace it for you Monday afternoon - part is about $15.00 ( I have account ). List is about $45.00.

Rick Adams is friend of mine who does AC repairs 443 604 -0786. He is near you - good guy. Tell him Skip from Arundel Insulation gave you his number.

He likely carries part in his truck.

Skip, same thing happened to mine on Memorial day weekend. HVAC was running, but outside fan was not spinning and house was not cooling. Did a little research and used a large paint stirrer stick o push the fan blade. Started spinning right away. Looked up the run capacitor make and model and ordered a new one from Amazon. Arrived in 2 days thanks to free trial Amazon Prime. Replaced the old one, 1 wire at a time. Worked like a charm. You gotta love Google when looking to repair something. It can sometimes save you lots of money and a service call. Good luck grumpygrady with yours.

[grumpygrady]

Skip, same thing happened to mine on Memorial day weekend. HVAC was running, but outside fan was not spinning and house was not cooling. Did a little research and used a large paint stirrer stick o push the fan blade. Started spinning right away. Looked up the run capacitor make and model and ordered a new one from Amazon. Arrived in 2 days thanks to free trial Amazon Prime. Replaced the old one, 1 wire at a time. Worked like a charm. You gotta love Google when looking to repair something. It can sometimes save you lots of money and a service call. Good luck grumpygrady with yours.

thanks all - ac running again. Skip Rick came out yesterday and got it going. Sun am i figured out the contactor wasnt being pulled in - so i used a piece of pvc to hold it in periodically to cool house down a bit. problem was high limit had tripped likely due to dirty unit - Rick cleaned and hit the reset - didnt even know there was a reset - Duh... side note skip - text me please 410-599-6457 - like to talk about a new unit at some point in the future in the slow period. thanks