Home Repair A/C outdoor unit trouble

My A/C unit (2nd zone) outside is not running !

We found out that the fan in the ouside unit wasn't running around 10pm last night, and the temp. upstairs is now 89F!!! We had to sleep with ALL of the windows open last night :eww:

I called Southern Air Temp (from our warranty book) and they are going to charge us $60 traveling fee + $75 to test the unit !!! And of course, anything extra for parts and labor.

Has anyone had this problem and maybe give us a little help?

The A/C is running inside the house but blowing warm air.

 

I've had the same problem before. In most instances it seems to be the capacitor. It's the part that gives the A/C motor an extra power boost to get started. They commonly wear out. I had a local company called Bowman's come out and fix mine, they were professional and the guy knew what he was talking about. He even gave me a few tips to help avoid a service call in the future. I'd recommend them if you are looking for someone to fix it.

Service calls tend to be expensive, don't be surprised if your final bill is $200 or more. If you want to try to fix it yourself, here's what I learned from watching him:

First kill the circuit breaker for the A/C unit so you don't get fried. There's a small metal panel on the side of the A/C unit that can be unscrewed. Inside, the capacitor usually looks like a 6" silver cylinder with about 3 wires coming out of the top. Pull the old one out and put a new one in the way you found the old one, noting which color wires connect to which port on the capacitor. I'm not sure where one would purchase a capacitor, but they can't be that hard to find. Then turn the power back on and see if it starts working.

I can't make any promises that this will work, but if you're really trying to save some money and feel adventurous, you can try it.

 

We've had very good experiences with Steve at Steve Thomasson Heating & AC. He's serviced as well as recently replaced our AC unit and Furnace. We found his prices fair/competitive and his service excellent. Contact info: 703-708-9227 Best wishes!

 

capacitors are cheap ($10-$30) and easy to swap... just get the values from your old one and you can get one locally at Grainger usually...

 

Do you have to worry about discharging the old capacitor before removing it?

I remember my revolting experences in electronics class

 

sure, or you could just wear rubber gloves and rubber coated pliers... but I read good and bad things about shorting them out with a screwdriver but I did that recently and it worked fine... just don't use your tongue