Home Repair AC Issue

Hi can anyone tell me why the inside fan would be running but the fan on the AC unit outside never starts? We were able to get the fan to spin briefly by starting it manually with a stick and once it was spinning it kept going for about 30 minutes before quitting again. Any tips or what parts need to be replaced/checked?

Thanks

 

The fan IN your house simply is the "forced air" or the blower. The fan outside is the compressor and only runs when the actual AC kicks on. As for starting your compressor with a stick, ummmm, beats me why that would start it! You may have a short somewhere, an exposed wire or a loose connection if it actually runs for a while.

 

Might be a build-up of dust/dirt/crap on the bearing of the inside fan. That can cause a fan to need a "manual start" but it also indicates that something is wrong.

Now concerning the compressor fan not running. What do you mean when you posted that it "never" starts? Do you mean that if you turn on your AC and set the thermostat down to 50 degrees that it still does not turn on? Does your compressor turn on but the cooling fan does not? This sounds like a complicated issue. And one that probably can't be answered in a forum.

It is sometimes tough to tell whether you have a minor problem or a major problem with some of these HVAC systems.

When was the last time you had your system looked at?

 

The fan didn't start on its own, no matter what the thermostat was set to, only when we went outside and manually started it. The tip of manually starting it with a screwdriver was something I found online. I was hoping it had also happened to another homeowner and they knew what the repair was that was needed.

Suzanne

 

I would recommend getting someone out there to look at it.

 

if it starts with a stick, then it's probably the start/run capacitor -- I replaced mine for like $25 and it's worked fine ever since (3yrs ago). They are fairly easy to replace too, just 3-5 wires. A local HVAC place will charge you 300+ likely.

 

One of my friends had the same issue with his A/C unit. It appears to be the capacitor issue. He bought one online and had it replace for less than $40.

 

man, I just jinxed myself... now my inside unit must have gotten frozen over, so it leaked + I just tried to turn it on and got a bad electrical burning smell... good times

 

The capacitor was the culprit but luckily for us we just made it under the warranty time. I called the company that installed the unit and Carlos, very nice guy, came out to take care of it. We definitely could have done it ourselves and will next time but I was worried about messing with it this time. Total was $191. $85 for diagnosis and $106 for labor.

Suzanne

 

My attic unit is now frozen so I turned it off as no cold air is coming in....I am wondering what causes the ac to freeze over? Im now waiting for the unit to thaw out completely before I can restart it....sigh....

 

One reason AC units freeze is low freon of what ever type your unit uses.

 

That usually indicates a loss of refrigerant. You would need a technician to find out why it leaked out - could be a simple leak fix (and then buy new refrigerant at approx $100/lb) or needing new evaporator coils (approx $1600)

 

That's our concern. We also just had freon added but they didn't have time (very hot day) to check for a leak so we have to have them come back out to do one. I am worried it is the coil (crappy Goodman) in which case it would make sense to replace the unit which right now we just don't have the $$.

 

These Goodman units are not worth fixing. I've been putting freon in ours every few years and replacing capacitors but the first time something big goes I'm getting much better units. I laugh every time I see the repair people because it's every day and at least 4-5 in the neighborhood driving to work. They must make a killing off Broadlands. Talking to one repair man a while back he was mentioning how these goodman units in our neighborhood are just rusting out.

 

Update:

Climatic came out and checked my system out...They found a coupla leaks in the system. One in the evaporative coil system and the other in the outside condenser system. They cannot repair the inside coil system but they did replace the seals on the outside one. The original seals were PLASTIC caps. They replaced them with brass caps and sealed with a sealant.

Found that I had lost 1.8lbs of freon. He mentioned that each year goes by, everyone loses a bit of freon and that most of the freon is lost in the WINTER time--not the summer time due to the fact that the AC system isn't being used in the winter.

To replace the evaporative coil system would be approximately over $1,300..Thinking about replacing it or not at this point....

Climatic was very thorough, very informative, walked me through the entire process, allowed me to watch the process to fully understand how the entire system works, explained to me what my options are, and explained to me how to ensure that I can make the system last a bit longer....

All in all, I found climatic to be VERY professional, very informative, willing to answer all questions I had and prices to be reasonable. I'll tell you this though: they are pretty honest and won't try to "rip you off"....They try the least costly approaches first BEFORE they go through the more costly approach. That impressed the heck out of me.

The tech guy's name was Cliff...very good and informative guy. I would go with Climatic again in the future. No nonsense company.