OT : Anyone with AC or Electrical Experience?

[Chevy Man 22]

My unit outside has quit working on the hottest weekend of the year no less but I don't think it's the compressor because you can hear it humming and clicking as if it's trying to come on.

Any ideas ?

[ogrjmj]

maybe it needs to be cleaned? is it old? ever have it serviced?

[right between the eyes]

Yup, change any filters a have a look for loose ends that shouldn't be there, if it still don't work properly seek prof help.

[madcracker]

seek prof help.

Speaking of which, Brian...

[julio1867]

I would flip the breaker and then try again, sometimes it works. I'm sure you already tried that though. My clue to do it is when it works in the basement, but the fan outside is not running.

[Jumangi]

Might be the capacitor if you hear a clicking.

[BIGMAC2570]

best bet is..take the garden hose and hose off the entire unit inside and out....while doing this, hit the tubing to see if it bubbles (bubbles on tubing means leak).. then wait about 5 minutes and fire it up...if it is still not running, call a AC guy and schedule a cleaning, when they clean it and go to fire it up, he will find the problem and NO charge, since you are paying for cleaning...DO NOT tell them you have tried to fire up, just they them that you are calling to get it cleaned before you start it up for the season..

[yowdahound]

Under your furnace is an A coil, make sure it is free of dust and cobwebs......Also like someone else said, make sure you unit outside is clean and free of debris.
If you notice the Acoil frozen solid, it could be low on coolant.......
Same problem I had last summer, had a guy come out to charge the system, and everything works good as new now.
Maybe post an add on Craigslist, many HVAC are looking for side jobs~

In the meanwhile, get yourself plenty of cold beer to drink ;)

[98vols]

def sounds like a capacitor. Pull the access panel off and inspect the capacitor and see if it appears swolen. make sure to turn off the breaker off first

[utgrad92]

Something similar happend to my unit last year. I would get someone to look at it. Our capacitor actually started to melt...but it screwed up the compressor and contaminated the whole system...

[right between the eyes]

Speaking of which, Brian...

Thanks for your compassion sir.

I'm currently participating in an alcohol therapy program at the moment, 6 oz of hard per day for 8 weeks straight, after only 3 weeks i've made considerable progress.:D

[Chevy Man 22]

I've got someone coming to look at it in the morning so hopefully it will be fixed tomorrow. I just looked at thermostat and it says it's 89 degrees in the house right now. *YIKES*


Thank god for window AC units lol

[grif32]

sounds like a contactor went bad. It wont open. You can pull the cover off and just push the contactor in and that will tell you.

[Chevy Man 22]

Well looks like it was the Capacitor after all he showed it to me when he pulled it out and the whole top of it is blown out. He said he won't know for sure that that's all that's wrong with it until he get the new capacitor but it's looking pretty good that that's all it is.

So hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight cause I'm none of those folks who can't sleep when it's hot.

[utgrad92]

I remember when mine went out... It was SO HOT! It took five days to get it fixed.

I'm in Texas. Where do you live?

[Chevy Man 22]

I remember when mine went out... It was SO HOT! It took five days to get it fixed.

I'm in Texas. Where do you live?

Hotlanta and boy it's lived up to it's name this weekend.


Thank goodness it was just the capacitor and a cheap fix I think it was like $15-$20 total. I found a family friend who does AC so he didn't charge for putting it in for me. It's running now but it's gonna take a good 6 -8 hr. to get the house cooled back down. It's been running non stop since 8 am and it's still really hot so I've got the AC going all the ceiling fans a window unit and 3 floor fans. Now watch me blow a breaker with all that stuff going at the same time. lol

Thanks for the help guys

[utgrad92]

That's great news.... We did not have to buy a new compressor....that was still under warrenty .. BUT it was a ten year compresser that craped out after only three years. Rheem said that they would not cover the full cost of repair when the compressor contaminated the rest of the unit. RHEEM sure did live up to their name! Luckily the A/C guy worked out a payment plan....