OT: HVAC AC Pros

[NikkiSixx]

ac doesn't come on, and internal house blower motor does not turn on, in the on position, turn it back to auto.

replaced capacitor with another one (not the same, but all I could find, with 45/5 for dual use)

Turn all breakers back on (none had been tripped) and nothing.

Replaced battery in thermostat, ended up junking the thermostat and buying a new one.. put that in, with new batteries, and nothing. Thermostat calling for cool.

Order a new blower motor assembly.. while waiting for it to arrive, it's been 4 + days, I am running a portable AC unit in the interim, when all of a sudden, the ac, which has been in the on position and calling for cool for 4 days, all of a sudden starts working.

Thoughts?

 

[WHCSC]

You fixed it

 

[NikkiSixx]

You fixed it

as it sat for 4 days? I don't think so.. yes, I'm grateful it started working, but now I don't trust it, why did it fail and sit there for 4 days laughing at me.

 

[4.6.3]

ac doesn't come on, and internal house blower motor does not turn on, in the on position, turn it back to auto.

replaced capacitor with another one (not the same, but all I could find, with 45/5 for dual use)

Turn all breakers back on (none had been tripped) and nothing.

Replaced battery in thermostat, ended up junking the thermostat and buying a new one.. put that in, with new batteries, and nothing. Thermostat calling for cool.

Order a new blower motor assembly.. while waiting for it to arrive, it's been 4 + days, I am running a portable AC unit in the interim, when all of a sudden, the ac, which has been in the on position and calling for cool for 4 days, all of a sudden starts working.

Thoughts?

Was it running continuously for a while before it quit? Did you notice if any of the condensate lines were iced up?

 

[4.6.3]

as it sat for 4 days? I don't think so.. yes, I'm grateful it started working, but now I don't trust it, why did it fail and sit there for 4 days laughing at me.

It could be SO many different stupid little things. Do you own a multimeter? Not a Menards meter.. I’m talking a legit meter.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Was it running continuously for a while before it quit? Did you notice if any of the condensate lines were iced up?

This is probably it...

There is also a chance that the fan is dying.

 

[cubsker15]

Look who's working together to solve home improvement issues.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Look who's working together to solve home improvement issues.

HVAC...more like HVAG! Right, Right?

 

[WTFMatt]

Keep an eye on it. If it stops working again, you may very well have a refrigerant leak in the evaporator coil. It could have frozen the coil and just took awhile to dethaw.

 

[NikkiSixx]

Was it running continuously for a while before it quit? Did you notice if any of the condensate lines were iced up?

I didn't notice anything like that. It quit early in the morning, around 7:30 am.

The first thing I did was take a shop vac to the drain line, using my hand to make a seal, to suck out anything that might be clogged.

That didn't seem to help, although I did get about a gallon of slime water out of the line.

 

[NikkiSixx]

It could be SO many different stupid little things. Do you own a multimeter? Not a Menards meter.. I’m talking a legit meter.

I just purchased a new multimeter, strictly to get the capacitance feature, as my cheap one doesn't have it.

Old Capacitor measures 5.12 on fan side, herm side 43.40

I think it's okay, although it is out of the unit at the moment. mfg stamped with 0422, so I assume it was made in april of 2022 and replaced sometime in late 2022+

 

[NikkiSixx]

This is probably it...

There is also a chance that the fan is dying.

blower fan spins freely.. outside compressor fan spins freely

Blower fan does make a groaning noise on startup.

 

[NikkiSixx]

Keep an eye on it. If it stops working again, you may very well have a refrigerant leak in the evaporator coil. It could have frozen the coil and just took awhile to dethaw.

is there anything I can do to get ahead of this or to be more proactive?

I assume if I call a guy to come out to test for leaks, he's going to tell me to replace the unit (mfg in 2016) so it's approx 9 years in service in florida, but I really don't have an extra 8k sitting around to drop on a new system.

It's a goodman system, doesn't appear to be any circuit boards.. there is a transformer i could replace, and the contactor (not sure what it's called) but outside next to the capacitor, is the switch to start the outside compressor.. i could probably replace that part as well, but it seems to function ok from a physical stand point. I can press the contact and it starts the motor, but it's an electrical switching to physical switch I think.