So I think my AC is FUBARd...

[STROKD]

Right before going to bed, started hearing a loud banging noise near the garage. Figured maybe a branch or somethin fell and the fan on the ac unit was chopping at it. No branch. Fan not turning at all, just making loud ass noise. I turn the unit off and push the fan with a flathead screwdriver, spins freely. Turn ac back on, it says ac is on on the display but air is not cold and it gained 2 degrees in 15 minutes. Loud noise is gone though.

Anyone got a good ac guy? I want someone honest that will fix it ethicly, not the normal dude who sits in his truck smoking and charges me 3 hours for a 15 minute fix.

My pop's says its fan, cap to fan/controller, or a relay. Any other ideas? Luckily the unit upstairs has the spare bedrooms 65 degrees, so I won't be dying this weekend.

[Ruffdaddy]

Damn! If you keep your house at 65 degrees that may be a contributor...lol

[Forever_frost]

Have you considered American Home Shield? When this happened to me, I called them and they had someone out in hours and it cost me 40 bucks service call and they had to replace a lot of stuff

[jw33]

Damn! If you keep your house at 65 degrees that may be a contributor...lol

No shit. Grainger sells the capacitors for $15-20. They fail all the time in this heat. That is probably all it is and worth the time/money to try. If you have a multimeter and know how to use it you can even check the old cap. If it looks swollen at all it is bad.

[STROKD]

No shit. Grainger sells the capacitors for $15-20. They fail all the time in this heat. That is probably all it is and worth the time/money to try. If you have a multimeter and know how to use it you can even check the old cap. If it looks swollen at all it is bad.

That's very good news. I run the upstairs stat at 80, but the rooms temp gauge at 66-68... Its 80 at the stat but that's in the hallway, not the rooms which I leave shut.

Downstairs unit is what's on fritz, I leave it at 73 at night which is 70 in master, and 76 during day when I'm home and 78 when I'm not.

I hope its just a cap, that'd be greatness.

Where is the cap located? Is it the large coke can on the feed line going into the compressor box? Looks like a cap I'd run on a sub in a car. Lol

[DriveWayBuilt]

Spend 20 bucks on a capacitor before you call anyone. I bet thats what it is.

[91cavgt]

I've used The Colony Heating and Air a few times before and they've always done me right.

Had the heater stop working the winter when we had those rolling blackouts. Luckily we already had the fireplace going, but I had a cast on and couldn't get around good. They came out pretty quick and fixed it. It was an easy fix, so instead of just charging me for the fix, they offered to put that money towards a bi-yearly checkup program which I did.


Later that next spring, they came out and checked the A/C, which was low so they charged it up, at no cost, and everything else checked out ok. 4 days later the A/C stopped cooling so I called them back up. Come to find out, the shrader valve had started leaking after they added freon (common problem on old units). So once again they recharged the A/C, tightened the shrader valve, and didn't charge me anything. This service call was also at 9 pm at night.

[bard]

Big Bear AC
972-998-9990

[The King]

Is the fan on the outside unit not running at all when the A/C is showing ON? If so, it's almost certainly the cap like several others have suggested.

[BlackGT]

Check the Capacitor first. Mine went out twice in the past 3 months... simple easy fix

[STROKD]

Is the fan on the outside unit not running at all when the A/C is showing ON? If so, it's almost certainly the cap like several others have suggested.

Correct.

AC normal, no problems
Loud rattling on unit, ac still on, fan no turn
Turn ac off, noise goes away instantly
Turn ac back on, no noise, no fan turning, no cold air.
Turn ac off and go to sleep upstairs with seperate ac unit.

Lol

I really appreciate the input, I was worried (still am, but less) I'd need a new unit, and being out of work, that wouldn't be easy to swallow currently.

[beech72]

when the fan is not running outside, it is not able to get rid of heat absorbed from the inside... that is why you are getting no cooling. if you keep turning it on with a bad cap you can damage the fan motor which is way more than a $15 cap

[mustngacman]

Do you know what size capacitor it is? I may have one.

[IHaveAMustang]

When my old house was (near) struck by lightning it cooked my capacitor and the small nickle switch next to it. I think it was $40 to $50 in parts and I replaced myself. I think it's called the "contactor switch" mine was blacker than...well it was black...should be shiny. That needs to be in good working condition to kick off the unit.

[beech72]

if the compressor kicks on, then the contactor is fine... the purpose of the capacitor is to slightly delay power to one leg of the fan motor causing it to rotate... if the cap is fried, both legs of power will hit the windings at the same time and the motor will not spin. if it was making noise and not spinning but is now not making noise at all, i would be worried that motor could be fried as well. personally i would take the cap and motor into an hvac supply store and have them test both