Freebird Posted July 23, 2011 #1 Posted July 23, 2011 I was sitting in the living room yesterday and noticed that it seemed unusually hot. Looked at my thermostat and it had gotten up to 83 in the house. A/C showed to be running but I looked outside and saw that the fan was not running on the outside unit. So....A/C is down. Did what checks I could do but didn't find the problem. Finally called the repair folks and they are supposed to be here this morning. It did cool off to 81 by this morning. Could have been worse I guess. Temps yesterday were in the 97 range with 50% humidity. Now to see what it is going to cost to fix this thing.
Kirby Posted July 23, 2011 #3 Posted July 23, 2011 Come to south Georgia and then you will really appreciate temps in the 80's. Oh yea, humidity is a killer down here as well. What ya'll need up north is a good crop of knats to go along with all the other stuff. They're so thick here at times you can sling a quart jar around your head and catch a gallon!!!!:rotf::rotf::rotf:
Freebird Posted July 23, 2011 Author #4 Posted July 23, 2011 Well, if I had spent a bit of time on it, I would have easily found the problem. The condenser fan motor is binding up. Apparently the bushings are worn out. The service guy sprayed oil down the shaft and got it freed up a bit. It still won't start unless you give it a spin. Of course they didn't have a motor in stock and are going to have to order one. I'm waiting for him to call me back with a price. I know what I can order one for so if he tries to jack it way up, I'll order one and install it myself. I'm letting it run until the house gets cooled down and then I'm going to pull it off and pull the ends off. Maybe I can clean it up a bit and it will work until a new motor gets here.
MidlifeVenture Posted July 23, 2011 #5 Posted July 23, 2011 Get some of the Honda Molly in there it should keep it spinning.
BuddyRich Posted July 23, 2011 #6 Posted July 23, 2011 (edited) Run down to your local AC supply store and pick up a motor. You just need to know Shaft size, CCW or CW rotation, Voltage , hp,rpm, and mounting holes. They probably have a replacement motor there. http://stores.johnstonesupply.com/corp/tabid/564/default.aspx?find=OH Edited July 23, 2011 by BuddyRich
flb_78 Posted July 23, 2011 #7 Posted July 23, 2011 You'll probably also want to change out the start and run capacitors for the motor while it's apart. I just installed a new motor and capacitors in mine about 2 months ago.
capn eddie Posted July 23, 2011 #8 Posted July 23, 2011 Well, if I had spent a bit of time on it, I would have easily found the problem. The condenser fan motor is binding up. Apparently the bushings are worn out. The service guy sprayed oil down the shaft and got it freed up a bit. It still won't start unless you give it a spin. Of course they didn't have a motor in stock and are going to have to order one. I'm waiting for him to call me back with a price. I know what I can order one for so if he tries to jack it way up, I'll order one and install it myself. I'm letting it run until the house gets cooled down and then I'm going to pull it off and pull the ends off. Maybe I can clean it up a bit and it will work until a new motor gets here. This happened to me last year, same thing fan stoped i took fan out oiled it spun it with a drill then put greese on bearings ,reinstalled it and it worked for 1 week until new fan came in and i installed it. while your at it have them install a new capasitor because mine went out after the fan was put in.
mm482 Posted July 23, 2011 #9 Posted July 23, 2011 Until you get the fan going again, you can keep a small spray of water on the condenser. If you get spray right, the system will work with out the fan. Earl
okiestar Posted July 24, 2011 #11 Posted July 24, 2011 Little caution here about running it with a bad fan motor. Unless you have a high end condensing unit, there's no "high head pressure" cutout for the compressor. When the fan binds and stops, the compressor has no choice but to continue running until it trips on the internal overload built in to almost every compressor. Very hard on it and once tripped, it will naturally cool and run again, and again, tripping each time. It's no secret the compressor is the $$$$ of the system. You can infact use a sprinkler on the coils but unless you have gauges on the system, there's no way to monitor whether the pressures are correct. You can easily cause a low high side, low suction side pressure situation and return liquid freon back to the compressor,,,also not wise. and yes, always replace the capacitor when replacing a motor.
Freebird Posted July 24, 2011 Author #12 Posted July 24, 2011 Well after lubing it up very well, it spins as freely as new now and is working fine. I know that it won't last and will order a new motor today. As for the compressor, this one does have a high pressure cutout on it so it should be fine. In fact, it had a high pressure fault and wouldn't even try to run again until I reset the fault code. So, the house is cool now and it is cycling on and off as it should. Hopefully it will be OK until the new motor and capacitor gets here in a few days. Nobody locally had the motor. It is a bit unusual in that it is 850 RPM and all that was available around here was 1075 RPM. One person told me that the 1075 would work but it would cool the coils too quickly and I might have to add more coolant. I would rather just get the correct motor.
Yammer Dan Posted July 24, 2011 #13 Posted July 24, 2011 They raised the price on replacing my entire system 2000 bucks because of the "new" Freon?? I was going to move it outside with a heat pump(not to sure of how that would work) but they jacked the price 2000 bucks since last year. Guess I'll see how the JB Weld holds. Probally not long.
Freebird Posted July 24, 2011 Author #14 Posted July 24, 2011 (edited) Yea, mine seems to be doing very well. This condenser fan is the first problem I've ever had with it. I guess I'm pretty lucky. The system is now about 17 years old though so I figure I had better start budgeting for a new one. This is a heat pump with propane emergency backup heat. I just ordered the new fan and capacitor from a place in Michigan. It should be here on Wednesday. I'll be out of town until next Friday though so hopefully the fan motor will work until then. The local guy never did call me back with a price for the motor. I saw him write it on the service order to "call with price before ordering". He never called so if he went ahead and ordered it anyway, he will have to find another place to use it. Edited July 24, 2011 by Freebird
jfoster Posted July 24, 2011 #15 Posted July 24, 2011 Yea, mine seems to be doing very well. This condenser fan is the first problem I've ever had with it. I guess I'm pretty lucky. The system is now about 17 years old though so I figure I had better start budgeting for a new one. This is a heat pump with propane emergency backup heat. I just ordered the new fan and capacitor from a place in Michigan. It should be here on Wednesday. I'll be out of town until next Friday though so hopefully the fan motor will work until then. The local guy never did call me back with a price for the motor. I saw him write it on the service order to "call with price before ordering". He never called so if he went ahead and ordered it anyway, he will have to find another place to use it. I could understand not having ac parts in the winter, but not in dead of summer. Unless there's like a dozen different motors and compressors out there in use.
Grisolm1 Posted July 24, 2011 #16 Posted July 24, 2011 Well after lubing it up very well, it spins as freely as new now and is working fine. I know that it won't last and will order a new motor today. As for the compressor, this one does have a high pressure cutout on it so it should be fine. In fact, it had a high pressure fault and wouldn't even try to run again until I reset the fault code. So, the house is cool now and it is cycling on and off as it should. Hopefully it will be OK until the new motor and capacitor gets here in a few days. Nobody locally had the motor. It is a bit unusual in that it is 850 RPM and all that was available around here was 1075 RPM. One person told me that the 1075 would work but it would cool the coils too quickly and I might have to add more coolant. I would rather just get the correct motor. I would not have the person who said the higher RPM motor near my WC system. You are extracting heat and there are so many variables that a little more Airflow isn't going to hurt. Ask him if you should also be putting more in when it's 10 degrees cooler out.....
Freebird Posted July 24, 2011 Author #17 Posted July 24, 2011 Yea, it may have been fine but I figured I would be better off just ordering the right motor for it. I'm sure I bought it cheaper anyway.
Galapagos Posted July 24, 2011 #18 Posted July 24, 2011 Well, if I had spent a bit of time on it, I would have easily found the problem. The condenser fan motor is binding up. Apparently the bushings are worn out. The service guy sprayed oil down the shaft and got it freed up a bit. It still won't start unless you give it a spin. Of course they didn't have a motor in stock and are going to have to order one. I'm waiting for him to call me back with a price. I know what I can order one for so if he tries to jack it way up, I'll order one and install it myself. I'm letting it run until the house gets cooled down and then I'm going to pull it off and pull the ends off. Maybe I can clean it up a bit and it will work until a new motor gets here. McGyver has to be in your family tree someplace. You can fix anything.
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