So... getting ready for bed last night, I walked into the bedroom and my wife says..... I turned the thermostat down and it's actually getting hotter in here.....   (not a good sign)

So i checked the thermostat and sure enough, the difference was a good 8 degrees and not in the direction that would have made my wife happy. 

I checked the attic where the air handler is, and that was running..... so outside with a flashlight and sure enough, the compressor wasn't running. (Nope... not the one I just replaced.... one of the other 2 I have on this house) Visions of spending another couple of thousand dollars flashes briefly through my head..... I try to dismiss that thought with a shudder.....

Check all the obvious things..... breakers on, voltage coming in...... nothing that I could fix at close to 11pm last night. The fan motor seemed a bit warm, so I suspect the motor or the starting capacitor..... but no way to check either ...kill the circuit breakers and go to bed. 


SO.... sleep with the ceiling fan on.... 

This morning.... Up and lets run a few checks again. Turn on the circuit breakers. I walk outside and the compressor is running..... but the condenser fan is not.....  call my repair guy. He comes a few hours later and determines that the capacitor is bad. He replaces it and the system fires up. A bit low on freon so he tops it off..... 

system is now running like a top, and all for under $100.  

Now, lunch and then off to work on a service call........ 

My wife will be a happy camper tonight....!!!!!

It's all about keeping the wifey happy, happy, happy!

Herb, I'm glad it all worked out and only being a minor problem. (I'm keeping mental notes as I'm in the house-hunting market and will need to look into these types of problems).

my father in law moved into a used house 2 years ago.  shortly after he moved in, the airconditioner unit did pretty much exactly what you're describing.  he called someone for repair and it cost him about $200 to repair and add freon.

earlier this week the outside unit stopped working again.  this time the capacitor wasn't the issue (at least that's what this same company told him).  I don't know how much he spent, but he told me they had to replace the outside unit, the inside coils and all of the freon (because it was the old type freon and they had to replace everything it went into).

I'm sure it wasn't a couple of hundred bucks.

 Glad it worked out less expensive than you had thought Herb. 



  Herb,I just about pulled my hair out last week on a heat pump I was installing for my pool. Everything was right but it still wouldn't run and kept tripping out on  High Pressure fault. I had thought that possibly there was a blockage in the high side from the factory and that's not good. For the heck of it I decided to open the TX valve and run the stem in and out a few times. As it turns out the valve was stuck and what I did made it work....this was after hours of hair pulling and calling things names.

  I knew if I called their warranty people it would be a long time till they came and they would find some reason to bill me for something. It all worked out though. It was between 65 and 68 F when I had people over and the pool was at 85 F. They said it felt like a hot tub. Whew!

Sometimes its finding the right repair man. I had an old honda civic. It was about 9 years old at the time, but low mileage. Everything worked with the exception of the 4 way flashers. So I bring to the local garage chain and they say the wiring harness needs replacing. $400.00. Yikes... So I take it to a dealership.. they say its a relay in the steering column and the column needs to be replaced (as its all integrated) - $300.00. Double yikes. I tell my buddy my woes, and he says "bring it to my guy". I thought, sure... can't hurt... I drive up.. I explain the problem. He goes... "ah". Pops the hood... a minute later says.. try them now. They work. "Inline fuse was corroded". Charge? $0.00... needless to say he has been my mechanic ever since.

Yep... finding a good, honest, and reliable repair company is a blessing. 

Too many times they are guessing, and those guesses cost you money. I am in the electronic security business and there are times where I think the panel circuit board is bad only to replace it and the problem persists in the "new" board. Then I have to track  down the problem to where it actually is. I then will replace the old board back into the system.... it take about 10 minutes to swap the board, and waaa laaa, the system works fine. 

In good conscience, I can not leave the new board in the system and tell the customer a lie that the old panel was bad when it wasn't. I stick the new panel in my shop and that is the next one I sell into a new install.  In 20 years , this has happened a few times.  

Yes... last night, the AC was pumping out some cool air and the wife was HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY!!!!!

 Too bad you don't live close Herb. Capacitors are less than 10.00 and it would have taken me less than 5 minutes to determine the problem.

Starise


 Too bad you don't live close Herb. Capacitors are less than 10.00 and it would have taken me less than 5 minutes to determine the problem.

I agree... but I have come to realise that when I try to save money and do certain things myself, I end up spending more than half the day working on something trying to figure out the problem. I have done this in the past.... I replaced a condenser fan and the air handler blower fan motor myself, but many times it's just cheaper and easier, not to mention faster,  to have someone else come in and do it and be done with it rather than messing around with it, buying and returning parts. 


Kinda like oil changes on my car..... I'd rather pay someone else.

 That's ok... you could have paid me to do it 


 Or maybe we could have bartered over some security work at my house.