Home A/C help needed...

rpf500 · May 30, 2016

Short version.....AC unit hot as hell, house not cooling. I go out this.morning look at it, hit the power and the fan doesn't spin. It moves freely by hand though. So I hit power again, and "push start" fan with screwdriver. Takes off and is working fine. So......

Is the fan bad? Or, one of these other pieces? I'm guessing capacitor, but don't know why other than 3 of the fan wires hook to it. The small piece by my thumb has a fan wire to it also.

gottagofast · May 30, 2016

Go ahead and replace the capacitor... They are cheap and fail often... Most likely that will fix you up... If not replace the fan.

Make sure you get the right capacitor... Take the old one with you to match em up.

rpf500 · May 30, 2016

Thanks a lot. I was just looking at them online. They are cheap.....wish I knew where to find one today local. I'm sure a holiday service call to an AC place would be outrageous. Luckily it's not July temperatures yet.

Thanks again!!

NOVI FED COUPE · May 30, 2016

Just make sure you put the right size back on. Where are you located?

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crawler 129 · May 30, 2016

At my other house 2 years in a row when it was hot and the ac was kicking all the time l had a capacitor fail twice . A buddy of mine does ac work . He installed a capacitor booster and never had another issue . When the fan kicks on it takes a lot of juice . As stated above if u change the capiacitor and the fan doesn't work replace it

rpf500 · May 30, 2016

NOVI FED COUPE said:
Just make sure you put the right size back on. Where are you located?

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Southern, IN. Near Evansville

kmcminn · May 30, 2016

Doesn't the start up capacitor briefly knock it out of phase to almost push start the fan?

rpf500 · May 30, 2016

Update....fan is spinning pretty slow and the motor is hot. It's keeping the house cool though. I'm going to throw a capacitor and motor on it so it's done. Then going to have it serviced. We've only been here about a year and probably should have done it this past fall, but never think about it until times like these. It's a York, presumably new with the house in 97, so hopefully it's got some life left.

Thanks for the replies fellas.

customfab · May 30, 2016

Be carefull changing the capacitor they hold a lot of power they will shock the **** out of u..... More like fry ur ass. There is a way to discharge them but I'm not shure how.

gottagofast · May 30, 2016

Good point... To discharge em you short across the terminals with a screwdriver...
Yes it needs to have a plastic or otherwise insulated handle...
Do not use one with a steel shank all the way through the handle IE redneck chisel

Olivedrabcj7 · May 30, 2016

Had this problem recently.

Notes:There are 2 capacitors. Make sure you are replacing the fan motor capacitor. A failed capacitor will usually be swollen and have a bulge (giggity) or a domed top where the terminals are. If the capacitor doesent fix the problem(my capacitor was weak and it killed the fan motor itself) you can do what I did to get by until you get the fan motor...set up a lawn sprinkler pointed to spray the fins of the condenser unit. I did this to get through a 100+ degree weekend in august when my wife was laid up in bed after wisdom tooth surgery and our a/c fan **** out.

bad80cj · May 30, 2016

Olivedrabcj7 said:
Had this problem recently.
you can do what I did to get by until you get the fan motor...set up a lawn sprinkler pointed to spray the fins of the condenser unit.

been there!

98TJ · May 30, 2016

The aluminum one is the fan capacitor. The black one is the compressor start capacitor.

gottagofast · May 30, 2016

Replace em both while ur in there

Toddy · May 30, 2016

Easy as pie to replace. Not sure if Home Depot has them or not but they do online.

Dad just had one go out and 275 bucks later they had the 10 dollar part replaced. Charged him 120 bucks for the part.

Like said take old one with you and match the number. Throw dis connect and replace one at a time.

truckbroke · May 30, 2016

Just had to change my fan capacitor. Same thing. Had to kick start fan with screw driver. 20$. Bad part is I had a a/C company come out and they said it was the fan. Never even checked the capacitor. My buddy asked me about it so we checked it. They wanted 450.00 to do the fan. I called and told the owner don't bother sending me a bill for the service call cause his tech was a dumbass. Hell all he did was ask me to turn unit on. When fan didn't start he was like yep we got a bad fan. 80 dollar service call. I told him to bill me.

Throttleout · May 31, 2016

To answer your other question the piece you are asking about is a fan switch. They are set to come on a certain temp. Just like in you furnace, wont let the fan come on until set temp. Since the motor Takes off with a jump start should just be a bad capacitor. Each lug of the capacitor will be labeled just replace the same way. On the side of you motor near each end you should see two holes for yellow caps for Oil. A few drops helps a lot, I use 75-140 royal purple. Hope this helps and Good luck

rpf500 · May 31, 2016

No one has the motor in stock. So, I got both capacitors today and am going to change them tonight hoping it works. Then, order a fan tomorrow regardless because I am sure if the heat from it not working didn't kill it already, it will soon enough.

Do I have to short the capacitors out no matter what, or just be very careful to not touch the terminals?? I hate messing with electricity so if I don't HAVE to short these out, I would prefer that for sure.

gottagofast · May 31, 2016

Absolutely short them out..... Prolly won't do anything but might spark... No big deal and then they become harmless...

Make sure you pull the disconnect on the side of the house first then the only power is what the capacitors may be holding.

rpf500 · May 31, 2016

Appreciate all of you guys. We are back up and running. Both capacitors cost me $20.75 using our company account. Still going to order a motor, and maybe 2 capacitors for spares.

Anyway.....THANK YOU ALL