Fixed the A/C by accident, what did I do?

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polk county

Petty Officer 2nd Class
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Jan 22, 2008
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In Florida it?s hot enough to have the air on right now. I turned the central A/C on the other day and it only halfway worked. The A/C unit outside the house made the usual noise but there was no physical movement of air through the vents. It ran like this for several hours before we realized that it wasn?t cooling off in the house. I shut it down and let it sit overnight. The next day I flipped the main breaker on the house to fix the dryer. I turned the air on inside the house to troubleshoot it again and the air worked perfectly. What did I do? The air has been working fine ever since.
 
MTboatguy

MTboatguy

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Re: Fixed the A/C by accident, what did I do?

Sounds like you may have jolted the start capacitor on the fan in the system. You need to call a tech and have them check out the system, if it failed the other day and is working today, it sounds like it is getting weak and will probably fail again. My Dad has had to have a couple of them replaced in the last few years in his heat pump system.
 
Fireman431

Fireman431

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Sep 17, 2007
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Re: Fixed the A/C by accident, what did I do?

And don't let them rip you off. The fan's start capacitor is (literally) a $5 part.
 
hrdwrkingacguy

hrdwrkingacguy

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Re: Fixed the A/C by accident, what did I do?

Fireman431 said:
And don't let them rip you off. The fan's start capacitor is (literally) a $5 part.
Click to expand...

Its actually a run capacitor, but the price is about right for a 5 - 10 uf cap...There are tons of things that can cause a motor not to start...If you can get to the motor and blower wheel I would look to see if its is excessively dirty and spin it to see if the bearings are tight...Sometimes units have a fan relay and a sequencer that creates a start delay and a off delay...Sequencers go bad all the time or get kinda random...Its all pretty simple figure out...:eek:
 
rivermouse

rivermouse

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Jun 16, 2011
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Re: Fixed the A/C by accident, what did I do?

Sounds like a very common problem related to the start up motor capacitor or the motor itself. They arent hard to replace and beware of ac repairmen you dont know. One thing which I ran into once was a breaker in my homes main box that was going bad. It would work and then it would stop. This can be a real fire hazard .
 
SteveMcD

SteveMcD

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Mar 21, 2011
Messages
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Re: Fixed the A/C by accident, what did I do?

The run cap IS your cheapest gamble, without calling in a pro. If you're not the electrical type, don't go any further. It is usually, oval shaped and strapped to the blower housing, and will have wires coming from the motor. Do make sure the power is off. It's not polarized, If a terminal has more than one wire, make sure they go back together. I am a HVAC tech, PM me If you need to.
 
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