Central AC Question

[Carbo]

South Florida, mid summer, central AC working is second only to cold beer. I have a Rheem unit, 3.5 ton, split system, installed 11 years ago. Air handler is in the garage; and compressor is outside. Problem free all along. Only maintenance I do is changing out the filter and occasionally blowing out the drain line.
Today I noticed the house felt warm and realized warm air was blowing out all the vents in the house. So I shut down the AC for about 10 minutes while I looked around for anything obvious. Filter was clean, blew out the water line, checked the compressor and it was clean. Turned the unit back on and in a few minutes the house started to cool off again.
So what am I looking at here? A hiccup? Harbinger of bad tidings? Do I call a tech, only to be told "I can't say what's wrong because right now nothing is wrong."

Fuhgettaboutit and have a cold beer or two?

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Have a beer, call a tech out to do maintenance and check compressor. Ideally, you should have maintenance once a year. It's been 11 years, get with the program.

 

[Carbo]

Probably the best advice anyone can offer. I'll ask around for a trustworthy and reliable service tech get a once over.

 

[Greenman]

Have a beer, call a tech out to do maintenance and check compressor. Ideally, you should have maintenance once a year. It's been 11 years, get with the program.

The only maintenance on an AC compressor is to blow the debris out of the coils.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The only maintenance on an AC compressor is to blow the debris out of the coils.

Blow debris off outside, clean debris around unit, clean fan and any debris inside unit, open door or shield over compressor coil and clean, straighten any bent fins on radiator, clean condenser drain and, oh yeah, turn the power off before you start. Or, you can have a beer and call a tech who can also do head readings to see if your system is failing. If you have it done once a year, the tech has a baseline which is very useful.

 

[Pick2]

I've had this happen to Me. Look at the evaporator coil/fins. It's the part that gets cold , usually right near the filter. If you get dust buildup there , it will cause a dead spot in the air flow , which will frost over , slowly growing until you have warm air. When you turned it off , the ice melting will flush some of the clog off and it will go back to working. You still need to clean the evaporator or it will happen again , typically on a hot humid day.
HTH

 

[Greenman]

Blow debris off outside, clean debris around unit, clean fan and any debris inside unit, open door or shield over compressor coil and clean, straighten any bent fins on radiator, clean condenser drain and, oh yeah, turn the power off before you start. Or, you can have a beer and call a tech who can also do head readings to see if your system is failing. If you have it done once a year, the tech has a baseline which is very useful.

30 seconds with a leaf blower, or a garden hose.
I've never heard of a tech checking pressure unless the unit wasn't cooling. The base line is the required charge pressure adjusted for ambient temperature.
If it gives you piece of mind having a tech clean it and check the charge every year then it's worth the cost. But I don't believe it will get you one more days service out of the unit.

 

[boomerang]

I've never heard of a tech checking pressure unless the unit wasn't cooling.

Neither did I until we bought a condo in FL. I had them come out to give the unit a going over in part because the prior owner had not had it looked at in three years but mostly because at that time we were only going to be occupying the place over the winter months. I wanted to try and ensure a trouble free experience during the time of year when the unit would be stressed the most and we were 1500 miles away

I was totally amazed at what was included in what they termed an annual inspection. Besides checking the pressures, they amp-probed various circuits, checked the static pressure inside the plenum and hooked a vacuum up to the drain line outside after putting some anti-microbial liquid into it from inside. That vacuum stayed in place the entire time the tech was there. He told me that the static pressure looked fine and therefore he did not recommend cleaning the evaporator. There was more to it but that is all I can remember. All that for $99.

They take AC very seriously in FL.

 

[Meghan54]

I'm wondering if your start/run capacitor is going bad. Our central A/C unit in our last house did the same as yours, OP. Found the start/run cap. was bulging and replaced it. Fixed the problem.

 

[Carbo]

Appreciate all the replies and advice. Best move is to bring in a qualified tech to give the system a once over. Since the incident, though, it's been blowing cold and working just fine.

 

[boomerang]

Appreciate all the replies and advice. Best move is to bring in a qualified tech to give the system a once over. Since the incident, though, it's been blowing cold and working just fine.

Yeah, have the system looked at. Don't think one time is an isolated incident that won't happen again. Next time could be on a weekend or worse, a holiday weekend where the rates will be higher.

AC is too much of a necessity in South FL to hope for the best.

And let us know how you made out. Does your system have a condensate overflow cut-off switch? There are some troublesome models out there. When we had ours serviced we were warned that ours was one of them. The tech will know.

 

[gorb]

Hopefully it continues to run trouble free.

If you don't have a spare capacitor for your compressor I suggest you get one. I had to replace mine yesterday.

 

[Mandres]

It probably iced over. It's a good idea to get a can of coil cleaner and give the inside coil a bath. I just did mine last night and the coil was filthy, enough to impede airflow and freeze it up

 

[Ferzerp]

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