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Home ac fan not working?

OILFIELDTRASH

OILFIELDTRASH

Lifer
Central ac in house. Heater in basement and an ac outside. All seems to be working correctly except on the ac unit outside the fan is not turning.

Any ideas on what it will cost labor and parts and is it something I could do myself? Thanks in advance.
 
$38.95 plus about $45.83 in parts.



:colbert: How the hell can we give an estimate? There are so many different things that can be wrong...
COULD you do it yourself? Maybe...if you're handy enough to figure out what the problem is to begin with...and handy enough to fix it without electrocuting yourself.
 
Edit: I should said this first: One way to see if its the motor would be to turn off the AC for a while to let the motor cool down. Then, start the AC. If the motor turns momentarily but eventually stops then it's 90% certain that the motor has some shorted windings. This happened to us about 6 years ago. I was 17 and I was able to track down a motor and replace it. If you're willing and feel confident in your ability to do this yourself, call up an electrical motor place and see if they can match the model #/specs of the motor. Any HVAC place will just try and get you to pay them to come out.

I think the motor cost about 160$ CAD after taxes (14%) - it was a 1/6HP, 240V capacitor start motor which replaced a 1/12HP motor. The shaft of the new motor was about 5" long and I had to cut it to a proper length with a hacksaw.

Also, check if the screws for the breakers feeding the AC fan motor are tight. Repeated temperature cycling can cause those screws to back out. This happened to our dryer about 5 years ago. If they're loose, turn off the breaker and tighten the screw.
 
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had that happen twice - inside blower working, outside fan not turning on.

first time was fire ants suiciding in the relay, preventing the contacts from coming together. turned power off, cleaned out relay.

second time was a bulging start-run capacitor, i think it was <$20 to replace.
 
If the compressor is running outside its the capacitor or the motor. Pull the disconnect next to the unit and take the electrical cover off. If the cylinder thing looks weird and bulged its that. Take a picture if you need to. You can check it with a volt meter that reads microfareds if you got one. If thats not bulged then its the motor. You'll need a new motor and should get a new cap too. A HVAC company can retail you the motor and cap for somewhere around $150. The cap alone is only $10. The motor wouldn't be the easiest thing to do your first time with no help but its not that hard to do. The cap is as easy as it gets.


A HVAC company will charge anywhere from $350 - $600 to come out and change out the motor around here. If the compressor isn't running either its the contactor or the 24volt supply to it from the unit. Good luck
 
Make sure to short out the capacitor after the wires are removed. Use the metal portion of the screwdriver and touch it to the two terminals simultaneously to short out the capacitor. This will remove any remaining charge left to the device.
 
Well it ended up being the capacitor for the fan motor. $75 for the service call and $69 for the capacitor. $144 total. Ac working again in Texas.. priceless. Lol

Does this sound like I got butt-raped? The service call is understandable but capacitors cost $69?

He did do a check up on the the whole unit too though so that makes it a little better.
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
Well it ended up being the capacitor for the fan motor. $75 for the service call and $69 for the capacitor. $144 total. Ac working again in Texas.. priceless. Lol

Does this sound like I got butt-raped? The service call is understandable but capacitors cost $69?

He did do a check up on the the whole unit too though so that makes it a little better.
Click to expand...

They have never cost me more than $20.00 bucks to replace myself.
 
TheInternet1980 said:
First thing you should do is check for mice.
Click to expand...

Funny you should say that. We had a brief warm spell in late Feb early March that I ended up running the AC for a few hours to cool down the house and it worked fine. In April when I turned it on the blower in the furnace was working fine but the compressor unit outside was not. It ended up being a mouse that had chewed through one of the wires inside the unit. We knew it was a mouse because it evidently zapped him enough to kill him, his remains were still there.
 
Yeah you got butt-raped a little on the capacitor but not too bad, and like you said getting the A/C working in TX = priceless
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
Well it ended up being the capacitor for the fan motor. $75 for the service call and $69 for the capacitor. $144 total. Ac working again in Texas.. priceless. Lol

Does this sound like I got butt-raped? The service call is understandable but capacitors cost $69?

He did do a check up on the the whole unit too though so that makes it a little better.
Click to expand...

To have a service call included that's not too bad. I had a blower motor go out a couple of years ago, spent a TON of time trying to find an identical replacement motor (GE makes about 83.225 million different models that are almost identical in size and specs). A contractor friend ended up giving me one he had sitting around in his basement and I plugged it in, it's been happily chugging away ever since. Free > *.
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
Well it ended up being the capacitor for the fan motor. $75 for the service call and $69 for the capacitor. $144 total. Ac working again in Texas.. priceless. Lol

Does this sound like I got butt-raped? The service call is understandable but capacitors cost $69?

He did do a check up on the the whole unit too though so that makes it a little better.
Click to expand...


you got raped... a capacitor online would have cost $20-$30, and if you have a ratchet and a screwdriver you could replace it yourself...
 
sao123 said:
you got raped... a capacitor online would have cost $20-$30, and if you have a ratchet and a screwdriver you could replace it yourself...
Click to expand...

That's probably true, but only if he was savvy enough to do the necessary troubleshooting himself.

Hell, you can say the same thing about most auto repairs, yet if you're not enough of a mechanic to diagnose the problem and do the repair, it doesn't matter that the part is only $50 at the local parts store...you're still going to pay the mechanic $250 for labor and $85 for the part.
 
sao123 said:
you got raped... a capacitor online would have cost $20-$30, and if you have a ratchet and a screwdriver you could replace it yourself...
Click to expand...

I'm sure I could of. Let me wait 2-3 days for a capacitor to come in all the while my house is like a furnace. Instead I'm out of the house and I made a phone call to the repairman and it's done. That's how I roll. I'll let broke dicks like you scrounge the Internet for $30 capacitors and sit in a hot ass house for 3 days while I'm kicking back with my feet up watching my tv with the ac cranked up.
 
OILFIELDTRASH said:
I'm sure I could of. Let me wait 2-3 days for a capacitor to come in all the while my house is like a furnace. Instead I'm out of the house and I made a phone call to the repairman and it's done. That's how I roll. I'll let broke dicks like you scrounge the Internet for $30 capacitors and sit in a hot ass house for 3 days while I'm kicking back with my feet up watching my tv with the ac cranked up.
Click to expand...

well hell then... why bother calling a repairman...
Just buy a whole new air conditioner.
 
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