HVAC guys are cool............get it???

If that orange tubing is cracked or unhooked at the pressure switch end, it’s not going to be able to activate the pressure switch, and will need a simple replacement.
 
Lachlan said:
If that orange tubing is cracked or unhooked at the pressure switch end, it’s not going to be able to activate the pressure switch, and will need a simple replacement.
Click to expand...

very cool, thanks for the suggestion! I'll check that today and report back.
 
FORANE said:
On my super efficient model with variable speed motors it has a board that will throw a code indicating the capacitor has failed, making it pretty easy. Thats kind of like the obd on a car...
Click to expand...

Yes but if that board let's it's smoke out, the guy won't have one on his truck. Ten years out, he can't get one any more. KISS.
 
That's the wrong fan. I think they call that the inducer fan. It's for the gas heater. The one you want is much bigger, in the cabinet.
 
PaulS said:
That's the wrong fan. I think they call that the inducer fan. It's for the gas heater. The one you want is much bigger, in the cabinet.
Click to expand...

this one?

cd4820f250f7672ecf8cb8d24b48de24.jpg
 
Agree you’re looking at the wrong fan. The induced draft fan is a heat only function. It doesn’t run during AC operation. All the symptoms you describe are indicators the refrigerant is not moving to a gas state in your evaporator. That’s caused by a lack of airflow over the coil. It’s either the big fan that makes the air blow out of the vents, a plugged filter in the return ducting or a very dirty evaporator coil.

:my uneducated guess
 
for the record, I'm not really "looking" at any fan. I'm simply pointing out what is and isn't working and what I'm replacing (capacitor). after that, I'm SOL as far as HVAC knowledge and options go.
 
PaulS said:
Yes but if that board let's it's smoke out, the guy won't have one on his truck. Ten years out, he can't get one any more. KISS.
Click to expand...
Agree with you. I've got a water heater with a board that's given me trouble; I would rather not have any board on the water heater.
 
Tarheelpilot said:
Agree you’re looking at the wrong fan. The induced draft fan is a heat only function. It doesn’t run during AC operation. All the symptoms you describe are indicators the refrigerant is not moving to a gas state in your evaporator. That’s caused by a lack of airflow over the coil. It’s either the big fan that makes the air blow out of the vents, a plugged filter in the return ducting or a very dirty evaporator coil.

:my uneducated guess
Click to expand...

I agree, but why was his induction fan spinning when it first tries to start up? Or, perhaps I completely misunderstood his description.
 
I am sad to report the capacitor did not help. ugh.
 
eman1200 said:
I don’t, but I plan on getting one and figuring out how to use it.
Click to expand...
It's not that hard. It might be the board, or the motor. You need to figure out if voltage is getting to the motor. Components beyond the cap start getting costly. Also do the wire shake test. Sometimes things shake loose or connections have issues. Turn the system on and shake away. One more thing to try is to turn on the heat and see if the fan works.
 
PaulS said:
It's not that hard. It might be the board, or the motor. You need to figure out if voltage is getting to the motor. Components beyond the cap start getting costly. Also do the wire shake test. Sometimes things shake loose or connections have issues. Turn the system on and shake away. One more thing to try is to turn on the heat and see if the fan works.
Click to expand...

ugh, good idea. so I turned the heat on and the little black spinny thing from the video stayed running but the fan never kicked on. all things are pointing to the main fan not working, whether it's circuit board or the fan itself, I'm not sure of....
 
That's where the volt meter comes in. Make sure voltage is getting to the fan motor. If no,then it's probably a relay on the board. Also check the resistance of the motor.

There are likely videos to show you how to check this stuff, most likely for your exact system. Enter the model number into a yt search.
 
Does your thermostat have a "fan only" position that makes the fan run all the time even when there is no cooling or heating? If so I would use that to simplify things when troubleshooting the fan. No worries about things freezing up etc.
 
flyingbrit said:
Does your thermostat have a "fan only" position that makes the fan run all the time even when there is no cooling or heating? If so I would use that to simplify things when troubleshooting the fan. No worries about things freezing up etc.
Click to expand...

I think so, it has heat/off/cool and FAN - auto/fan.
 
ok so AC guy came out, jiggled a few wires and said it's the control board. I had already researched the few parts that it could possibly be and their prices. the identical replacement control board was $119 online. he was going to charge me $475 to replace it with his board (board + labor). now I KNOW these guys have to make money, I completely understand that, and to boot this is a veteran owned business but if it's something I can easily do, in what world does it make sense to pay four times as much?!? I felt really bad and I showed him the part online and said if you could do it for X I'd go with him (just so I had support in case something went wrong) but he wouldn't budge. so I just finished replacing the board, at first I didn't think it was working because I was hearing less 'clicks' when I hit the door switch, but after a while it came on and is now blowing air! I think the fewer clicks is actually a good thing, now that I think about it. it's not really cold yet, I'm assuming it'll take a bit to get that cold air flowing thru the system. also the line outside isn't freezing up so so far so good. just in time, too, cause it's gonna be in the 90's all weekend.

thanks for everyone's input.
 
My system caught whatever your system was spreading.

Just had to replace the fan motor and capacitor.

20220520_133145_06.jpg 20220520_154719.jpg 20220520_154713.jpg
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
My system caught whatever your system was spreading.

Just had to replace the fan motor and capacitor....
Click to expand...

I did the exact same thing a coupl'a years ago. that was easier to diagnose, I couldn't manually spin the fan at all, it was all jammed up. swapped the fan and figured while I was there, the capacitor as well.
 
One of my 5Ton A/C units is from the 90s and sounds like a garbage disposal for a few seconds when it starts up, lol. Trips the 30A breaker a few times per summer. When it finally dies I'll replace the whole system since it's likely a low SEER system and not worth the hassle to repair. Been dead-on reliable for the 10 years I've owned the home and aside from the occasional breaker trip with the A/C it hasn't inconvenienced us. Can't say as much for the Goodman package unit on the other side of the house which seems to need minor service every other year with the heater.
 
If your fan sounds like a garbage disposal.....just leave it on 24/7. Mine sounded like that 15 years ago....and it runs 24/7 with no issues. Costs about $30/mo to run like that and the house feels better and fresher. I do go thru filters faster.
 
Checkout_my_Six said:
If your fan sounds like a garbage disposal.....just leave it on 24/7. Mine sounded like that 15 years ago....and it runs 24/7 with no issues. Costs about $30/mo to run like that and the house feels better and fresher. I do go thru filters faster.
Click to expand...
The condenser outside is what sounds like the garbage disposal when starting up. Inside blower is fine. It's just the starter sequence, but bad noises stop once the unit gets going after 5 seconds.
 
Reversing valve isn’t closing and opening….properly?
SoonerAviator said:
The condenser outside is what sounds like the garbage disposal when starting up. Inside blower is fine. It's just the starter sequence, but bad noises stop once the unit gets going after 5 seconds.
Click to expand...
 
Just read this thread. Long time lurker but first time poster and going to seem rude but do you take your own eggs to Denny's ? Black thing that spins is scary, playing with a gas furnace and family memebers lives also. Been in the business 40 years although commercial/ industrial, i wouldn't have changed my pricing either and if you would have changed the board yourself as you did after calling me out, having me crawl up your attic to diagnosis something , you cant even name, good luck getting me back if it didn't work. I don't agree with gouging people either but from what I read his labor rate is added into the pricing which doesn't seem bad.
 
the dude said:
Just read this thread. Long time lurker but first time poster and going to seem rude but do you take your own eggs to Denny's ? Black thing that spins is scary, playing with a gas furnace and family memebers lives also. Been in the business 40 years although commercial/ industrial, i wouldn't have changed my pricing either and if you would have changed the board yourself as you did after calling me out, having me crawl up your attic to diagnosis something , you cant even name, good luck getting me back if it didn't work. I don't agree with gouging people either but from what I read his labor rate is added into the pricing which doesn't seem bad.
Click to expand...

#1 Dennys sucks and yes if I went there I’d bring my own eggs because I can cook a better omelette blindfolded than anything that comes out of dennys.

#2 I didn’t question his rate, I simply did exactly what he’d have done for 1/4 the price. Sorry but don’t make it sound like it’s special work, it’s literally clipping the wires to the exact same spot on the exact same replacement board. I paid him for the diagnosis, which was above my pay grade and I was happy to do so.

Have you ever changed your own oil? Please, for heaven’s sake, your family’s lives are at stake, go to a professional!

Gimme a break
 
Yes i change my own oil but i don't take it to the service shop and ask to use their rack.

You didn't mention in your post you paid for the diagnosis. Many people want free estimates and then want to buy the parts themselves.

The fan is no big deal, all you had to do was apply power 120v to the correct speed wire on the motor and it would have ran until you picked up a board.

The combustion motor ( What i am suspecting you called a black thingy) and the gas section was what i was taking about being a safety issue. I had a unit Thursday that someone I assume unknowingly jumped the pressure controls out and made a bomb out of it.
 
the dude said:
Yes i change my own oil but i don't take it to the service shop and ask to use their rack.

You didn't mention in your post you paid for the diagnosis. Many people want free estimates and then want to buy the parts themselves.

The fan is no big deal, all you had to do was apply power 120v to the correct speed wire on the motor and it would have ran until you picked up a board.

The combustion motor ( What i am suspecting you called a black thingy) and the gas section was what i was taking about being a safety issue. I had a unit Thursday that someone I assume unknowingly jumped the pressure controls out and made a bomb out of it.
Click to expand...


you seem to have made a lot of assumptions, great start to joining PoA.

so you're ok with me rerouting power and hacking the system but you're not ok with me replacing a plug and play board held on by 4 screws. got it.

I'm willing to swap parts that are essentially bolt on parts, plug and play. I won't pretend to have knowledge or the ability to replace parts I can't even identify, like the black spinny thing (which now that I know what it's actually called will forever be referenced as 'the black spinny thing'), and will happily pay a professional for that work.

I've replaced two capacitors, a fan and now a control board on my HVAC system and have saved myself a ton of money, as any good homeowner would do.
 
simtech said:
If you have everything set to be working and hold the switch in, can you give the fan a spin manually and see if it starts? The capacitor is, typically, nothing more than a start capacity to give it a kick to start it. No??

And that switch looks like a cover switch so the system won't turn turn on with the cover off. Are you having an inside unit blower motor issue or outside unit fan issue?

I just had a blower motor go south on a property and it would kick on for a bit then shut the whole system down. The blower motor had a built in circuit board as well so the stupid thing cost $800! This one was on a package unit so everything is in a box outside with nothing but duct work in the house.
Click to expand...


Some AC motors use a capacitor to create a separate phase essentially making a single phase motor into a 2 phase motor. The capacitor is always in the circuit unlike a capacitor start motor that removes the capacitor from the circuit after start up. This is due to the properties of a capacitor that voltage and current are not in phase going thru the cap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top