HVAC heat pump question

mbalbritton

mbalbritton

#@$%!
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Lakeland, FL
Any HVAC guys on here?

My fan on my heat pump isn't kicking on and the Condenser is heating up pretty good. I had the fan motor replaced about 2 years ago so I hope it's ok.

I pulled the cover to look at the capacitor on it and found that there's actually two on mine. The automotive lookin canister coil style with three posts and then a smaller square one that's dedicated to the fan motor. The schematic only shows one capacitor. The canister one.

Neither one is swollen as I've heard is a tell tale sign of a bad capacitor.

How can you check them? Resistance check?

What else could it be? Thoughts? Questions for me?
 
Used to check with ohm meter, should have momentary resistance then diminish, no open ,no short. I would try new one. It fixed mine and cost less than ten bucks.
 
I would still say a bad cap without actually seeing it. Sounds like that someone in the past put on a separate or hard start cap for the fan motor, possibly due to it being weak in the first place. Fwiw I'm not an Hvac tech lol. I've just had a lot of practice replacing shit on my own heat pump.
 
Found out the little capacitor is from the motor I had put in 2 years ago. Apparently when you get the new motor, they come with a secondary capacitor to use with it.

I'm thinking capacitor as well.
 
The second cap is because you have a "rescue" parralell motor. (its required) The black wire from your fan should be going to a relay on a board. Bypass it and wire the black straight to the top of contactor opposite side from the other fan wire (most likely white) If this dosent make sense upload a pic or text me a pic of what you have and ill walk you thru it. This may fix it. If not you probally have bad 5,7.5 or 10mf cap. 704-898-785two nick
 
If u still having trouble in the morning give me a call I'm a HVAC service tech and live in trinity. I'm actually on vacation this week so I can come look at it tomorrow if you can't get it by phone or from help on here. Just FYI lots of times capacitors do swell when bad but not 100% of the time. There is actually a setting on many multimeters to check caps it reads micro Farrads ( spelling may be wrong). Bignick is referring to bypassing defrost board relay (which often go bad) which is only needed in heat so if this fixes problem will need to fix before next winter so system will defrost. Also you can ohm motor to see if windings are still good. Let me know if you need some help tomorrow

336-858-1009
Curtis
 
Hadn't gotten back on it yet. An HVAC buddy is coming by after work. He fixed my screw ups last time on the AC system and told Me not to touch it next time. :D . Well, I guess it's next time. He said he'd check voltages and whatever before I throw parts at it.
 
mbalbritton said:
Hadn't gotten back on it yet. An HVAC buddy is coming by after work. He fixed my screw ups last time on the AC system and told Me not to touch it next time. :D . Well, I guess it's next time. He said he'd check voltages and whatever before I throw parts at it.
Click to expand...

ah that's a real buddy for you...
 
my a/c is out too. the fawkin compressor quit running. fan on the outside unit runs, just the compressor..
 
Jeff B said:
my a/c is out too. the fawkin compressor quit running. fan on the outside unit runs, just the compressor..
Click to expand...
Pull the panel and check to see if the contactor is energizing when in cool mode. It's a relay that supplies power to the comp motor. It simply pushes in an out. Out is an open switch in Is closed. Use something non conductive for safety. If that starts the compressor it's a bad contactor or a problem in the call for cool circuit or control board.

If the switch is closed and the comp isn't running and there's 220v at the contactor it's prob gonna be a bad cap
 
Yep, this guy was bad.
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1365821110.436372.jpg


Back up and running. My buddy brought his personal spare from home and some beers. All he wants for services rendered is a replacement capacitor and some help getting his ford ranchero running.
 
Wait - he brought the beer over to fix YOUR hvac?
I'm pretty sure that's backwards.

...and you get to work on a Ranchero?
damn I need that guy to live near me.
 
DAMN IT! Went out yesterday and the fan was stopped again! I turned the system off last night, then kicked it back on this morning and it started up normal.

So now I have a new theory. I'm out of Coolant and my heat pump is getting hot including the fan and the fan is shutting down.

I had suspicions of a coolant leak for a while now. I think it's about to be confirmed. FAWK!
 
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By coolant I assume you mean refrigerant.

Sounds like you need better beer on hand for your buddy.
 
Curtish came by this evening to take a look. Figured a couple problems, some potential problems and a first step to begin the fix the problems.

Curtis, thanks so much for your time! I'll give you a shout when I get the new motor and capacitor.
 
Update. All seems well. It seems over the years the motor, the capacitor and the fan blades have all been changed out and not properly sorted. My guess, a universal motor with an capacitor that wasn't the right size and new fan blades. All wrong for the unit. Got it all back to OE docs and seems good.
 
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