Air Conditioning - No Cold Air

My upstairs C/H/A (Janitrol) unit in not putting out cold air! It stopped one night a couple of weeks ago (all at once).

I opened the side-panel and felt the compressor... it is getting hot!

* The replay terminals are pulling in.
* The fan is running.
* The unit puts out heat when placed in the heat setting

As far as service goes:
* I replaced the starter capacitor about two years ago when the fan stopped coming on. The capacitor is a dual ( 3-poll) type. Could it be the problem again?

Any help is very much appreciated... I can't afford to pay a service tech again, plus I want to learn for myself.

Thanks,

Dalton-Dave

Based on what you wrote, it sounds like all the major components are working. You can't tell if you need R22 without doing some other measurements. In order to do that you will need a good set of refrigeration gauges and it wouldn't hurt to have a nice digital thermometer so you can measure the line temperatures. You really need to measure temperatures & pressures to make an intellegent decision on whether to add refrigerant or not. If you DO require additional R22 that means you have a leak. Refrigerant isn't consumed by the system and will stay there for years & years if there is no leaks in the system. There are many techniques for finding leaks. I, myself, use a nice electronic leak detector. If you DO find a leak there is a good chance you will need to recover the refrigerant in order to fix it. That is another piece of equipment you will need. Finally, before you replace the R22 you will need a vacuum pump to get all the air out of the lines. On top of that you can't actually buy R22 these days without EPA certification. Sadly, for the average homeowner, working on your own A/C system is impractical. You have to have thousands of $$ worth of equipment and be trained & certified by the EPA. The required knowledge to fix or replace many A/C components should be enough to scare off most people. Yea, I know, there are lots of techs out there who will rip you off, but it's worth your money to seek out a large firm with a good reputation in your area and just pay what they ask to fix your unit properly. To do anything else will cost you big time and consume hundreds of study hours. Take it from someone who did just that.

Jughead covered about all here.
* The unit puts out heat when placed in the heat setting
Is this a heat pump?? can it be the 4 way valve ??? Lots of ifs here .Ask what they charge for freon boy $600 is D** high for just to put freon in did they fix the leak?

ED ;)

Hi Ed,

Yes it is a heat pump. How is the valve controlled? Electrical? Mechanical?
If electrical, were can I go to check for correct voltage or current.

Thanks for the help!