Air Conditioning - AC not blowing, outside is...

I have been looking for a past question that is just like mine and cant find one. Here is what is happening:

When I try to turn on my AC or heater, it doesn not come on(no blowing or anything). The outside unit does though(even blows). My inside unit(AC) is right by my thermostat, so I am able to here a click from my AC unit when I turn it on. When I turn it on, I also here a mild noise from that box that houses my A-coil. And if I leave it on, that box will become ice-cold and covered in condensation.

Also, I cant get my pilot to stay lit. I dont know(think) that has anything to do w/ the problem listed above, but thought I better mention it just in case it does.

I have tried flipping my breaker switches, that did not fix it.

Please help me, my four month old boy is not too happy w/ his dad right now.

Can you tell us what the brand and model number of the inside unit is? Could be bad fan motor, bad circuit board, bad capacitor, bad relay or loose connection. If you set the fan switch on the thermostat to "on" instead of "auto" does it come on? The pilot problem is probably not related and is most likely the thermocouple (probe that detects flame and allows gas to flow), but the heat isn't going to work without the fan either. WITH ALL POWER TO THE FURNACE TURNED OFF AT THE BREAKER PANEL you might start by checking the wiring for the fan.

Doug M.

It's a direct drive GE "MODEL: BLU0800924B0". It does not run(blow) if it is switched to "Auto" or "On". There is a semi-loud click, when you switch it from "Auto" to "On", I guess that is normal.

What should I do/check next?

Turn off the power and open the fan compartment. Can you trace the wires for the fan motor to where they connect? Are there more than 2 wires? Do you see a small can-like device with wires connected to it on the fan housing or in the compartment somewhere? If you can find the can-like device (capacitor) and you can't find any wiring problems, you could start by replacing the capacitor (cheap and quick). Make sure the power is off and then ground the terminals of the capacitor before you touch them to discharge any stored electricity. Lable the wires before removing them. Take the capacitor to the nearest parts supply and get one exactly like it to put back. Let us know what happens from there.

Doug M.

OK, I will do that. I will go ahead and buy another "thermocouple" while I'm at the parts store. I while update you asap. Thanks Doug!!!

If you can go to the blower there . Have some one turn the tstat to Fan on. When you hear the click give the fan wheel a push the way it should spin and see if it starts if so its just the capacitor If not then you need a new motor. Now be careful when you do this

ED ;)

OK, I will try that before I buy a new capacitor. I cant seem to even find the capacitor though. My blower is monted at the very bottom. There are 3 or 4 wires that run from the motor up to a brown rectangular box. It took off the lid of that box, and there was just a bunch of other wires running to that box w/ som sort of electrical module inside. Does that make sense?

I dont see a capacitor that is shaped like a "can-like device".

Does my description make sense?

Some times its straped to the side of the blower. Small and oval most of the time.

ED ;)

OK, I just tried that blower test. When you switch it to ON, you hear the click and an electrical buzzing noise. That electrical buzzing noise keeps on buzzing in & out as long as it is switched to ON. You can even see little sparks and lights coming from the motor. But it does not engage after you spin the fan wheel.

Is that a bad motor? If so, is that something I can replace? Do you replace the motor only or the whole blower?

Sparks and lights from inside the blower is not good. If that is the case then it's time for a new motor.

Turn off the power at the breaker. Unwire the blower motor. Remove probably just 2 screws above the blower housing and slide it out of the furnace. Loosen the set screw for the blower wheel and the bolts for the motor and pull it out. Take the bad motor with you and match it up for a new one. Be sure and get a new cap with the new motor.

Mark down how and where all the wires go.



ED :eek:

OK, I have the motor taken out. I'm going to get a new thermocouple while I am there at the store. I unscrewed it from the valve module. But I cant get the other end out. It slides through this bracket next to the pilot. The is a small copper fitting around the thermocouple line that seems top be holding it to that bracket.

How do I get that off? Thank you guys for the help!!!

Is there like a nut there holding the T/C up in there ????if so back it off, some do just pull down an out of there . You have to look around at it.

ED ;)

ok, I de-installed the t/c and the blower motor. Bought a new t/c($4.95). I needed a shaded pole motor. That costed me $65. I will install it all tomorrow. You guys have been great!!! I'll give you an installation update tomorrow. FEELS GREAT TO SAVE MONEY!!!

OK, I'm about to install the blower motor and have ran into an issue.

The new motor has three wires for me to hook up:
Red(low), White(common), & Black(hi). There is also a Blue(medium) wire, but the man at the parts store said I woulnt need to hook that one up.

The old motor also has three wires coming out of it:
Red(?), White(?), & Greyish(?). So I dont know which one is common, high, low, etc...

In case you need some more details:
Both are "shaded Pole" motors.
Both are 1/5 HP
Both are single phase


How do I hook these up correctly?

Remember about 4 posts back when Ed said to mark down how and where all the wires go? What was the old grey wire hooked up to before? My guess is that the red was low speed (for heat mode), the grey was high speed (for A/C mode) and the white was common. If I'm right, red goes where it was before, white goes where it was before and black goes where grey was. Be sure to put a wire nut and some electrical tape over the blue wire that's left hanging. Mixing up the black and red probably wouldn't hurt anything, you'd just have too much air comming out in heat mode and not real good cooling (wouldn't get as much moisture out of the air) in A/C mode. Easy to correct.

Doug M.

OK, I did mark the wires when I did the de-install. But on the old motor, there was a plastic wire harnace that had the wires lines up next to each other. The new motor just has a dime sized hole w/ all the wires coming out in no order at all.

I just noticed that the old whilte wile has an "L" on it. Does that stand for low?

probably "LINE" not low. this would be common

I wouldn't think a white wire would ever be used as a hot wire. You can 1) Try the connections I suggested earlier - There is some (little, but some) chance that hooking up the wires wrong could damage the new motor. 2) Look for a wiring diagram. 3) Test the wires: make sure all the fan wires from the furnace are separated and away from anything metal and power the system back up. With the thermostat set to fan on, carefully test all the wires with a simple circuit tester (2 wires/probes and a light). First connect one wire of the tester to the case of the unit, then carefully touch each wire until the tester lights. Then (power off) connect one of the tester wires to the furnace wire that lit up the tester, power back up and touch the other tester wire to each remaining furnace wire until the tester lights again. The wire that first lit the tester goes to either red or black on the new motor (doesn't matter, just changes the speed - try black first) and the second wire that lit the tester goes to white.

Doug M

PRAISE GOD!!! I have A/C!!! It worked!!!

I am beyond broke, and was afraid that I was gonna burn that new motorout from wiring it wrong.

Turned out that grey was high, red was low, and white was common.

THANK YOU GUYS FOR SAVING ME A COUPLE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My wife loves you!!!

Great job!

Now on to the pilot? If you're in Oklahoma ("Okie"Dude), you're gona need heat next week... :D

Doug M.

I replaced the thermocouple at the same time. My wife thinks I'm pretty manly. not that I will actually get anything for that... :)

Glad to here you got it fixed!

Yes, it all went so smoothly. Thanks again gentlemen!