Heat Pumps and Electric Heating - heat pump problems

i have a amana heat pump that is about 1yr old.......it worked fine last winter but this year i cant get the outdoor unit to come on at all......if i go out and engage the contactor manually it all come on and works fine as long as i hold the contactor in but that is a very good solution to my problem lol.......just a min ago i took a wire and jumped r and y together at the unit and the contactor engaged but when i pulled the jumper it disengaged


any help would be appreciated
thanks

Id start at the tstat first and see if R to Y there will pull it in If so can be the tstat if not then look at the wires.
For heat R -power Y -compressor G -fan and you can have O or B for the changeover valve or called the 4 way valve. You see you need all of them for heat. What works when you put it on cool??

;)

tells us there is no call from inside on Y, could be stat, possibly, sounds like you need a pro unless you are comfortale with and have a volt meter

ok i jumped the r and y at the tstat and still nothing at the outside unit......and yes i have a volt meter and use it quite often in my line of work.....i drill and service water wells for a living.....from household use all the way to city usage....so i am familiar with electricity


thanks
bob

oh and the outside unit dont come on with the cool either

With the volt meter see if you have 24 Volts out there at the contactor When you have tstat on heat or cool and call for it. Can be its coil check this out next
.

ED ;)

at the outside unit. Trace the yellow wire into the unit and all the way to the contactor.

there is a high pressure manual reset in that unit,

TURN POWER OFF FIRST

there was a problem with that switch's location as i recall, your installer should have the TM addemdum

good call heatpumpman

man i feel like a complete fool........first i want to thank all of you for your advice and help.......i traced the yellow wire to the reset button....darn near need to take the whole unit apart to get to the reset button....i pushed it and voila it now works.....i have been using emergency heat for 3 weeks because of a 10cent reset....

thanks

ps. is there a reason or fault that the reset needed to be reset

Could be high head---- but why???? fan not come on dirty coil out side or inside. filter clean?????


ED ;)

as i recall the position of the switch was faulty, causing nuisance trips


but then again be sure the coil is clean and the fan spins freely