Air Conditioning - Frigidaire compressor not kicking on

I noticed my compressor wasn't coming on today, which was the first day I tried to use it since the end of last summer.

It's a frigidaire model # FG6RAO96C-16

The blower is in the hall closet with the heating unit and it comes on as normal when I turn the thermostat down. The auto/on switch, for the inside blower, works fine but nothing on the outside compressor unit works at all (the fan nor compressor).

I checked the compressor breaker and it's got juice.
Anyone have any Idea's? thanks.

While you are outside at the unit, have someone turn the system on for cooling. If you hear a click, the contactor is pulling in as it should. The next most common problem on start ups is a bad capacitor.

Thanks Grady,
I had a friend out there yesterday while I turned it on and he said he didn't hear anything although there may have been a faint clicking that he may not have noticed. He was just letting me know if the compressor came on or not so he wasn't listening for any clicks etc... I'm on my way to work now and I'll get someone to listen more carefully late this afternoon..

Just one more thing.

I turned to AC on and ran outside as fast as I could and the fan was turning on the unit outside but was slowing down and stopped. The fan was turning as if it started running but shut off immediately? I turned it off and on again to see if the fan started again or if anything did, but no luck.

Ok, I'm really on my way to work now. I'll get someone to listen for any sounds at the outside unit later.

From what you said you can have so many ifs ifs here.
Like Grady said capacitor contactor. You say it started then stopped. Is the 24V wire good to the outdoor unit? If you have a meter Id say start and see what power you have and where. Low Pressure switch in unit low freon ???


ED ;)

I just got back today from an out of town trip and thought I would work on my AC unit.

I got my electrical tester out and opened the outside unit up and saw heavy cobwebs and dust on the small electronics board. I cleaned everything, mostly by blowing it off really well and tried to start it and guess what? yep, it worked.

I'm letting it run now to see if it keeps it up and cycles right but so far so good.

Thanks everyone who responded.

BUG spray around the outdoor units helps. Ants like to get up in the contactors points lots of times.

ED :thinker: