Air Conditioning - Carrier Unit - Outside Fan Not Engaging

Hi All,
I found a problem with our 2 yr old carrier unit today. The outside fan is not engaging when the inside unit makes the request, the outside unit buzzes when it is trying to start the fan. The indoor system fan is working fine, but only blowing room temp air. I turned off the system completely all the way to the breaker, waited a bit and turned it all back on and still nothing.

I have placed a service call for tomorrow w/the company that installed the system and wanted to get some expert advice prior to them showing up. I know very little about A/C systems and have no funds for any major repairs. I live in Texas, so we run the A/C's pretty much all year long and of course it is about 80 degree's outside right now................. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

Oh, I looked for a high pressure button I read about in other posts, but found nothing :confused:

Happy New Year!!!!!

If the compressor is running then the condenser fan motor is defective and must be replaced. I also change the cap and the blade. If the compressor is not running check to see if there is 220 volts at the condensing unit. The contactor may be defective if there is 220 Volt power to the unit. If all the above is ok,there must be 24 Volt power to the coil of the contactor to allow it to pull in. Low voltage at the coil of the contactor can cause a humming or buzzing noise. I hope this info helped.

Hi HVAC Tech and thanks for your reply!!!!!

I did the stick trick to start the fan turning, so hopefully it is just the dual start/run capacitor. apparently they go out fairly quickly in Texas units......... I have the unit running right now to cool everything down (is 80 degree's in here) and it is blowing cool air.

Do you think it is safe to run for a little bit or should I just shut it down???

I just wanted to say this is an awesome site!!!!! The more I read, the more I learn! The wealth of knowledge here is incredible!!!!!!

Kudo's to all!!!!

The dual caps, one is for the condenser fan and one is for the compressor. The motor will overheat and cause it to fail if it is not replaced soon.

Pete

Hi All,
The service guys showed up today and it was the Dual start/run capacitor, which was under warranty............... The service call and installation came to $81.10 in Houston, TX..

I would never have known what it was, had I not found this site and I have to THANK YOU ALL for that. If I had not been informed and actually saw the bubbled up top on that capacitor prior to them showing up, they would have tried to tell me the fan motor needed replacing (it was mentioned), which is more labor intensive costing more money for labor. Took the guys 5 minutes to replace. I will be learning a lot more about this unit and will replace stuff like this myself in the future!

Oh, I did end up shutting the system down after testing, did not want to risk losing the compressor..........

Thanks All!!!!