Air Conditioning - Trane Heat Pump A/C Not Working

The inside unit is running non-stop, even when I turn it off at the thermostat. The outside unit is working (the fan is running. Unit is 8 years old. What do you think is wrong?



Edited--at first I said the fan outside was not running, but I was wrong--I forgot to flip the switch again after I reset the breakers.

Ill start over Is compressor running or not?????check capacitors out there. If you pull R off stat does blower stop??? after a while???

I forgot to flip the switch again after I reset the breakers.
what switch??????
ED;)

I thought I had turned it back on at the thermostat, but I had not.


The outside unit is running, fan and all, and I can hear the gurgling sound inside the wall where the freon line is. Cool air is coming out in the vents inside.

However, the inside unit will not go off, even when it has reached the temp I have the thermostat on.

I have tried turning the thermostat to off, and pulling the circuit breaker inside (they have a breaker on the electrical box outside for the whole house, including, and a separate breaker for the inside unit as well as the outside unit that you pull out. I have tried re-setting both.

After doing this, even if I still have the thermostat switch on "off", and I put the breaker back in, the inside unit starts running.

Pull the 24 volt hot wire (typically R red wire) off at the thermostat does the blower motor still run?

Thanks for the suggestions. My husband is gone until Thursday, I'll have him try that when he gets back and will let you know if it worked.


In the meantime, I noticed early this morning that the drain pan under the unit is half full of water. I'm assuming this is from condensation only, due to the inside unit/fan running non-stop, while the outside unit has shut itself off whenever it reaches the proper temp? It is not leaking from the top of the inside unit where the PVC pipe is for the drainage that ends up leading outside the house where it drips (where it usually drips if the PVC pipe is clogged).


Also, I've heard you can put bleach down that PVC pipe to keep the thing from clogging/keep the mold down. Is that correct, and it causes no harm?

One more question. When you talk about pulling the wire off the thermostat, is there a thermostat inside the unit, or are you talking about the one on the wall where we adjust the temp?

One more question. When you talk about pulling the wire off the thermostat, is there a thermostat inside the unit, or are you talking about the one on the wall where we adjust the temp?


From the wall behind the T-Stat.

If the fan still runns I would suspect the board in the airhandler is bad.

As for the bleach, I would not do that as the fumes will end up going through the house.

The pan under the airhandler is full because the main drain is not working.


I would suggest you may need a pro there for this. Also have him put in a pan saftey switch, that will shut the unit down befor the pan over flows and damaged the ceiling.

The pan actually has a censor that is supposed to do that. It's about 1/2 full and hasn't touched the sensor, so maybe it's still working.

Is it o.k. to use the stuff they sell, then for the a/c to put down the PVC pipe to kill algae (it's made specifically for A/C's, and I can get it at Home Depot.

What does it generally cost for a repair man to replace the board on the air handler?

We also assume we have a leak somewhere that nobody can find (most likely in the wall), twice they have looked, and last time I insisted they find it, the guy filled it up with freon, did a bunch of checking with his electronic leak finder, said he couldn't find it, and would talk to his company.

Well, after charging me for 4-5 lbs of freon and going on his way, he calls back a day later, says they have to take the freon out, do a bunch of tests with pressure, etc, and see if it's something else, and it would cost us around $650 (that included taking freon out they just put in, then charging me again to put it back in). I'm obviously going to use another company, because I would never have had him add that much freon only to take it back out and be charged again for it.

So what I need to know, if I have to spend that much for the above repair, then also possibly replace the board in the air handler, is it cheaper to just go with a new unit in the long run? Some of the coils are rusty due to constant freon leaks over the past several years (we've had repair men out 3 times in the past 3 years adding freon since it won't hold it). However, the A/C repairman said the coils weren't too bad, just slightly rusted on some of them. And they can't find any leaks on them either with their detector.

The unit will be 8 years old in December.

However, if the leak is in the pipes in the wall, obviously those would have to be replaced too.

The pan actually has a censor that is supposed to do that. It's about 1/2 full and hasn't touched the sensor, so maybe it's still working.

Is it o.k. to use the stuff they sell, then for the a/c to put down the PVC pipe to kill algae (it's made specifically for A/C's, and I can get it at Home Depot.

What does it generally cost for a repair man to replace the board on the air handler?

We also assume we have a leak somewhere that nobody can find (most likely in the wall), twice they have looked, and last time I insisted they find it, the guy filled it up with freon, did a bunch of checking with his electronic leak finder, said he couldn't find it, and would talk to his company.

Well, after charging me for 4-5 lbs of freon and going on his way, he calls back a day later, says they have to take the freon out, do a bunch of tests with pressure, etc, and see if it's something else, and it would cost us around $650 (that included taking freon out they just put in, then charging me again to put it back in). I'm obviously going to use another company, because I would never have had him add that much freon only to take it back out and be charged again for it.

So what I need to know, if I have to spend that much for the above repair, then also possibly replace the board in the air handler, is it cheaper to just go with a new unit in the long run? Some of the coils are rusty due to constant freon leaks over the past several years (we've had repair men out 3 times in the past 3 years adding freon since it won't hold it). However, the A/C repairman said the coils weren't too bad, just slightly rusted on some of them. And they can't find any leaks on them either with their detector.

The unit will be 8 years old in December.

However, if the leak is in the pipes in the wall, obviously those would have to be replaced too.



With the tablets you want to use, they would go into the air handler. Inside the unit in the drip pan (where the water drips off the coil)

As for the price of the parts. It all depends on the unit. If it happens to be a Lennox then it will be a lot for the part.

The service call should not be much.

When I have a problem finding a leak in a system, I cut the lines and pressurize them to about 200lbs (with nitogen) and leave a gauge on them. I do the same with the air handler and condenser. This does run some money but it tells me where to look and if it is worth fixing. They can also add dye to it. It all depends how the company likes to look for leaks.

With a unit that is 8 years old (in a heat pump it's life is half over) and concidering you have a leak no one can find.

In my opinon it would be worth looking into a new unit. I do not
condem unit that easy, but looking at the problems your starting to have I would have reservations in putting more money into it.

Leak finding can be a real problem especially on split systems with lines run up thru interior walls. let the guy know where you drove the big screw or nail into the wall about three years ago to hang that nice picture, he might pull the nail or screw and see if he gets a hit with his electronic leak detector right there.

We bought the house in Oct 2002, and the inspector said the a/c wasn't cooling right. Owner had a letter saying he had it checked out at closing, and it was fine. We're thinking, after having no air the first summer after that, he had a friend who wrote him that letter from the company. We had freon added, it lasted 2 seasons.

We then had them look for a leak. They found one on the inside unit on a coil or connector (not sure which one). We thought that would solve the problem (it was the last place he looked before he found that one). Anyway, that lasted one season.

We had them come out in March or April when we realized it wasn't working again. No freon. He looked again, including under the house, found no leaks. That's when he said he'd talk to his company, and then he comes up with all this planned work to look for it another way (after we paid for 5 lbs of freon we'd now have to lose to do the new work). They only use the electronic detectors at first.

So the leak was most likely already there when we bought the house, so no telling where nails were put in the wall. However, I think the only place possible to hit the line is between the bathroom and laundry room. Makes me think more that a contractor ended up putting a nail or screw through it when hanging drywall.

We've thought about having a new pipe put up on the outside of the house and covered, but the design of our house where the A/C is and where the line would go makes it tricky as well.

How hard is it to run a new line up the wall where the old one is?

We bought the house in Oct 2002, and the inspector said the a/c wasn't cooling right. Owner had a letter saying he had it checked out at closing, and it was fine. We're thinking, after having no air the first summer after that, he had a friend who wrote him that letter from the company. We had freon added, it lasted 2 seasons.

We then had them look for a leak. They found one on the inside unit on a coil or connector (not sure which one). We thought that would solve the problem (it was the last place he looked before he found that one). Anyway, that lasted one season.

We had them come out in March or April when we realized it wasn't working again. No freon. He looked again, including under the house, found no leaks. That's when he said he'd talk to his company, and then he comes up with all this planned work to look for it another way (after we paid for 5 lbs of freon we'd now have to lose to do the new work). They only use the electronic detectors at first.

So the leak was most likely already there when we bought the house, so no telling where nails were put in the wall. However, I think the only place possible to hit the line is between the bathroom and laundry room. Makes me think more that a contractor ended up putting a nail or screw through it when hanging drywall.

We've thought about having a new pipe put up on the outside of the house and covered, but the design of our house where the A/C is and where the line would go makes it tricky as well.

How hard is it to run a new line up the wall where the old one is?


That is actually the simplist thing to do (if the leak is in the line set)
Without looking at your house.

We bend up a sheet metal U like 8 ft long that we put over the ref. lines when they run down the outside of the home to the high side.

ED;)