Air Conditioning - Outside unit not turning on?

Hello all-

I have a 2.5(?) ton AC unit for my 1,400 sqft. house. I bought this house as a foreclosure so I have no idea how old the system is, but an AC guy that came over when I bought this house 5 months ago told me its about 6 years old. At the time this same AC guy told me everything with the compressor was ok.

Today I noticed that the house was not cooling. Blower in the garage is working ok. I went outside but the compressor does not come on. When flipping the thermostat to on, inside went dont hear that high pitched noise that you usually hear when an ac turns on before air comes out through the vents. Outside, at the time of flipping the thermostat to on, it just makes a clicking noise, only once. Nothing else.

Any ideas what the problem could be?

Thanks in advance for your help all.

Have you checked the breakers?

Open the condenser control panel and inspect for swollen capacitors or melted wires.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s160/Houston204/Baddualcap.jpg


Is the contactor pulled in?
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s160/Houston204/Contactor.jpg


Do you have a meter?
If so, measure for 240volt AC to the contactor.

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s160/Houston204/ElectricPanel.jpg

Be careful with capacitors. They will hold a charge for a few minutes after removing power.

Sears has an okay meter capable of measuring capacitors.
I have this one on my desk right now.
http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s160/Houston204/Searsmeter.jpg


I prefer Fieldpiece though.


http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s160/Houston204/Fieldpiece.jpg

Thanks for your help.

Turned out to be a blown fuse by the compressor.:wall:

I wonder what took it out.
High starting amperage, weak capacitor, short cycling?