Gas and Oil Home Heating Furnaces - Compressor Problems?

I have a 5 ton heat pump. I don't have the model # with me (I'm at work). A couple of months ago I had a new motor put in for the blower because one of the mounting brackets had broke. A week before this, the outside a/c unit wouldn't turn on even though the inside was running. This happened again about two weeks later (after I had the new blower motor put in). I could get the outside unit to finally turn on by switching the circuit breaker. The a/c has been fine for the past month or so until yesterday. We had turned the thermostat off during the day because we were painting. When we turned it on. It all started up fine. Then we noticed the lights dimming out, so we went outside and even though the unit was running and cooling it was making a peculiar noise (sounded like it could be coming from compressor). The noise would stop, but then the lights would dim and the noise would start again. Despite this, the a/c cooled the house and turned off. Later that evening, the inside blower unit came on and when the outside unit should've come on (it's on a 4 minute delay)it caused a power surge and the house lost power for a few seconds. The outside unit did finally come on and ran fine the rest of the night. Is my compressor going out or could it be something such as the capacitor? The unit is only 6 years old and I can't imagine the compressor going out already. I know this might be a hard problem to diagnose, but I'm hoping someone could give me some things to check before I call someone out. I'm hoping the problem is simple.

Hi,

I would suggest you first remove the panel on side of Outside Condensing Unit and listen/look carefully when turned on to try and locate noise. Pay close attention to the Contactor (Large electrical component with larger wires going from it to the Compressor)and try to notice if the coil is "Pulling in and Holding" the contacts on initial start up or is it "Bouncing",taking a couple of tries before "Holding",if at all. Do you have an Electrical Multi-Meter to check voltages and continuity?

It could be the compressor going bad,the capacitor,contactor,breaker,wiring connections,etc....

If you can pinpoint where the noise is coming from would help.Write back with above info and we'll try to go from there.I would also suggest you not run unit until problem is taken care of,as it may NOT be the compressor,but could damage the compressor by running it under these conditions.

Take Care and Best Wishes.

CoolBreeze

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well I can see that your a very eager parts changer
so I am assuming that you dont even have knowledge in HVAC that is why you would most likely change parts instead of trouble shooting the problem.

Your knowledge of air conditioning is asstounding really it is !

and I believe that if you dont know dont send any one any advice
because I wouldn't want to fix some ones AC unit that used the advice that you gave them to try and fix it them selves.

Leave the AC work for the pro's.

if you want to learn it Go to school for it

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cali2: Of the posts so far, you should listen to only one: CoolBreeze. Your description indicates the compressor, or its capacitor. You really need a VOM to test circuity here. If you want to test your capacitor and have an ohmeter, remove one of its wires, short across the terminals, check each terminal for ground. Check across both terminals for open windings. If good, when you first touch your leads to the terminals, you will get a spike on the meter and the pointer will drift down to zero. Be sure you kill all power before doing any testing Good luck.

Where you been?Haven't heard from Lynn out in Arizona for awhile either...Good to see your technical input once again!!!PDF

Hey PDF,

Thanks and good to hear from ya too. If you look at the dates, you'll see my post was in Sept., then this thread was picked back up by new members. I've been lurking when possible, but have had some medical problems and been very busy with some personal business. I will try to keep in touch and pick it back up in a month or so. I've noticed some veterans gone also. Maybe it will pick back up as summer comes on. Take Care and hold down the hatches, I'll be back soon.

CoolBreeze

COOLBREEZE!!!!!!!!!Hope health problems are minor.We "TECHS" are not getting any younger.PDF

PDF,

They're not minor, but not really major , yet. They're manageable, just got to be more disciplined, as my age (43) increases. I was retired on disability from Law Enforcement ,due to an on the job injury and then gained too much weight from being depressed about retirement at (38) on disability. This brought on Diabetes and the rest is history. I've lost 65 lbs. and getting in better health everyday, just have to deal with the effects of Diabetes, at different stages and ages. I've got the diabetes under control ( ok for 3 years), but have to deal with any side effects as they show up. Made up my Marine Corps mind to deal with it, once and for all and I'm almost there. See ya soon, keep em Happy, if ya can. Take Care and Best Wishes.

CoolBreeze