A/C Just Quit Working. Why?

[ctd4x4]

We went out for dinner, came home, and our central air conditioning system was not working. No breakers were tripped. The diagnostic lights on the compressor are blinking normal. I thought maybe it was the fuses on the condenser. Ran to Home Depot and changed those, and that doesn't seem to be the problem.

If we turn the system to cool, the fan comes on, and it seems like it's trying to kick the condenser over (the lights dim a little in the house), but it's just not going.

Any thoughts? Please help, it's HOT.

[I Love Lucy]

It's the weekend and they probably charge more, but I would have to call my local plumbing and heating company I've used for years. They usually come right out. They do a/c, but I don't have it, very reliable company. Hope you have one like mine near you.

I'd try to tough it out until Monday, and get somebody to come out ASAP.

Sorry about your problems. You could run out and buy a window a/c unit; they're cheap now, use it in one room, and keep it for times such as this. I've found that if I have some place to cool off, it's not so bad.

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[marks542004]

I had a similar problem with a furnace though. It turned out that one of the relays was faulty.

Shutting it down completely and restarting it might be worthwhile.

Sounds like a service call to me.

[digitalmaster]

could be a locked compressor..or as simple as a bad contactor or capacitor.probably got to call the HVAC company.I agree with the poster about the window unit.

[m Ransley]

Whatever it is dont keep trying to run it or you might damage something else. Call a pro or someone who can look at it right.

[maradcliff]

Vibration could have worn a hole or caused a leak in one of the tubes and all the freon came out. Everything runs normal but no cooling. Look for a possible loose pipe, or a rub spot where the tube rubbed against something. Shut off the power and give everything a good visual. Sometimes you will spot the problem right away, other times nothing is apparent. If its a freon leak, there is little you can do yourself anyhow unless you got the equipment, but you can still look. It could be as simple as a critter chewed a wire.

Mark

[Al Moran]

There could be numerous things wrong, however, if the system dims the lights in the house when you try to start it suggest you try a hardstart kit on the compressor.

You can see them here:

"light flicker" during compressor start-up Air conditioning and heat pump compressors (especially those with higher SEER ratings), often produce the undesirable side effect of "light flicker" when they start-up. Because the Kickstart® hard start device brings the compressor to rated speed up to ten times faster than normal, energy consumption is minimized and noticeable "light flicker" is usually completely eliminated.

[Mark Lloyd]

It's actually the compressor that has the big motor, but I have had that problem once. The compressor itself was OK but the associated capacitors and relay had to be replaced.

[Curmudgeon]

Contactor is good bet...it's a relay type switch that kicks in the compressor high start voltage.