I have an outside unit AC. Air handler and condenser unit all in one. I keep on getting an intermittent failure of the compressor to kick on. I've noticed it for off and on for several weeks. The house will be warm. Tstat says cooling is on, but temp is 3-5 degrees warmer and just the fan running. Sometimes it quits at night and then kicks on at mid-morning. The fan kicks on, but no compressor or condenser fan operation. Then it works fine for five days. Then today it never kicked on from about 10am until around 4. It was in the mid to upper 80s outside. Working and cycling perfectly fine right now. Where should I go from here? Thanks
AC Intermittently not working.
Jun 03, 2018
4 Replies
Are you sure you mean air handler and condenser all in one? Typically the air handler and evaporator are in one unit inside and the compressor and condenser are outside in another unit. Assuming the latter is what you have, one easy thing to check is if the condenser fan outside is working when it's acting up. The fan is typically connected to the contacter, so if it's getting 24V and the contacter is working and the fan is working it should be running. If the fan is bad it can run intermittently and when it stops, the compressor will reach an over pressure cutoff shortly and quit. Next would be to check if there is power at the unit when it's acting up and if there is 24V AC at the contacter. If you're comfortable working with electricity and have a meter you can check it. If not, probably time for a service call.
Also if it's not working, listen for a hum from the contacter, which is the power relay. If there is a hum, then the 24V is making it from the air handler to the outside unit.
Not only are you often wrong politically, maybe you got the OP's HVAC systems wrong too.
Meet the Goodman All-in-One Packaged Unit. ;-)
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tems wrong too.
I wasn't wrong. I said it's *typically* not the case to have the air handler and condenser in one unit. I didn't say it doesn't exist. What he actually has, who knows because he hasn't been heard from again.
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