Some background, which may or may not be pertinent:
Periodically (a couple times a year) I've had times when I'd receive an error message on my thermostat, indicate a problem with insufficient 24 voltage to it. This happened yesterday, after a pretty bad rain and thunder (lightning) storm. I'm thinking it's related to wetness, as it has always cleared on its own after a bit. Yesterday, it did the same working again after an hour or so.
I've had to replace the contactor on an almost annual basis. Not sure why this is, why my a/c is apparently cycling too often, but that's for another time.
Today (while dealing with an unrelated(?) problem with my electrical water heater (still figuring that out), I noticed that there was NO power to my thermostat. As opposed to an error message, there was no power. I twisted the R & Y wires together, but still no a/c.
I was thinking it could be the 24 volt transformer, and it's simply been going bad for awhile? Would it be the transformer that's attached to the circuit board, and has a black wire going to the contactor?
I manually pushed in the contactor and the condensor turned on, as long as I held it in. BUT, after about 1:30 to 2 minutes of holding it in, it shut off while I was still pressing the contactor firmly in. Still not a good connection?
Any thoughts?! Thanks.