Outdoor ac unit motor install - where did I go wrong?!? Wiring?


  #1  
Old 06-14-13, 10:54 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 11
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Question Outdoor ac unit motor install - where did I go wrong?!? Wiring?

I'd like to start with: I'm happy I found these forums! You guys are great! Any help/advice will be greatly appreciated...

I installed a new motor yesterday, on my older-than-dirt outdoor ac Westinghouse SPO23CCW. Everything seemed fine, cold air, fan running...but when I turned it off inside at the thermostat...the fan continues to run. I don't believe it's the contactor, I replaced that last year and could see the contacts move up or down when the thermostat was switched on or off.

I currently have the power off for the ac...I don't want to fry my new motor with my stupidity. I went from a 3 wire motor to a 4 wire. On the new motor, I attached to green ground wire to the cabinet...I switched the purple and yellow jumpers so it would run CCW....I put the brown and brown/white wires on the new 5 micro-farad/370 volts run cap that came with the motor (I left the original caps alone). IF I understood correctly, it doesn't matter which brown or brown/white wire went where on the new cap. I was wondering if I have the black and the white wires switched the wrong way on my contactor and if so, is this what could be causing the fan to not stop/quit running?

When I hooked up the black and the white wires...I thought the black goes to T1 and the white to T2...I couldn't see any labeling on the contactor (hard to see, not a whole lot of space and light, I guess I should have taken it off to see better)...so I put the black on what I thought was T1 and the white where I thought was T2.

Sorry, this post is turning into a novel. I don't want to leave out any important info...hopefully I'm not including too much useless info! I'll include some extra info, just in case...to be sure I didn't misdiagnose anything.

The problem: warm air coming out of vents...condensor outside sounds like it is running...fan not moving...contactor seemed fine, moves up & down when thermostat is adjusted...capacitors seem fine, a little rusty, but flat on top, no leaks, not bowed on top. All of this info led me to believe that I needed a new motor...installed new as explained up above.

To make a LONG story short: any ideas, do you think the black and white wire need to be switched or did I misdiagnose the problem or screw up elsewhere?

Thanks~Carrie
"AC Repair Newbie"
 
  #2  
Old 06-14-13, 01:28 PM
HVAC RETIRED's Avatar
Member
Join Date: May 2008
Location: Wisconsin USA
Posts: 664
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Can you take a photo of what you wired & post it here?

Is that a double pole contactor?

What do you mean? (I left the original caps alone).
 
  #3  
Old 06-14-13, 03:10 PM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 11
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Name:  ac4.jpg
Views: 11069
Size:  46.0 KB

Sorry, I meant I left the rusty capacitors in the ac unit and added in the one that came with the motor.
 
Attached Images  
  #4  
Old 06-14-13, 05:56 PM
Grady's Avatar
Forum Topic Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Delaware, The First State
Posts: 12,682
Received 41 Upvotes on 39 Posts
It appears you have the fan wired to the hot (line) side of the contactor instead of the load side, but if that were the case, the fan would run all the time & not shut off.

If that capacitor toward the bottom of the picture went to the old fan motor, get rid of it & it's wire. The only other thing I see is a possible bad connection on the heavy red wire.

Have you checked voltage coming into & going out of the contactor?
 
  #5  
Old 06-14-13, 05:57 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,935
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
It doesn't make a difference which way the wires connect..... white or black to T1 or T2.

BUT

It looks to me like you have the fan wires on the line side of the contactor.
Hard to tell.

The 240 VAC comes in to one side of the contactor. The output or load is the opposite set of terminals. You want the fan to be connected to the terminals that are on the opposite side from the incoming power wires.

Does that make sense ?
 
  #6  
Old 06-14-13, 09:16 PM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 11
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Okay, took me a while but I believe I'm understanding. I do have the black and white fan wires on the same side as the pink & the black power wires. My bad...I thought it was supposed to be on that side since I pulled one of the old motor wires off from that side. I will check the voltage in the morning and look into switching the wires to the correct side, however...that presents another problem/question:

As suggested by Grady: If I remove the smaller rusty capacitor(at the bottom of the picture) and the wire that's attached to it...what would I do with the other wire on that side, it sits right next to the one I'd be removing and runs from the contactor to the larger rusty capacitor at the top of the picture?
 
  #7  
Old 06-14-13, 09:39 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,935
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
What you have is a common piece of wire that went to both caps. In that case you can leave that cap there to give that wire a place to stay or cut that third push on clip off and wire nut the wires together.
 
  #8  
Old 06-14-13, 10:11 PM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 11
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Thanks for all of your help! I do have another question though...sorry. A little confused...I need to remove the 2 wires from the contactor (that run to each cap) so I can place the black and the white fan wires there. I am confused on what exactly I should do with the wires I am removing. I know how to wire nut...just confused on where the wires will be going.
 
  #9  
Old 06-14-13, 10:21 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,935
Received 3,950 Upvotes on 3,543 Posts
Referring to the picture you posted and I modified.... right now your two fan wires are on the white push in tabs. Remove them from the white push on tabs and move them to the red push on tabs.

Name:  11.jpg
Views: 10532
Size:  48.4 KB


Earlier you mentioned that you were connected to the T1 and T2 connections. You probably were. The contactor is connected backwords. The feed or line is on the T side and the load is on the L side. That's not a problem in itself but you might not have push in tabs where I circled red.
 
  #10  
Old 06-14-13, 11:00 PM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 11
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
Okay, wow(embarrassed)...somewhere within the last couple of posts my brain got all scrambled up...I took something so simple and complicated it. Thanks goodness...it took me a while but I get now Thanks for your help...patience, too!
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: