AC completely dead

I am so upset I barely found where to post. The AC unit died. Nothing runs, not even the fan. The coils are clean, no leafs inside, I kept it clean. Tonight it suddenly died. Not even the fan is working. I turned the breakers on and off to no avail, it's plain dead. What could be wrong?

At this link (if it works) you can see what kind of unit I have, I posted a few photos last year.

http://www.doityourself.com/forum/ai...rning-off.html

Please advice if you have the knowledge!

 

Tiana...... in the thread you linked to the contactor was defective. Did you replace it then ?
If you did not.....the contacts may be severely burned/pitted and that would keep the compressor and fan from starting.

I'm assuming you are referring to the outside unit not running.....is that correct ?

 

Yes, am referring to the outside unit. It is not a split unit. I did not replace the contactor, I just turned it off when it didn't stop on it's own and pushed the shut off piece out with a screwdriver. It almost never got stuck after I sprayed some WD 40 on it. However, I never slept with the AC on since, nor did I leave it on when I left the home. First thing last night I checked if the contactor was stuck and it wasn't. I just checked the wires, absolutely nothing is burned. The contactor and all the connections are perfectly intact.

However, I just checked if the unit receives power with a voltage tester from 120V-480V and it doesn't lit up, so the unit doesn't receive any power. How could that be possible, I mean what could go wrong from the breaker to the AC unit? There are two breakers, one for the heat and the other for heat and AC, at least that is marked on the breakers. The heat doesn't work either, no power whatsoever makes it to the unit.

The AC breakers are outside next to the unit in a metal box, they are not inside the home with the other breakers.

Is it possible that the breakers went bad? If so, would one bad breaker affect the entire unit? It occurs to me the above breaker says 'Heat', the one underneath 'Heat and AC'. If the one underneath could possibly go bad, it would affect the heat as well. Is this what I might be looking for?

 

I checked both breakers that supply power to the AC unit, none work. To make sure the voltage tester works, I tested the breakers in the house and it lit up for all of them. I tested a few 120V and all 240V.

But it doesn't lit up for the two breakers that should power up the AC unit. How could two breakers go bad at ones? Am I possibly looking at the power line that supplies power to the breakers?

As a reminder, the breakers for the AC are not part of the house panel, they are placed outside in their own panel right next to the unit.

Until I receive feedback (hopefully) I'm calling the electric company.

 

The box outside is strictly a disconnect for servicing the compressor. Usually the disconnect uses a pull out handle to shut off power. Some use what appears to be a circuit breaker but is actually a switch..... and sometimes an actual circuit breaker is used.

But.....it's only a disconnect......the power still comes from a two pole 30 or two pole 40 amp circuit breaker in your main panel.

 

I just checked all the breakers in the house panel. They all work. I'm working on posting a photo of the outside breakers.

 

Forgot how you insert photos

 

Use the "go advanced" reply and scroll down to see "manage attachements"

 

Thanks PJmax. Photo of the outside AC breakers. I checked all the breakers in the house, they all work.

I'll also take a photo of the inside panel.

 

That is a sub panel. It still needs to be fed from your main service. Try going into the house and finding the pipe that supplies it. Maybe you can trace it back to the main panel to determine what breaker it is.

 

I am attaching just in case I will need the photo for future threads.

The AC is now running. I called the electric company and they directed me to the main pole. They had me open the main box underneath the meter. There are two breakers in the box. One breaker supplies power to the entire home, and the other breaker supplies power to the AC. I turned that breaker off and back on and the AC started running.

If it trips again at least I know where the problem comes from and will have that breaker changed eventually.

Thanks PJmax

 

The 220's on the left, top look like it's got some heavy gauge wire on it, but it's red and black and there's no red on the sub panel. Is there another disconnect switch or junction box in the house? The wire you might be looking for is at the far left going down. Do you know what those breakers on the left control? Do you have an electric cook top or oven?

 

You are very welcome


tom.....the picture she posted is the panel inside her home. The AC doesn't connect there.

She has two disconnects out by her meter. One for that main panel and one for the AC sub panel.

Not a common set-up for our area.

 

Pj - thanks for clearing that up. It strange that the sub comes straight from the meter and not the main panel.