My central air unit stopped blowing cold air. I did some research and decided perhaps I just needed to clean the dirt off the "fins" After using a hose to clean everything out, I was screwing the top back on when a few sparks shot out from where I was screwing in. No wires near the screw itself. Surprise to me, I didn't pull out the breaker ahead of time... The unit still buzzes and I can feel cold air blowing through the vents in the house but the fan wont work. I tried spinning it with a stick and got nothing. The blade does spin freely. It will start smoking after a minute of turning it on and the unit gets very hot to the touch. Is it just a short somewhere, or did I really screw something up?

Hi guys, A family member of mine had a bad ac install 3 years ago on a 2 zone ac+furnace Rheem systems. This post will only focus on the AC side. One unit is setup in attic and is a 3 ton ac. The other unit (the problem unit) is setup in basement and is a 4 ton unit. Every year, there would be an issue with the basement 4 ton unit where it loses its r410a charge. The first time we noticed an issue with basement AC was a year later after the install (2012). Basically the AC would run with the condenser but would not cool the basement or 1st floor. We hired a tech in summer of 2012, who did not bother finding the leak and just recharged the system in 15 minutes and had his payday of $350. He made some excuse that it would take a very long time to find the leak etc. We noticed the same symptoms happening last year (2013) so this time we hired a tech that works for a local hvac company that has been in business for 30+ years. We thought it would be a good idea to go for a company that's been around for a while serving the local community. So this tech comes in and inspects the refrigerant pipes...ignoring all the green joints on the big pipe and then decides to add a can of sealant into the condenser along with a new charge of r410a. 20 mins later and a payday of $850 (I'm sure he doesn't get the bulk of that). He gave us an excuse that this is the quickest solution and that the sealant would plug up any leaks in the system (brand new system by the way) and would not harm the compressor in any way. He gave us a 90 day Warranty. The AC worked that whole summer past the 90 days. Now (about 13 months later) I noticed icing on the big pipe last week next to condenser and low and behold the system was not cooling again. The blower and condenser would run but not cool. This time I researched a good hvac tech that happened to have excellent references and one of those references was a friend of mine so I know it was genuine. This referred tech came in and inspects the pipes and points out the green joints and said this was a very bad install with bad brazing and recommended a new line set. I mentioned to this tech that we hired someone last year who put a sealant inside the 4 ton system. The tech recommended a new line set, a new liquid filter drier, and an optional vapor drier to get rid of any contaminants of that sealant in the system. He further explained that the vapor filter drier is optional because one can of sealant in a 4 ton unit is negligible and that Rheem units are built to last and the liquid filter dryer would be sufficient. He further explained that the vapor drier would have to be taken out after one whole summer season since it's not meant to be permanently be installed. My question is that, should I let the tech install the new vapor filter drier or should the liquid drier be sufficient to remove the sealant contaminants that would be present in the condenser and indoor coil? Should I ask the tech to replace anything else such as the TXV valve since it could have been gunked up as well? I want this repair to be the last and final repair since this family member is losing confidence. Any advice/recommendations to the tech would be greatly appreciated. This final job was estimated to cost us $700 (line set replacement, new r410a charge, new liquid filter drier, new and temporary vapor filter drier, carpentry/drywall repair).