Rheem Classic AC


  #1  
Old 06-20-15, 12:54 AM
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Rheem Classic AC

Ok Let me start by saying this I think that my compressor is overheating. let me follow that up by begging for you guys to tell me I am wrong. Here is the issue as far as I can tell. We started having issues with our AC unit, A Rheem Classic, at the end of last week. Being on a single income currently I did some research and decided I could fix this my self. What it was doing was running for a bit, one to two hours, and then the fan would cut out and not come back on though I could still hear the compressor working. I was getting no where, I would cut all the power to it, and go out open it up, look at it and pretend that I had any clue what I was doing when my wife would come out to check one me. I think she was just coming out to make sure I had not electrocuted my self. I would put everything back together turn on the power and everything would start working for a while. but then the fan would cut out again.

At one point I decided to poke the fan with a screw driver, not for a diagnostic reason, mostly just because I was mad at it, and low and behold it kicked on. I did some more research and came to the conclusion that it was the capacitor, and replaced it. That seemed to fix it. That was 4 days ago. Today it started acting up again, it will run for a while then cut out and not come back on. this time when I took it apart I felt the compressor, and it seemed hot. I also touched one of the copper lines going into the compressor, or coming out...can't really tell and it felt really hot.

We have not made any changes to the ac unit, other than the capacitor and a good cleaning. The possibility exists that this could be the fan motor going bad, and that does seem like a cheaper fix.

Please help, we are yanks, this southern heat is killing us.
 
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Old 06-20-15, 01:56 AM
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Do you have 1 capacitor for the fan and one for the compressor ? Or one capacitor that serves both ?

If 2 capacitors , are you sure you changed the correct one ?

If one capacitor , are you sure you got the wiring hooked back up correctly ? ( You did take digital photos before you removed the wires ? )

Hear is the deal . If the compressor is running , the outdoor fan just about has to run and move air through the outdoor condenser coil . If the fan quits , the compressor tryes to work ( tremendiously hard ) to keep you cool . It WILL get hot .

With the power off , check with a meter . You do have a meter , don't you ? If not , even a $ 10 meter from Harbor Freight will get you through this .

Visually inspect all the internal wiring inside the condenser . You did verify with a meter that the power is off ?

Look for loose or bad / burned connections & wiring . Repair as needed . Especially check that capacitor you installed . And the other capacitor , if you have two .

If you disconnect any wires , take digital photos . Get a roll of masking tape and a Sharpie and make labels . Label anything and everything you take loose .

At the end of the day , you HAVE to get the outdoor fan running 100% . Yes , this may mean you end up replacing the fan motor . But you keep running it like this & you can kill the compressor ( much more expensive part ) and will end up replacing then both .

The new fan motor may or may not use the same value of capacitor , as the old motor . Buy an new capacitor anyway . You have probably really stressed the one that is there now , if the old motor is bad . And it likely is a bad motor .

God bless
Wyr
 
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Old 06-20-15, 07:33 AM
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Thank you for your response WyrTwister, I will admit I did not take pictures, I had planed to but the original capacitor did not have any markings so I used the wire schematic instead, I'm pretty sure I got it right.

On a second look at the schematic I am slightly confused by something, it does say something about a run capacitor, but for the life of me I can not find it. I think that the schematic might say that they may not be there. I can't get the picture to upload(probably because I run Linux, not Windows), but the run capacitor is not actually connected in the schematic, it is in a separate box, and it is marked, (CE OPT.) Not sure but I can't imagine that the unit would have run fine without the run capacitor for the last 3 years, if it needed it.
 
  #4  
Old 06-20-15, 09:38 AM
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Normally you will have one dual capacitor. The CE is listed as an option, if you don't see it, you don't have one. What's the model number of the unit?
 
 

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