Blower fix caused compressor issue, wire problem? Electrical?
#1
07-14-16, 05:58 AM
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Blower fix caused compressor issue, wire problem? Electrical?
Hi everyone. This is my first post and I'm hoping someone can help me. Two days ago we noticed a burning smell in the house and then noticed it was getting warm. Upon inspection a few hours later, the indoor a/c system had frozen up and when the filter got wet, the system had sucked it in, so we had to dig it out. We realized the blower was burning up and shutting off intermittently when it would overheat. The air was still blowing nice and cold, it would but only blow for two minutes before shutting off.
My husband replaced the blower and cap last night. Before that we had been testing the system to make sure it was doing what we thought and it was still giving us nice cold air, just for not very long, yesterday right up 'til he did the repair. It was blowing a little warm at first, but then when then it was as cold as you'd expect, but it would still kick off after 2 minutes. We figured it was a thermal shut-off because it was overheating.
We turned the system back on after the repair was complete. The blower is 100% fixed. No more thermal shut-off. But the compressor never got the signal to start up. My husband went down to see if he forgot a connection and noticed the Y wasn't connected (he said up to that point he had touched none of those connections). He connected the only remaining wire (which is weirdly green and white, not yellow or blue), and figured we had worked it out.
The compressor is doing nothing. We don't hear the click sound from the thermostat that we would expect when the call for cool goes out. My husband forced initiation with the wires to rule out a weird, sudden thermostat problem, but the compressor didn't engage, just the fan.
What could we be missing here? He also replaced the fuse on the control board and checked out all the electrical on the outside until and it seems to be getting power in all the expected places. We are stumped. What could this be?
We never confirmed the compressor was working visually before we did the repair, but we assume it had to have been because of the level of cold air it was putting out and the fact that most of the ice was gone by the time we were testing it yesterday. This is truly baffling. If you guys could help, we'd be so grateful.
My husband replaced the blower and cap last night. Before that we had been testing the system to make sure it was doing what we thought and it was still giving us nice cold air, just for not very long, yesterday right up 'til he did the repair. It was blowing a little warm at first, but then when then it was as cold as you'd expect, but it would still kick off after 2 minutes. We figured it was a thermal shut-off because it was overheating.
We turned the system back on after the repair was complete. The blower is 100% fixed. No more thermal shut-off. But the compressor never got the signal to start up. My husband went down to see if he forgot a connection and noticed the Y wasn't connected (he said up to that point he had touched none of those connections). He connected the only remaining wire (which is weirdly green and white, not yellow or blue), and figured we had worked it out.
The compressor is doing nothing. We don't hear the click sound from the thermostat that we would expect when the call for cool goes out. My husband forced initiation with the wires to rule out a weird, sudden thermostat problem, but the compressor didn't engage, just the fan.
What could we be missing here? He also replaced the fuse on the control board and checked out all the electrical on the outside until and it seems to be getting power in all the expected places. We are stumped. What could this be?
We never confirmed the compressor was working visually before we did the repair, but we assume it had to have been because of the level of cold air it was putting out and the fact that most of the ice was gone by the time we were testing it yesterday. This is truly baffling. If you guys could help, we'd be so grateful.
#2
07-14-16, 06:09 AM
Member
Help us help you by giving us the brand and model numbers of your equipment, please. Also make and model of your thermostat.
And welcome to the forums!
And welcome to the forums!
#3
07-14-16, 06:32 AM
Member
There should be a cable (usually two conductors) running from the furnace/air handler to the outside unit. When the thermostat calls for cooling, there should be 24VAC between the two wires going outside. At the furnace/air handler side, the wires going outside usually connect to the C (common) terminal and the Y terminal. If your husband has a multimeter, have him check to see if he is measuring ~24VAC between the Y & C terminals at the furnace/air handler when the thermostat is calling for cooling. If he measures ~24VAC there, then the problem is either in the wire going outside (dog chewed thru wire, etc.) or something with the outside unit itself. If you don't have 24VAC at the furnace/air handler, then the problem is indoors.
#4
07-14-16, 06:37 AM
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I can't get in front of it at the moment, so I don't know the model numbers, but it's a Goodman indoors. I can get the model in a bit. The outdoor system is a Rheem, model #RAMB-036JAZ. The thermostat is a Carrier Debonair 250. Thank you guys. We're grateful for any insight anyone may have. We're stumped.
#5
07-14-16, 07:42 AM
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Further info
My husband said we have ~24VAC between Y&C. Everything seemed to be in working order right up to making the blower motor repair last night. What could we have happened between 4:30pm when last it blew cold air and a couple of hours later when the blower motor was repaired? Could we have caused this somehow? Does this definitely put the problem outdoors? How could that be when it was working right before we made the repair? This is so confusing.
I keep fixating on the Y connection being loose and my husband reconnecting that when at first the compressor failed to initialize. Could that have caused a problem?
I keep fixating on the Y connection being loose and my husband reconnecting that when at first the compressor failed to initialize. Could that have caused a problem?
#6
07-14-16, 07:48 AM
Group Moderator
You had a blower failure inside causing the compressor outside to run under high head pressure and hot. Your condensor may have a high pressure safety switch that has tripped and needs to be reset.
Can't give much more info without the condensor model number.
Can't give much more info without the condensor model number.
#7
07-14-16, 08:35 AM
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Two wires to Y?
Are there supposed to be two wires to Y on the control board? I know I sound dumb, but we've never made a DIY HVAC repair before. There's a red wire sitting there going to nothing that looks like it's going out the same way as the green and white wire that's connected to Y. It looks like it has never been stripped, though.
My husband said there's 26 between Y&C right now. He's about to go troubleshoot the outdoor unit and double check with the multimeter and get the condenser info. Thanks for the help. Here's a picture of the control board. Do we have everything hooked up correctly?
http://i.imgur.com/OaC05uO.jpg
My husband said there's 26 between Y&C right now. He's about to go troubleshoot the outdoor unit and double check with the multimeter and get the condenser info. Thanks for the help. Here's a picture of the control board. Do we have everything hooked up correctly?
http://i.imgur.com/OaC05uO.jpg
#10
07-14-16, 10:41 AM
Member
Glad to hear that you got it fixed. Yes, there usually are 2 wires going to the Y terminal. One wire goes to the Y terminal on the thermostat and the other one goes outside to the compressor/condenser unit.
