Condo a/c not working


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Old 05-30-20, 06:13 AM
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Condo a/c not working

Hello,

My a/c in my condo has stopped working. The thermostat asks for ac but only hot air comes out the vents. The unit outside is working and the refrigerant line exiting becomes cold. I have an air exchange unit in the ceiling that also contains some of the ac components.

I called repair guy and he cant find the problem. Seems everything is working but only hot air comes out!!

Please help if you have any ideas.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 06:26 AM
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I called repair guy and he cant find the problem.
Is this an HVAC guy/company or just a handyman? Any real HVAC guy should be able to diagnose the problem.

It might be that your airflow is being bypassed around the A-coil somehow.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 06:45 AM
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HVAC guy. He said changing the outside unit fan motor might fix it cuz he thinks it's just pulling in hot air. To me that foesnt sound right I might just need to call someone else I guess.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 08:27 AM
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That doesn't sound right to me either, but then again, I am not an HVAC guy.

When the outside unit is running the top fan should be spinning and you should hear the hum of the compressor. The small refrigerant line should be hot and the big one should be cold.

Inside you should be able to hear the refrigerant inside the lines kind of making a noise like water swoosh swoosh noise. You should also see water coming out of the condensate tube. Also, check your filter to make sure that it is clear. You should also be able to feel the ducts with your hand. The return should be warmish and the supply past the A-coil should be cool.


 
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Old 05-30-20, 08:40 AM
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Is this a heat pump system ?
If it is..... there is a reversing valve that switches refrigerant flow for heating or cooling.
In cooling mode the larger line needs to be ice cold.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 09:13 AM
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This is not heat pump system. Just ac and air exchanger
 
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Old 05-30-20, 09:21 AM
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Ok.... standard split A/C. The larger line.... usually insulated....needs to be ice cold.
If you have good airflow from the registers..... the coil is not frozen.
There is a device that meters the refrigerant into the house coil but if that was bad the compressor would be shutting down.

There aren't too many other things to cause a problem.
What do you have for heat ?

 
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Old 05-30-20, 11:32 AM
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I was able to get a photo of the unit in the ceiling, it's a First co. 18HBQB air handler. The heating might be part of the unit. All I know is I have natural gas heat and water heater.

The ac lines go into it. Looks like the fan on the unit outside stopped spinning. The compressor is working and the cold line is cold. Just no cold air coming out of the vents.
 

Last edited by matthewv; 05-30-20 at 11:58 AM.
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Old 05-30-20, 01:47 PM
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Looks like the fan on the unit outside stopped spinning.
The fan should run whenever the outside unit is on. If it stops and the compressor keeps running that is the issue. Now you need to determine if it is the fan motor or a bad capacitor. To do that you will need a meter that can measure microfarads.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 02:21 PM
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He changed the capacitor to try to save the fan motor but now it's dead. Need to change the fan motor. I really hope this is the issue. It's just weird that the fan was spinning before it died but still no cold air.

Can the fan still be spinning but not enough to produce cold air?
 
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Old 05-30-20, 02:30 PM
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Can the fan still be spinning but not enough to produce cold air?
The fan doesn't produce cold air, it pulls outside air through the condenser (outside unit) to remove heat from the refrigerant. If the fan is not doing that the system will have a hard time to working correctly.

Normally fans either work or they don't. I have not seen a fan motor that kind of works unless it is tripping some thermal overload. If the fan is not running and is getting 240 volts, and the capacitor is good, then the motor is likely bad.

Wait for PJmax's input. He is better at this stuff.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 02:41 PM
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The reason why I'm asking about the fan working but not enough the evacuate the heat is because before the repair man came, the fan was spinning but the air was not cold, not a lick of cold air.
 
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Old 05-30-20, 03:46 PM
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You said in the ceiling..... did you mean in an attic ?
That is listed as a multi fan coil. It has a coil for A/C.

You have gas heat ? What type..... baseboard, radiators, fan forced ?
That fan coil unit can also contain a hot coil.
How do we know that heat and cool aren't running at the same time.

It's hard to help you if I can't clearly see in my mind everything you have there.
 
 

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