Nothing is running.
#1
Nothing is running.
I just recently purchased a 62-year-old house. Approximately 6 years ago an electric compressor and a gas furnace were installed (along with the duct work). They are all housed in the outside unit along with the air handler. My fiancé and I woke up yesterday morning to a blazing house. The A/C would not turn on. I pulled the thermostat cover off to see if there was a spark when that mercury bubble hit the wires. There was nothing. I checked the breaker and flipped it off and back on. That did nothing. I checked the fuses for the service shutoff and those were OK. It appears there is no power to the entire unit. I flipped the thermostat to heat and is still didn’t turn on. I REALLY hope it’s a fuse but where would they be? Any ideas because Richmond is HOT this time of year. Not like Texas hot, but a Brazilian rain forest kind of hot. Please help me….I’m begging.
#2
Could you tell us what the brand name is? If you turn your therostat to fan "on" , does the fan run?Are you sure your furnace is outside with your a/c? This is kind of unusual for a house. Trailors sometimes has this kind of unit(package unit). If you could answer these questions first, it would help us out.
#3
Hey ServiceGrunt,
Thanks for the reply. The furnace is outside. It is a York unit. It has the air handler, the furnace, and the compressor all under one unit outside. There is a large duct going into the house. When I turn on the thermostat to "fan" there is nothing. It appears there is no power going to the thermostat. I have checked the only fuses I could see without opening the unit. The model # is D1NS030N056067 if this helps at all.
Thanks for the reply. The furnace is outside. It is a York unit. It has the air handler, the furnace, and the compressor all under one unit outside. There is a large duct going into the house. When I turn on the thermostat to "fan" there is nothing. It appears there is no power going to the thermostat. I have checked the only fuses I could see without opening the unit. The model # is D1NS030N056067 if this helps at all.
#4
Either your transformer or circut board fuse is bad. You will have to take a cover off the unit to find the contol wiring. Ther might be a fuse on the circut board . It is a 3 or 5 amp car fuse. Look for this first. If it is ok, try finding the terminal strip that the thermostat wires connect and jumper R and G together. If your fan runs, your transformer is ok. If you are uncomfortable working with electricity, better call a pro. This should be an easy call for a tech.
#5
Should there be only one access panel for all the wiring? I found an access panel that has the wiring diagram on the other side of it. It's a little too dark here to get into it. There are not too many places there could be the access panel. There didn't seem to be a lot of electrical components behind this panel and that is what is making we curious if there is another one.
#6
I opened up the access panel where the main power enter the unit. One of the leads is charred and actually melted away from where it was originally connected. It appears that the main power feeds into a relay of some kind. Is this correct? Does anyone have any ideas what would make this get charred and melt away? I obviously want to fix the cause of this before I reconnect this power.
#7
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There are 2 wires from the "Load" side of the dis-connect switch to the "Line" side of a contactor that swiches the compressor motor "On" when the 24 volt control coil is energized. If one of these wires appears defective I suggest you re-place both wires. I suggest #10 gauge wire,minimum.If the compressor current is over 30 amps use #8.Be positive that you have 220 volts across the dis-connect terminals.The contactor must start the compressor and operate without "heating up"because of burnt contacts.Good Luck!!!
#8
If running new wire is to much trouble, you could just cut it back till you get to good wire (if ther is enough) and put a new spade terminal on or strip it down and put it under screw-whatever your case is. Burnt wire on the contactor is a pretty common problem actually. It can be caused by a loose or bad connection or a hard starting compressor, short cycling compressor or a couple other things. Just wire it back in and if it happens again, call a pro. Let us know how it turns out. Be careful.
#9
Thanks for all the help. I feel like I am fairly educated on what is going on now. I am going to pick up a new contactor here in a few minutes. I already have the wire to re-run the stretch from the service disconnect to the contactor. The contactor is toast. It is so burnt in some areas that the screw threads are gone!!! I'll let you know how it turns out. Hopefully in an hour or two.
#10
The A/C is WORKING!!! I replacd the contactor ($19.96) and re-ran good wire (10/2 wiring approx. $20 per 100ft.) to replace the burnt wire. That's it!! It seems like the A/C is blowing more humid air than it should. Am I overthinking things? It is cooling the air. Thanks for all the help.