i have had problems for the last few weeks with my heat pump. i have a goodman airhandler and heat pump that has been there for a good number of years from what i can tell. a couple of weeks ago everything stopped working. the only thing that would come on is the compresser outside. the fan outside would not come on nor would the air handler. luckily i found this out as soon as i turned it on so i quickly turned it off so the compresser would not run without the fan. i replaced the tstat first. did not help. i did some checking and figured out that if i turned the fan motor outside upside down it would work so i figured the motor was bad. picked up a new motor and the outside unit started working fine. checked the air handler and i had to spin the motor with my hand to get it going and then it would work but had to leave the fan on instead of auto to keep it running until i could figure that out. then a few days later the fan in the air handler quit so i replaced that and the cap. turned it back on and it would only hum unless i would spin it with my hand and then it would start spinning and cont. run as long as i left it on instead of auto. so for a week everything worked fine so long as i left the air handler on. then two days ago the outside unit stopped again. turned off breaker etc. cked it over and turned disconnect back on and got a nice spark from it. took it out and it was toast. replaced the disconnect outside and turned everything back on. now if tstat is off and if i flip breaker on the fan outside starts spinning on its own?and not as fast as it should. if i turn the tstat on it trips the breaker. leads me to believe there is a short somewhere but where? looked all over and can't find anything.. i need help.poss board? i am pretty good at figuring things out usually but having a big problem right now. can't afford to have someone come out so hoping to get help here.

 

Id say you have a lot of IFS here. When something dont work why get a new tstat right away?. If a motor is on and dont start and you spin it and it runs its the capacitor99% of the time.
Id say get the schematic for the indoor and outdoor unit and go over everthing that you have done to the wires there on the unit. Also ohm out the compressor to see if its ok. You sure you got the right CAP there?

ED

 

when the old motor ws in, it was hard to spin to get it started. when i replaced it w/ the new motor, i replaced the cap also but still had to spin it it to get it started. gues it is possible the new cap is bad also
the only thing that was changed on the outside unit was the motor. and it worked fine for a week and now it wont come on. just tried to turn on about an hour ago and as soon as the breaker ws flipped on it tripped off. the disconnect was changed but there are only 4 wires there and that is wired up correctly. it is doing the same thing as it did before i replaced the disconnect. is it possible that the contactor in the ouside unit has gone bad? seems like a short somewhere but other than the motor nothing else has been replaced..
if the breaker is turned on but the tstat is off then i would assume it could be with the contactor but it moves freely. i'm assuming there is a short somewhere. could it be in the cap? also, when i turn the breaker on the outside fan begins to spin but at a slower speed and the tstat is off. could it be backfeeding from somewhere?

 

update.... tried disconnecting compresser from unit.. then kept tstat off and turned breaker on.. fan spun a low speed for 15 seconds and stopped.. then turned on tstat and fan began to spin like it should.. stopped when tstat turned off.. reconnect compresser and turned breaker on .. fan began to spin at slow speed but did not stop.. tstat was still off.. compresser making noise like it wants to come on.. cked ohms and volt from breaker to unit to make sure no breaks or shorts.. could find nothing wrong.... also.. on connector there is a black and a red wire that attach to the bottom coming from the disconnect.. the black cont through the connector and wires are connected to the other side for comp and fan.. on the red wire side is the magnetic contact.. but on both sides of the contact there is 120 volts and the contact is not closed..should there be 120 other the other side of the connector? my understanding has always been that there should only be 120 on the other side after the connector closes.. which tells me that something is backfeeding elec back to the other side of the connector.. could the board in the outside unit be bad? or could the compresser be shot? also cked ohms on compresser and seems ok

 

You have to read 220Volts there at the supply to the outdoor unit. Some contactors pass one leg on into the unit and only close on the other one. This could be the way you get that 120 feed back .

ED

 

thanks for the info.. found out the comp. went... looks like when then fan went out before it put strain on the comp and that is why it only worked for a week or so after the fan motor was replaced.. was the begining of the end. it was an old unit so had to bite the bullet and put in a new outdoor unit..
one more question.. i replaced the fan motor in the air handler and the cap. b/c i would have to start the motor by hand to get it going and it was getting harder to turn.. felt like the bearings were going bad.. but i still have to leave the fan on instead of auto because if i put it on auto, when it is to turn on the motor doesn't want to start spinning unless you give it a flick to get it going.. could i poss have received a bad cap? or could something else cause that.. once is spins it works fine and it is a new motor.. cant understand why i have a similiar problem with a new motor..

 

New motor check and see if they gave you the right cap for that new motor. It is the right motor?? spin the right way same RPM and hr????get a new CAP now.

ED

 

I had the very same problem you had--everything you went thru is what I was going thru. I finally found out that it was the black and white wires from the heat pump to the outside box mounted on the house. The two wires were encased in a gray pvc type tube. Water had gotten inside and shorted out the wires. A young fellow came over, and as I watched he poured water out of the tubing, showed me the short and replaced it. Problem solved!

 

If you spin the motor with power on and it stays on and runs you need a capacitor.


ED

 

Yep, I forgot to mention that I replaced the capacitor and the outside contact, too, just in case.

 

I have a frigidaire heat pump (3 years old) and the same for the air handler (6 years old). Yesterday the air conditioning quit working alltogether after no problems all summer. I can verify that the blower outside works only if I remove the service panel and press and hold the little button on the junction box where all the wires are connected to. It sounds and works just fine while holding the button. The air handler fan inside the basement runs all the time at a VERY low speed. So low that there is no air coming from any of the vents upstairs. I have replaced the thermostat to no avail, but I am still not sure that juice is getting to the thermostat because even when I switch it to emergency heat the light does not come on. If anyone has any ideas please let me know, just bought this house 4 months ago and I can't afford to call the fix-it man!

matt

 

WHY WHY find out what dont work first

Is the motor good??? ice on the coil or on the copper big line and small line. filter clean???? Lots of ifs here.

ED