Heat Pump outdoor unit runs but indoor blow does not

I guess a lot of people would not notice something like this but I sleep close to the indoor unit and can hear the outdoor heat pump unit kick on. I have noticed sometimes (I am in cooling mode), not all the time, the outdoor unit will come on and run but the indoor blower will not. I am use to the outdoor unit coming on first and the blower following shortly after but this is different as the indoor blower never comes on. I do not even hear the indoor blower try to start. The fact it only does it sometimes may make it difficult for a tech to diagnose I am afraid. Will this hurt the outdoor unit overtime? Could it be a thermostat issue, start capacitor, relay or something else. Thanks for the help. The unit is a Goodman and around 14 years old.

 

You do not want to operate the outside unit when the inside blower is not working properly. Does the inside blower start if you set the thermostat to "fan on" and not to cool? Do you hear a humming or buzzing sound from the air handler where the inside fan is located? Can you post the model number of your air handler? I have seen this problem before and it turned out to be a fan relay in the air handler.

 

The indoor unit is a Goodman model A32-10
The outdoor unit is a Goodman CPKJ30-1A3

I turned on the fan only mode and the fan came on after about 10 seconds

I have not heard a buzzing sound from the fan when it happens.

thanks for the help

 

If the fan comes on that is good. Next I would check the thermostat to see if it is the problem. Turn off power to the air handler. Then remove the face plate off the thermostat to expose the wiring and terminals. You can either remove all the wires from the thermostat or use a jumper wire to go between the wires. If you choose to remove the wires make sure you make a diagram of where all of the wires go or even better take a photo of the wiring. Or you can carefully remove the wires from "R", "G" and "Y" terminals. When touching the wire attached to the "R" terminal and the wire attached to "G" terminal the fan should start. If you tie "R", "G" and "Y" wires together the fan should start and the compressor should start.

 

Probably your blower time delay relay (BTDR) is bad. I have seen a lot of these relays go bad on Goodman air handlers and cause similar problems like you have. It is part number B1370738. I have attached a photo of the part.


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Thanks so much. I will test the thermostat tonight or tommorrow and I am going to call around today on the relay so I know where to get it. The good thing is we had cool weather move in last night so I probably won't need to run anything for several days in fact I may not need anymore cooling for the season but heating will be needed before long. I live over in western North Carolina in the mountains so we heat a whole lot more than cool. This site awesome, thanks again for the help and I will post this weekend and let you know what I find.

 

I would definitely try the thermostat test first to rule it out. Since the fan came on when you placed the thermostat at "Fan ON" then the fan motor and run capacitor should be good. Thermostats do go bad. If you decide to replace the relay it definitely pays to shop around as there is a huge spread on prices. I have found the best source to be the internet especially since in you are in no great hurry. Let us know if you need further help.

 

I did the test this morning but not sure I followed the directions right.
This is what I did. Cut power to unit.
Removed faceplate from thermostat. Disconnected wires from (Y)yellow, (G)green and (R)red terminals. Connected (G)green and (R)wires. Turned on power, fan came on. Turned off power. Connected (Y)yellow, (R)red and (G)green wires together. Turned on power. Fan and compressor came on. The wires I connected together came out of the wall and attached to the thermostat terminals so in my 53 year old brain I was bypassing the thermostat right?

 

Yes, you were bypassing the thermostat. Looks like it may be time to replace your thermostat. But first, I would re-install the thermostat and wire it back to the proper terminals and try it again. Sometimes there is just a lose connection or wires touching that prevent it from operating properly. Does your thermostat operate off of batteries or does it have a 24V common wire from the transformer powering it up? I have seen thermostats do funny things when the batteries are weak. Just replacing the batteries resolves issues sometimes. If that is not the problem then I would replace the thermostat. Good work!

 

OK will do. Since the relay from the internet is pretty cheap I may just do both for piece of mind. Where is the relay located in the air handler? May save me some panel removal searchin with this info. I have pulled the coils out to clean and was surprised at how easy they made it. I get it serviced once year by the local folks here. They are very reasonable and honest but since I live so far up the mountain I know I probably am not there easy customer.

 

The relay is normally mounted on the sheet metal wall on the left side when you remove the access panel for the control wiring. Once you remove the panel you'll see it. Before you order the relay, I suggest you verify that same part is in your cabinet. Some techs like to replace the relay with a different one. One of the relays is made by Mars. I can't think of the number right now. But with that relay you lose the delay function.

 

I pulled the panel off and took some photos. I zoomed in on the one item that looks like the relay. Numbers are not the same so maybe it is different or I got the wrong thing. What do you think. Need more info? Yep the last picture is upside down.

 

The relay is the one circled in the photos. The part you zoomed in on is the sequencer for your heat strips. Your part number is H1-25C63-115. The B1370738 mentioned in an earlier post is a direct replacement.

 

Thanks!
Figured given a 50-50 shot I would pick the wrong one. Glad we have camera phones now!

 

Yes, photos are a great tool! If you decide to replace the relay make sure you turn off all power to the air handler. Then it is just a matter of swapping wires one by one from the old relay to the new. You already have a photo of the wiring posted here.

 

The other day when you bypassed the thermostat by removing and connecting the g, y and r wires the fan and outside unit started as expected. That would usually point to a problem with the thermostat. BUT, since your problem is "intermittent", it could have come on because the relay happened to be acting "right" at that time. If it was me, I would first replace the relay and see if that corrects your intermittent problem with the fan. Then, if that didn't correct the issue, I would replace the thermostat. I don't want you to spend money on a new thermostat if it isn't necessary. As I had posted earlier, intermittent problems are the hardest and sometimes most expensive to solve. Common sense would tell a person to start with replacing the part to be the most likely (the relay in this case) culprit and. fortunately in this case, the least expensive.

 

Sounds like a plan. After taking a look at what a thermostat costs these days I may wait until it is clear I need one. Thanks again for all the help.

 

Yes, they can be very expensive especially one with all the bells and whistles with Wi-Fi capability.

You are quite welcome. Please let us know how it turns out for you.

 

Installed the part this weekend. Turned it on and the unit ran the way it should. Time will tell whether it is fixed. Thanks again for the help.

 

That is great to hear you got it up and running, as designed. Thanks for letting us know as it will help others in the future.

 

I just want to thank everyone for the posts. I have had similar if not the same problems with my goodman heat pump fan lately. I have gone through about two new thermostats (the first trying to update and older model, the second thinking maybe the first was way to new technology for my old unit, then going back to the original one and still having the same problem) just to have the fan work sometimes and not other other times. Also, I do have humming in my wall where I guess the air travels it's way up to the upstairs unit. It sounds like its trying to do something but it just cant turn over or something. I'm trying all your suggestions minus the thermostats and I hope all works out because it is hot this time of year. I am so glad I ran across this post and again thank you.

Tonya

 

I have similar unit, the Goodman AR30-1. It was having intermittent blower problems, it would come on sometimes and not others until eventually it would not come on at all, either in fan mode or in cool mode. The blower did not make any abnormal sounds, it just wouldn't come on. I happened across this post while I was researching and decided to give it a try. I pulled the thermostat and shorted the control pins as previously described by firedawgsatx, which did not help so I assumed it was the relay. Once I received the relay it took about 5 minutes to swap out (with the power off). Turned it back on and it's been working like a champ for the past 24 hours, so I'm assuming that was the issue. I'll post back if I run into further issues with it but if you don't hear from me then it's still going strong.

Thanks so much firedawgsatx for helping out! You saved me an A/C mechanic repair bill!