SpLiCe says Hello from LA!

[Endless Night]

yup, turn it off. spin the blade if it spins prolly just a capacitor. prolly that anyway replaced a good 200 this summer on top of real issues . btw if it isnt blowing turn it off so it doesnt freeze and flood your house with water

Well got me a tech coming this morning...  so what should a capacitor run me approx if that is what it is...

[splice22]

no more then 100 thats with the upsale they have to make above cost. good price will be 80. and the big big companies could be as high as 250(dont ever play with those guys , outrageous prices. Plus the service call, ours down here is 39.95 , but some of the big boys charge as high as 70 for a service call! thats crazy! heh.
Id pay the service call and see what he says. if you feel it to be outrageous. call someone else cause it prolly is.

Judging by you saying it never meets the desired temperature. You prolly have a dirty coil(can do that yourself with minimal labor with an aerosol can from home depot).
Could be your ductwork also, but usually not that. Could be low on freon between that and a capacitor thats the usual suspect. However thats bad cause if its low, you have a leak in the coil or condensor. Anyway Ill be around today its in the 70's so I Dont work when people arent hot or cold

[Endless Night]

thanks for advice..

Well the unit has been running 24/7  for 3 years .. except maybe 20 days total in that time.

Never been serviced or cleaned.. and i know for a fact the coil is covered in crap..  was working fine all this time.

In the middle night the other day.. it started leaking water... from and then shut off... the dainage pipe was full and the overflow switch was clogged in dust.

I removed switch the line drained.. when overflow dried out unit kicked in again.. now was middle of night so i left it like that.. in morning i realised that is was running excessive and was dumping water down the drainage pipe like no tommorrow.. barly any air was coming out the vents and the freon pipes were dripping even thow insualted as were so cold.

So i shut the thing off .. after a bit it stopped running and proceeded to dump alot of water out some of which didnt go down the drainage pipe instaed came throught the area drainage pipe connects to

Its been like that since waiting for tech .. 93 here today so might be waiting a while.. lol

[TrailMyx]

What other UO scripting site also doubles as a HVAC Tips site?  lol!

[cgeorgemo]

Hey clean the coils with a garden hose or compressed air, check the air filters in the air returns and see if they need replaced.
After you do those things I'd try turning it back on and see if it is cooling again.
I managed to freeze my coil up because there was a crap ton of grass clippings blown onto the outside unit from the neighbors yard while it was running.

[Masscre]

You guys pay 100 buck for a starting capacitor? AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH !!!   That would almost pay my bus ticket to bring you a 4 or 5 buck cap!

[splice22]

oh no nono we ( the techs) pay like 10 or so the upcharge in this business is fantastic
So we just undercut everyone and it still feels like christmas every house we go to

Good tip on cleaning the outside unit. that absolutely makes the unit "breathe" better.

So howd it go EN. Too bad?

[Masscre]

Ok I am not an HVAC man but I have 2 that work for me and 6 electricians/troublshooters, but at most time i have had to do there job for them.  So i have a great deal of understanding of it all.  I also know how it all works and all the in/outs of it all

[Endless Night]

Well lots of Bs thats for sure .. but turns out my problem was Mold build up in the Drainage line.. which was causing water to not instantly drain causeing overflow switch to cut out unit and when i removed overflow switch causing it to run eratically becuase of water build up in the unit itself...

Unit seems to be running ok at present.. but im giving it a few days before 100% judgement...  A bunch of crap did come out of the drainage pipe but in my mind not enough to cause the issue, but at same time the drainage line does seem to be functioning better... lol live and learn i guess. - but we will see the 3 day test will determine.

I have learnt a great deal about my ac units in the proccess ..  and if this really all it was i wont get caught with that again.

On a side note how often should the coil be cleaned...

[cgeorgemo]

Durring the summer I clean mine every month with my garden hose after I get done mowing the yard and trimming the weeds around the unit. I mow once a week so I just do it the first time I mow each month.
I'll also clean it off before it gets turned on in the spring just in case there is some leaves or debris in there.
If you clean it regularly then it is a much easier job the next time it needs done.

[Coragin]

hiya! 

My long welcome.

[Endless Night]

ok considering the unit hasnt stopped running in 3 years except the odd few hours here and thier.. maybe a total of 7-15 days total (condensed) not running in 3 years... and ive never cleaned it.. its probably well past due then.  This was the first time i actually shut the unit off.. lol

[splice22]

So it was a float switch cutting off the condensor? Duh shoulda thought of that.
Cleaning the coil on the inside I would be careful using a hose might get alot of water in your attic,closet..wherever your furnace and coil is, or air handler or whatever tons of Air Conditioning units. they make an Aerosal Can of coil clean that works pretty damn well for not needing to rinse it off. Just go to home depot find the can, dooesnt matter which brand . We use whichever is on sale at the time

Inbetween the furnace and the coil should be a metal transition or duct board. cut a hole in it large enough to peel back and fit the can inside. and spray the entire surface down. then turn the unit back on and when it starts creating condensation it will rinse it for you. Can also use a metal brush to get the huge gunk off. On the outside use the hose dont spray tooo hard though or you can bend the fins and that can both make it harder to "breathe" and  could straight up  puncture it. Sounds like ya got off pretty good though.

Oh also in the main drain from your coil if it doesnt have a Tee in the drain so you can pour bleach into it once a month. Add one. Simple cheap pvc from home depot again and then if you once a month pour bleach in your drain, you wont ever have build up.