Help Solving House A/C Problem

OK, now I really did it. Our A/C has been working like a champ for the last couple of weeks. I went out to clean the coils with a garden hose as it is next to the dryer vent and gets full of lint. I pulled the outside service fuse box before taking off the fan cover to get at the coils from the inside. Replaced everything and now the condenser unit fan shuts off a split second after I replace the fuse holder….. Checked the fuses, circuit box, reset thermostat – all seem fine – and nothing happening. Must be a relay kicking out in the condenser unit Furnace fan is running and thermostat says AC is on…….

– Anyone have any ideas for getting up and running again?

Thanks

Sleepless in Maple Grove

You got it wet.

If you did a voltage check on the fuses, it might be back feeding.( one blown fuse on 240 will do that ) Pull the fuse block and ohm it. Maybe that’s what you did. If not that, I have no clue.

Is there an Xcel energy saver switch involved in the equation? Is it possible they were cutting power while you were working on it?

Yeah, pulled both fuses out of the holder and they check out using a multimeter -ohm setting…Only thing I can think of is slamming the fuzes at the condenser is too much to hold…. not that it’s any different than any other method of turning it on.

Now I have to explain to my better half why the house doesn’t feel cool anymore….. bummer.

go in the house and shut off ac on tstat,then turn on the diconnect and check for 230V on (inlet)top of contactor, did you unhook cond fan wires and rehook up wires right with capacitor lead? if you have 230V push in contactor and see if it’ll start or try to turn on stat and see what it does.
Stan

Some of those fuse holder things can go in upside down or backwards essentially to lock out the power.

Problem solved….kicked on by itself after 1/2 hour. Have no idea why the delay or why it’s decided to stay on …. Thanks for the help guys. Sleeping in Maple Grove.

Sounds like you have the saver switch from your electric company, they usually have a 10-15-? minute delay before they come back on, add that they may have been cycling would explain the half hour wait.

The litle chip from your condensing fan is normal with the saver switch set up.

Al

Allen is right on the money! If you dont have the saver switch well you have a problem in the works! or your relay was just wet and was cross shorting and dried out.

Allen,

I also like your answer. We are on the energy saver program (although I cringe when I think of the $$’s spent the last few weeks to stay cool) & I doubt that Lennox has a reset delay built into their condenser unit. Thanks again.

Pete

I know when I washed my AC condensor coils last summer, I paniced when it didn’t turn on right away. I called my buddy who owns a HVAC company. He didn’t hesitate when he told me it had a 5 or 10 minute delay before it would reset. He was right.

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Allen,

I also like your answer. We are on the energy saver program (although I cringe when I think of the $$’s spent the last few weeks to stay cool) & I doubt that Lennox has a reset delay built into their condenser unit. Thanks again.

Pete

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I work in the HVAC field a little bit, always hard to diagnose over the web, but I try to help when I can, I get a ton of help back and figure it’s the least I could do..

Al