My dilemma . . .
. . . Monday evening of last week I notice central A/C not cooling, and go up to attic to check unit. Sure enough, lines frozen in attic as well as outside. It was 93F inside. After checking this forum, I shut off condenser switch in attic and compressor switch on outside wall and allowed system to thaw overnight. Turned everything back on Tuesday morning before leaving for work, and return to a 78F house.
Then, on Sunday evening I notice it getting rather warm again. I go outside to check compressor and fan not turning. No frozen lines. I turn off the outside unit at the shutoff switch on the outside wall and have been “dealing with” 93-96F interior temps since Sunday night. I assumed the capacitor needed replacement.
So, I speak with tech last night and tell him what’s going on and he plans to come by this morning to repair. He told me to make sure I left the outside unit off (I pulled the red handle-like thing out of the wall), but leave the inside fan on and would come by today to take a look. He calls my office at 9:30 to tell me that it was indeed the capacitor, that my freon was fine and I was good to go.
I had several errands after work and didn’t get home until a little after 10:30 p.m. When I pull up to my mailbox in front of the house (I have rear entry garage), I hear my unit screaming/whining like crazy! I pull into garage and immediately go to check compressor/fan unit. It is hot as heck, and the fan is not turning but compressor is whining away — LOUDLY!!! I go into garage and switch breaker off and back on. I go inside house, and inside temp is 103F!!!! My dogs are panting like crazy and as soon as I enter the house I am sweating profusely.
I go back outside and pull red handle shut off switch out of wall. When I put it back in, I get snap, crackly and sparks! WTF? Please tell me what could possibly be the problem here. My freaking house could have burned down! The tech replaced my capacitor and to my knowledge that was all he did. I would like to be able to ask intelligent questions as to what would be the cause of this problem. I am in a Dallas suburb. In other words, it is hot as h*ll. Although it got up to over 100F outside today (and has consistently been in the 100s the past week or more), I am sure the outside temp at 10:30 p.m. or so was 80F or thereabouts. Why would my inside temp be 103F, and what could possibly be causing my compressor to be screaming and fan not turning? Please help! I have four large inside dogs (Giant Schnauzers) who live are inside during the day — not to mention me — and simply cannot take this kind of indoor heat. Any advice would be appreciated. I intend to call the tech first thing in the morning; however, I will not be able to be here when he arrives so I am limited to telephone only until Saturday. But I know I can’t survive 100+F another day. it’s a Carrier system. Gas heat; electric A/C. The unit was installed by my homebuilder when house was completed in 2002. I’m not sure about model no or size (it’s too hot to go up into the attic, and too dark to see outside). I think it’s a three- or four-ton unit. My house is 2242 square feet, plus 400 square foot garage. I have a programable thermostat (with fresh batteries). Let me know if you need more info.
Sparks right out of the disconnect you were turning on? You can get sparks when something is in the “on/run” mode while reconnecting OR disconnecting. And you could get a bigger spark if it were under a bigger amp load. Or, it could be a dead short. Dead shorts, with a motor unit are easy to check with volt-ohm meter. If you put one probe on the hot wire or terminal of motor or compressor and the other probe on the metal case of the motor or compressor, and you get a reading while in ohms setting, you have your ’short’. Meaning that particular item you are testing is bad. [Note that painted metal is a poor conductor so make sure your one probe grounds out on shiny metal (or scrape into the paint to make good contact) or copper connected to it.
