Took our dog out last night, and while out in the yard with him, heard the air unit go from it's normal sound to a rattling, bad -bearing kinda sound. Figured I'd keep an eye on it and call our HVAC guys Monday. Something made me get up about 3 a.m. and look out, and saw that while I could hear the inside unit running, and I could hear the outside unit condenser (compressor?) running, the fan had stopped. I shut it down, but later (10a.m.) turned system on and the fan ran for about five minutes, still making that bearing-going-out noise and then stopped running, although rest was operating. Went in and shut 'er down. Question: since we won't get hold of a/c folks 'til Monday, should I keep trying to get it running a few minutes at a time , if it will, or if no fan, can I run it a while to cool the house while running the garden hose over the coils to replace the fan cooling, or am I off base? Must reveal that as an HVAC guy I'm a swell guitar player.....
Any help or advice would be appreciated.
thanks, Roger Nuss, Springfield, IL.
Put it on top tie it down put it on an extension cord blowing up.
Kill the power to the hole thing wile working on the old motor, don't want any blood !!
pull a wire off the capacitor to keep the old fan from running
emove the top of the condenser with thw fan connected to it get a can of WD40 and give it a good soaking down the shaft some motor oil won't heart eitherspin it in the opposite dirction might lossen it up.take your water hose and nozzle a fine mist right onto the condenser from about 5' away just covering it...cut a 2x4 and notch it at the top to hold the mister control it from the shutoff ..if you can mist the condenser as if it were a ligth rain it might stay on.if the motor lossens up for you but is supper hot to the touch on the casing its gone...should free spin with an index finger swing.:whistling2:
Cub- Can't, looks like rain. Biggles, I'll give the WD40 a try in the morning, got nothin' to lose, eh? Cub said pull a wire loose from the capacitor, assume that's the oval canister looking thingy in the box attached to the outside unit-which wire? or should it be two wires? 220, right?
Please keep in mind that most box fans dont have a ground wire. Once you put it outdoors, any rain or misting can, under the right circumstances, result in the ground being you.
Went out at 8:30 this morning, took the cover off, and was surprised how easy it was to get the fan blade assy. and the cowling over the motor off, after being in that position for twenty years.
Anyway, I WD40'd the shaft where it goes into the motor purty good-didn't get any down in the motor but damn near. Put 'er back together and tried it, and it ran for about ten minutes before it started vibrating like it did last night before it locked up, so I shut it down and said oh, well.....
about 10:45, just for s#^ts & grins, started it up again, and, as of now, 5:38, the damned thing is still running. Maybe it took a while for the oil to work it's way down to where it was needed, or something.....
Still gonna look into options tomorrow. What do you guys think- If compressor
OK, go with cheap fix by just getting new fan motor? If they say the whole unit is on it's last legs , replace the whole outside unit (my choice) or get a whole new furnace/AC system (wife's idea)? My thought is, if we have to, getting the outside unit'd be heck of a lot cheaper than the whole system, and if/when the rest needs to be replaced , we wouldn't have to get a new outside unit. Whatcha think?
You are the one that gets the last say! If you put a motor on it could go 5 minutes or 5 years flip a coin.
One thing is sure you need to put money together to buy a new system. Good Luck
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