AC valve replaced, now fan motor not working

838 Views 14 Replies 7 Participants Last post by airtrackinc, Apr 1, 2016

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · Mar 29, 2016

HELP! I had a technician come out and inspect the valve and said it needed to be repaired. We had the repair done 7 days later and our AC had been working fine until today, seven days after the repair. They are now telling us that since we use dour AC for the seven days between when it was diagnosed and it was repaired, that are motor fan broke. Why would my AC work for a solid 7 days after the repair if this was the case? Also, why wouldn't they tell us not to use the AC until it was fixed? they are looking to charge $300 for the labor... does this all seem fair?

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Technow

· #2 · Mar 29, 2016

Do you think something else cant fail?

They replaced a valve that has nothing to do with the fan.

If you get a flat tire fixed and your engine quits a week later....is it the tire shops problem?

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 29, 2016

@technow they said it was because we ran the air intermittently between the seven days when they diagnosed it and when they repaired it, yet they never told us to not use our AC until the valve was replaced. Also, why would it be working fine for the 7 days after the valve repair?

Bret86844

· #4 · Mar 29, 2016

What fan motor are you talking about? The furnace fan? Or the fan on the outdoor, condensing unit section?

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · #5 · Mar 29, 2016

They actually didn't specify, but it's related to the coils freezing up... does that help?

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · #6 · Mar 29, 2016

cpayne11 said:
They actually didn't specify, but it's related to the coils freezing up... does that help?

I do see that the fanoutside of our house is turning when I turn on the air. Not sure if that helps answer your questions

supers05

· #7 · Mar 29, 2016

First is all, what valve are we talking about? TXV? Is it possible that something what broke? Yes. It does sound like they are stretching the truth a bit though. Did you want to try to test it yourself? You'll need a multimeter if you do. (preferably one with an amp probe and capacitance range)

Cheers!

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · #8 · Mar 29, 2016

supers05 said:
First is all, what valve are we talking about? TXV? Is it possible that something what broke? Yes. It does sound like they are stretching the truth a bit though. Did you want to try to test it yourself? You'll need a multimeter if you do. (preferably one with an amp probe and capacitance range)

Cheers!

Yes, it says txv on the estimate! What do you think they are stretching the truth about? Thank you so much!

roughneck

· #9 · Mar 29, 2016

TXV has nothing to do with the blower motor. But if the valve was suck, or malfunctioning, and caused the evaporator to freeze which dripped down onto the motor, it could have caused the failure.

beenthere

· #10 · Mar 29, 2016

Why was the TXV replaced. Was it because the coil was freezing earlier?

Bret86844

· #11 · Mar 29, 2016

cpayne11 said:
I do see that the fanoutside of our house is turning when I turn on the air. Not sure if that helps answer your questions

I believe so. So then is there no air coming out of your vents? With the mention of the coil freezing, my best guess is your coil froze, and for a week the furnace fan was trying to run, however ice blocked the airflow, resulting in an overheated fan motor.

Maybe some service guys can chime in on whether blocked airflow will actually kill a motor, but assuming everything I have so far, it is possible that the valve and dead blower are related.

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · #12 · Mar 29, 2016

Yes, that is what they said

cpayne11

Discussion Starter · #13 · Mar 29, 2016

Bret86844 said:
cpayne11 said:

I do see that the fanoutside of our house is turning when I turn on the air. Not sure if that helps answer your questions

Click to expand...

I believe so. So then is there no air coming out of your vents? With the mention of the coil freezing, my best guess is your coil froze, and for a week the furnace fan was trying to run, however ice blocked the airflow, resulting in an overheated fan motor.

Maybe some service guys can chime in on whether blocked airflow will actually kill a motor, but assuming everything I have so far, it is possible that the valve and dead blower are related.

Right, no air coming out of the vents.

supers05

· #14 · Mar 31, 2016

I've have seen a defective txv freeze a coil solid. Usually starves the coil, causing frost on the distribution lines but otherwise high superheat. (I've also seen coil flooding, but again, no frost buildup. It's possible, sure, but i haven't seen it.

On the other hand, slightly low charge, dirty filter, dying evap blower motor will all cause freeze ups. 2 completely separate components can fail at nearly same time, and it does happen. However, I highly doubt it was from to running the a/c after their diagnosis, especially if they didn't tell you keep it off.

Without the measurements before their work, I can't say if the original txv needed to be changed or not. That requires watching the system perform for a bit, with pressure gauges and temp probes. My educated guess is that the blower motor was failing from the start and either imitated a poorly working txv or he didn't know what else to fix and guessed. You could ask him for all the measurement details, and why he thought the original was bad, but it's unlikely he'll tell you anything that'll be worth it.

Good luck.

Cheers!

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airtrackinc

· #15 · Apr 1, 2016

Compressor/condenser location: putting the unit where air flow is blocked causes the system to work harder, increases operating costs, and reduces compressor motor life
Failure to install inspect, maintain, and repair the equipment can include factors that reduce compressor life such as
Liquid slugging of the compressor by an improper refrigerant charge or by a misadjusted thermostatic expansion valve
Improperly routed or sloped refrigerant tubing, loss of lubricating oil
Dirt in the system, for example following replacement of a burned-out compressor motor
Frequent low voltage conditions at the electrical power supply
A bad start-run capacitor leaving the compressor spending lots of time trying to start its motor

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