Original message
| suspicious
 |  "Compressor n condensing unit turns on and off"
, posted Sun 13 Jun 17:24  
The compressor in my condensing unit is turning on and off rapidly like its not making good contact, then it will finally stay on for about five minutes or so (somethimes less or a little more). It's an old Tempstar - I'll provide the model later if you need it. I checked the contacts in the condensing unit, cleaned them, but still have the same problem. I called my home warranty company and they had an HVAC tech come out. He said something about getting insufficient voltage down to the condensing unit (maybe, i'm not sure as I was drugged up right after surgery) and he suspected an animal may have chewed the control wiring (24V and common) going from the evaporater unit down to the condensing unit. Oh, get this - he said we needed to run new wire, but he couldn't do it because the attic area was too small for him. I am bigger than he is and I can get back there, but I'm suspicious he's full of it and ripped me off for the $50 service call.
Can anyone suggest the most likely problem? Xenos, are you out there?
Suspicious
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Replies:
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| xenos
Webmaster 
|  "Re(1):Compressor n condensing unit turns on a"
, posted Sun 13 Jun 17:30
A voltage drop will cause this, most commonly it’s due to a bad connection. I have a problem with it being the actual wire but anything is possible.
Xenos.
The best way to escape a problem is to solve it.
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| | suspicious
| "Re(2):Compressor n condensing unit turns on a" , posted Tue 15 Jun 09:42:
Xenos, Here's what I checked:
1. I used the meter yesterday and I have definitely found that the signal wire is not bad.
2. I checked the signal wire in the condensing unit for 24VAC. It's OK, even when compressor turns off. The contactor is not staying made because it is losing the 24VAC signal whenever I hear it turn off.
3. The common wire comes straight from the evaporater unit to one "side" of the contactor. However, the 24VAC wire connects to a black wire that runs into the top of the compressor. Another black wire comes out of the compressor and leads to the other side of the contactor. I cannot look into the compressor to see what these black wires connect to because the compressor cap is not removable.
4. Just as a test, I bypassed the black wires going to the top of the compressor and connected the 24VAC wire straight to the contactor. With this setup the compressor will stay on for a long time and I get nice cold air in the attic room.
I know it's probably not right to bypass the black wires in the top of the compressor, but something is wrong there. Are those wires going to a delay start timer or an overload protection switch, or what? If it's a timer, can I just get an aftermarket timer and wire it up separate? If it's an overload switch, do I need to replace the compressor?
Suspicious
[this message was edited by suspicious on Tue 15 Jun 09:51] |
| | Xenos
Webmaster
| "Re(3):Compressor n condensing unit turns on a" , posted Tue 15 Jun 17:21:
Those black wires are a thermostat. This tells me you compressor is overheating, therefore you need to have your charge checked.
Xenos.
The best way to escape a problem is to solve it.
[this message was edited by Xenos on Tue 15 Jun 17:27] |
| | suspicious
|  "Re(4):Compressor n condensing unit turns on a"
, posted Tue 15 Jun 18:19:
Xenos, thanks a million! My home warranty company is sending that repair guy back over here. Maybe I can teach him a little something now.
Suspicious
Do it right the first time or don't do it at all.
[this message was edited by suspicious on Tue 15 Jun 18:21] |
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