AC help not sure where to begin.

[mikenola]

Hello all thanks in advance for any help.

I am lost as to where to begin with this problem.

I have a White-Rodgers 1f56n-444 thermostat.

The inside part of the system is a ADP FCM E30524B072 according to the plate numbers I cannot tell about the outside part.

The system has been acting up. slowly degenerating.

When I first moved in the outside temp was in the low 70's. The thermostat would have to be set to 80/90 to stop the unit from bringing the inside temp down to 60 degrees. it would run every 15 minutes.

As the outside temp grew hotter it has started to get weirder.

If the outside temp was above 80 the system only kicked on once an hour no matter where the thermostat was set.

Last night when I came home at 10 pm. I kicked on the system, it ran once. then stopped. It has not kicked on again until now, 11:30 a.m. the next day. The outside temp last night was in the high 70's. today the temp is above 80 already.

The thermostat is wired as follows.

Yellow and Blue are connected to terminal Y

Green to Terminal G

RH and RC are jumpered with a Red wire with another Red wire going to system.

White wire to terminal W.

I cannot find a wiring diagram for this color combination or if the Yellow and Blue being on the same terminal (Y) is okay.

I cannot find any documentation to find out if the inside Unit has a fuse or just the breaker on the front.

I should note that putting the switch in the FAN position has never worked,

At one point I had move the switch to heat by mistake and it got warmer inside but it was only there for a couple of minutes and I did not check to see if heat was blowing out of the registers.

I have found some troubleshooting help but they don't seem to match my setup. Most say that there should be an R terminal (I have RH & RC), some mention an O terminal and some mention an Orange wire, which I don't have.

I simply cannot afford a repairman to come and service the system so any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Freon]

Go to the indoor air handler and write down what color wire connects to what terminal. That way you can compare to the wiring at the thermostat. I am most interested in the blue wire that's at the Y terminal of the thermostat. Also check for any loose connections.

This is a simple 1 heat, 1 cool thermostat so don't worry about the O. The real question is why the blue wire is on the Y terminal. You need to see where the blue wire connects to at the air handler. Assuming you do not have a heat pump the wiring is correct except for the mysterious blue wire. Let us know where it goes.

[mikenola]

Freon, thank you for your reply and willingness to help.

The wires from the thermostat enter the upper section of the inside unit through a hole on the left hand side facing the unit.

I removed the silver tape and silicon sealant that was sealing the access panel of the upper unit. (the upper section door and the metal venting leaving the top of the unit are covered in the silicon sealant, like a frosted caked)

The thermostat wires enter through a hole in the left side and are connected via wire caps to other wires.

The blue wire is wire capped to a RED wire that is a part of a another PAIR of wires, 1 yellow and 1 red.

That pair of wires enters the unit through the same hole the thermostat wires enter. That pair comes from the attic crawl space and it disappears up there someplace.

The Yellow wire from that PAIR is attached to another BLUE wire coming from inside the "accessory kit" mounted to the front of the unit. This is the same "accessory kit" that holds the 10 amp circuit breaker.

That blue wire (from the Yellow/Red pair) attaches to what looks like a 6 connection transformer. It has a part number of BE322640GEC with ratings of Pri 208/240v & Sec 24/40Va

The parts in that kit are that transformer, the Circuit Breaker, a Relay, a Solid State Timer, 2 items marked L140-60F and one more part jammed in behind the wires and the Circuit Breaker that I cannot identify.

The accessory kit housing has a label saying ADP Accessory kit Model no 0658664-04 if that helps.

The other 3 wires from the thermostat are connected as follows:

The White wire is capped to a thicker White wire that runs through a harness connector to that piece I cannot identify behind the CB.

The Red wire is capped to black wire that runs to a Safe-T-Switch on the front of the Bottom section of the Unit (which looks to contain a heater core, so I assume that is the heat pump *)

The Green wire is capped to a Thicker Green Wire that goes to the Front Most connector on the Solid State Timer part number CT1845.

I should tell you that while waiting for a reply I went ahead and tried the thermostat troubleshooting instructions from other places. (its hot here and I was sweating impatience)

Put Yellow to Green and Fan ran.
Put Yellow to Red and Fan ran but not really cool, which the troubleshooting guides said should turn on AC.
Put Yellow, Blue, and Red together and the AC came out cold.

RC and RH are jumpered together with another Red wire

I did not mess with the White wire.

I should also note that the FAN setting on the Thermostat has NEVER kicked on the fan.
I did not realize this could be part of an actual problem when I discovered it months ago, I just assumed it was not hooked up to run that way).

Thanks again for your help Freon, any insight will be greatly appreciated.

Mike

[Freon]

You have a very intricately wired system. It would be unwise for me to advise you since I could easily give bad advice causing you more problems and expense.

You can draw an wiring diagram and look up the kits to see exactly what they do. You can go into the attic and see where those 2 wires go. That diagram may give the answers or at least save you time and money if you call a technician. I'm sorry I can't be more help

[mikenola]

@ Freon, thank you for at least trying.

I did go into the attic space and unfortunately the wires disappear under an eave that I cannot get my hand into much less my head to see where it goes, but it does not exit the building at the point. I have a feeling someone has nailed it under a fascia board or it doubles back along/under the joint to points unknown. there are no devices in the attic.

I see an expensive ac repairman visit in my near future.

[Freon]

You can save the expense by finding where every wire goes. That will save the tech time. Drawing a wiring diagram will also help. You seem to have many additions to your system and the first question is are they necessary. Once you identify everything in the circuit things will be very easy to fix. But it will take your legwork to save time and money.

[mikenola]

fortunately or unfortunately the only wires that cannot be mapped are those into the attic. I will root around more but at over a 100 degrees up there it is slow going...

Hopefully i will find the answer and will post it back here when I do.

Thanks for you help Freon...