Last Thursday we had someone come in to clean out the primary drain of our AC, which was clogged. I thought the charge of $425 was a bit high, but that is not the point of this.
Today the AC stopped cooling. The air handler is running, but intermitently the outside unit cycles on, and occasionally the high pressure line (I think it is the high pressure line, the small one that is attached to a small white filter of some type) gets cool and actually drips condensed water). I was under the impression that if the fan on the air handler went (which is my best guess) then the outside unit would shut itself down.
Anyway, is there anything reasonable that the repair person could have done that would have caused the AC to stop working two days later? I don’t know if I should call the same people back or not.
Advice?
Sure. They could have poked a hole in your refrigerant line…
How about the fact that the outdoor fan seems to be running, but the indoor fan does not. Can that be explained by a hole in the refrigerant line?
Your OP said the Air Handler was running. Isn’t that the inside fan?
Sorry, air handler is NOT circulating air. The ouside unit fan works, I don’t know aboutthe compressor.
Also, as I mentioned, I can feel the indoor coils getting cool and the think line is definitely getting cool from time to time, but not indoor air circulation.
The air handler is pretty simple. Check your breakers/fuses, make sure power is is getting to the motor. If the unit is low on refrigerant, the compressor will cycle on and off - but the air handler should still come on (unless is pretty smart, and doesn’t come on until the compressor has been running for a while).
Simple check, Turn your fan setting from auto to manual, if no fan (inside) there is your problem. If your condensate drain was plugged there is a good possibility of water getting into the fan or electronics. Not the service mans fault imho.
The prob with the inside fan is the evap super cooling and sending liquid coolant to the compressor. Many newer systems have a way to detect this and will shut of, short cycle or sumsuch.
Did the service man do anything extra to earn that $425? Things like checking the freon charge, cleaning the condenser or evaporator coils, oil the fan motors, or inspect the system for “potential problem areas”?
Assuming the service tech was honest, sadly not a given, oiling the bearings of a fan motor that hasn’t been oiled in several years, or ever, can paradoxically cause the bearings to fail. A symptom of failing bearings is to put a greater load on the motor, which then overheats and shuts off for a period of time. This is a bad thing for your A/C system. There are several other problems that could cause these symptoms, but that’s the only one that occurs to me that could be innocent of intent.
If the service tech wasn’t honest, I can think of a few ways to set your system up to fail like this in anywhere from a day to a week later. And if he is unethical and you call him back, the next bill will be closer to $1000.
From the OP and additions/corrections, it sounds like the condensing unit is functioning correctly. AHU fan problems could be: bad motor, bad capacitor, broken drive belt (rare, but they exist), bad controller board, and evil air conditioning elves.