Help!

[KaiineTN]

Anyone know anything about troubleshooting air conditioning? The AC unit outside turns on, but air isn't circulating through the house. The blower fan in the furnace doesn't turn on. I've tried a few things like resetting the power, checking all the obvious wire connections, etc., but I'm afraid to do much else to try to get the damn thing working. Don't have a clue what I'm doing, for the most part.

Problem is it's Saturday and 90+ degrees during a holiday weekend, so if I can't get the thing running, I'm in for at least a couple more days of torture.

[brinstar]

if the blower was pushing around warm air i'd blame a leaky hose somewhere or a busted AC motor, but since the blower isn't even kicking on it's pretty safe to say that's where the problem is

if it's not a wiring issue then it could be a problem with the motor itself, maybe it's jammed/seized somehow, or something's shorting it out? i dunno i am not exactly HVAC-savvy but anything can break i guess

i suppose a blown fuse would be too easy? good luck dude it's hot as fuck

[KaiineTN]

Actually I had a repairman out not two days ago to "fix" it and he replaced the entire motor/fan, which would have cost $400+ if it wasn't still under warranty. It seems to be the exact same problem as it was initially, before replacing the motor/fan, so it seems pretty unlikely that a new one would work for a day and a half and then give out after the other one lasted six years. It's probably something else, I just have no idea what.

I do hear a faint clicking sound when the fan should be turning on, but I don't know what that could be.

[Drem]

never lived in a house that had A/C so i dunno. you just sound like a puss to me! open the house up and get some fans going and some ice cold beer and you'll be all right pretty quick

[DangerPaul]

fan control relay

[leah]

never lived in a house that had A/C so i dunno. you just sound like a puss to me! open the house up and get some fans going and some ice cold beer and you'll be all right pretty quick

ummmm yeah, i'm not sure where flink lives, but around here that shit wouldn't cut it. even today, when it was only 85 or 90 degrees out, the humidity made it feel like 80 bajillion AND like we were swimming through the air instead of walking. cracking the windows in shit like that just results in sweatiness and misery, so AC is totally a requirement. i cannot imagine surviving even one nebraska summer without AC! i'm sure it's completely different in oregon, though, which has the best weather ever ever ever. fucking nebraska.

[brinstar]

fan control relay

heh i couldn't draw a picture of a fan control relay but this sounds exactly like what would crap out and cause clicking noises instead of blower-actually-turning-on-and-working noises

[10sun]

If the blower fan were on, I'd say that the humidity has built up on the filter and formed a sheet of ice.

[ClakarEQ]

kaiine, I can almost bet it is your motor not working and is a "static" problem. Not for the faint of heart but I've serviced my furnace and AC (condenser). If you motor can be exposed, make sure all power is off, and do one of 2 things, one, use a flat blade screwdriver and see if you can use that to get your motor to turn like a quarter turn, or two, get your hand on the "blades" of the blower and give it a good spin.

When I've had the problem you've described, that "fixed" it. However it will come back and you should get your repair guy to do a good job instead of what looks like a shitty one. Also, if you can be there, look over the dudes shoulder because once you break open your furnace, if you're the tinkering type, you can see there really isn't much to it.

That clicking is most likely a relay or capacitor trying to "fire up" the engine and failing :p

[Drem]

"yeah"