Last year my home's central air condenser fan motor stopped working. When I noticed the house wasn't cooling down I went outside to investigate and found there was a humming sound coming from the unit, but the fan wasn't turning. After researching the problem online, I found the capacitor may be bad and causing the problem. The capacitor wasn't blown, but I replaced it anyways. The problem still existed; Fan won't spin and a humming sound is coming from the unit. So, I inferred that the motor must be bad. Yesterday I unbolted the fan from the unit to try and spin the blades by hand. To my surprise, it spun. It spun 3 to 5 rotations with a medium amount of force (the same force it would take to bounce a basketball 8 feet in the air). I expected the motor to be stuck and not spin at all, so now I'm second guessing myself. My question is: How freely should it spin? I've read in numerous places that the blade should spin "freely", but I'm not sure what that means. Should it spin around 50 times with a medium amount of force?

If I was holding it up in the air, should a 15mph breeze spin the blades like a pinwheel? price of a goodman 3 ton ac unitOr is the 3-5 rotations freely?harga ac portable di solo If you replaced the start capacitor, and you are getting proper voltage to the fan motor than the only thing left is to replace the fan motor. air conditioning units tulsa okIf the fan turns at all without forcing, it should spin when powered up. If the fan turns freely or not is not a definitive indication that is good or bad. It should spin freely... I looked at neighbor's condenser fan and they all spin freely with very slight force. However how a motor spins isn't necessarily indicator of whether it works or not. A coil could have shorted or insulation burnt.

You can test this by taking an ohmmeter, one lead to the motor leads, and the other to the case. If there's continuity between the leads and the motor casing, it's bad (and in fact sometimes it should blow breakers too). You can also read the resistance of the motor leads, if it's too low then there's a short between the windings. Basically a good fan should spin at least half a revolution with the amount of force it takes to lift a sheet of paper. I'm far from being a HVAC person, but I do like to figure things out on my own. I had the same thing happen and before you order a $300 part, all I did was take it apart and clean it really well. I used graphite lubricant on the blades and 3-in-1 on the shaft of the motor and guess what?!! It puuuurs now ;) if u change the capacitor and does not work turn the power on use a screwdriver and try turning the fan you will notice motor making a buzzing sound and hard to turn just replace motor.I had the same problem and that took care of it.

Two more things your motor may have three wire black brown and orange today motor have five wire instruction come with it connect the two extra wire together with a wire nut and wrap it with some electrical tape.Last i recommend u change your contact switch because when your motor start going bad it spark more and more as the motor life coming to an end.I hope this was helpful good luck.Browse other questions tagged hvac fans or ask your own question.I'd like to help you identify and repair your air conditioning problem, so let's get started. First, this page of the air conditioning and refrigeration guide is written for people who are not a/c technicians, and with the belief that your air conditioner was properly and professionally installed. If your air conditioning problem is that the unit is totally dead and absolutely nothing is happening, First check the thermostat very carefully to be sure it is turned on. I have been on service calls, including emergency overtime 1 am calls, where the thermostat simply wasn't turned on to "cool".

If your thermostat is a wall mounted digital type, and it is totally blank, it might be battery powered, and the batteries may simply be dead. The same with a battery powered remote control. If the thermostat or remote control stays dead, there's a strong possibility you need a new one. If the problem isn't the thermostat or remote, check the breaker. If it is totally over in the off position, someone has simply turned it off. Before you turn it on, make sure no one is working on the circuit that breaker supplies. When you've determined it's safe, turn the breaker on. If the air conditioner runs, cools, and keeps running, you've solved your air conditioning problem. If the breaker is in the middle, tripped position, turn it all the way off. Make sure no one is working on anything in the circuit, then turn the breaker on and see if the a/c will run. If it runs, cools, and stays on, make sure that the indoor and outdoor fans are running, and make sure the evaporator (indoor) and condenser (outdoor) coils are not dirty or blocked.

Listen to the compressor for several minutes. If you hear the compressor starting and stopping but the condenser fan seems to be running normally, turn off the unit, and have someone check the compressor. It may need new start components, and then it will run fine. It might have an open winding, and then you'll need to replace the whole compressor. If the compressor runs and sounds normal, without any grinding or hammering noises, and the unit is cooling normally, I'd say you don't have a serious air conditioning problem, let it run and don't If your breaker trips again after running several hours or even a couple of days, you have an intermittent air conditioning problem that you should have a good technician check. The possible problems include: a loose, dirty, or corroded wire connection, condenser fan overheating and stopping, wires grounding or shorting out, fan motor winding failing. If your breaker trips instantly as soon as you try to turn it on, stop.

Have a technician check your unit. The possible causes include: a direct short or ground in the wiring, compressor windings or fan windings, or a direct short or ground in relay, contactor, or transformer windings. One reason not to keep resetting a breaker that trips instantly is that the shorted or grounded wiring could be sparking when you reset the breaker, and it could be a fire hazard. Here are some examples of additional air conditioning problems that could be caused by repeated attempts to reset a tripping breaker: Lets say one of the wires going to the condenser fan has rubbed against the frame of the unit, or the fan bracket, or a piece of refrigerant piping, and the insulation wore away, and the wire grounded. The wire will spark, will very possibly weld to whatever it grounded to, and it will also break; maybe the first time the breaker trips, or maybe the third time it trips. I have seen grounded wires spark a hole through refrigerant piping, which causes a refrigerant leak, and additional problems.

I have also seen grounded and shorted wires that broke and stopped conducting to the fan, and also stopped conducting to the short or ground. So now the unit will run and cool, and the compressor will run, but the condenser fan doesn't run, So the compressor runs at pressures that will shorten its service life, and maybe even break it within minutes. When the breaker trips instantly, have a technician check the unit. Could your air conditioning problem be that the unit just doesn't seem to be cooling as well as it should? Check the indoor air handling unit. Make sure the filter is clean. Make sure the coil is clean. Make sure the blower is clean, and running. Make sure nothing is blocking the air flow into and out of the indoor coil. Check the condensing unit Make sure the coil is clean and that nothing is blocking air flow through it. Make sure the fan is running. That's about all you can do unless you're a technician.

I'll be providing detailed troubleshooting guides for technicians on the troubleshooting pages. If your air conditioning problem is a water leak, Clear the drain of the indoor air handler. You can do this by using a wet/dry vacuum cleaner, and vacuuming the end of the drain outside the building. While you have the shopvac out, open the indoor air handler and vacuum the stuff out of the pan you'll find underneath the coil. If you can, take a look at the corner of the pan the drain line is attatched to. If there is debris there, clean it out. Does your air conditioning problem have something to do with noise? If it's a humming/buzzing noise, open your unit and look for something loose, or look for a loose panel screw, fan bracket screw, loose pipe clamp, a loose piece of insulation, or even a noisy relay or contactor. If it's a rattling noise, again, look for something loose in or on the unit. If you hear your compressor making a grinding or hammering noise, get ready to replace it.