For the past couple of months, my A/C has been working improperly, and I'm hoping that someone can tell me what's wrong, and how to fix it! Hot weather's ON THE WAY!!

I don't know all of the correct terminology, but here goes: I have an electric central heat/air conditioner. The last couple of months, I have found myself pressing the "reset" button on the thermostat several times a day because the outside unit will run and run and run, but the inside unit never comes on, and the indoor temp rises well beyond the temp that I have the thermostat set to. I usually notice it when the indoor temp reaches about 78 to 80 degrees. Then I'll push the "reset" button on the thermostat, and within a minute or so, the inside unit will come on. It always blows cold air, so when it decides to work, it does cool the house. It will then work properly for an hour or two, but eventually it will stop working again, while the outside unit continues to run.

Another thing I've noticed is that when I walk past the air conditioner, there is very cold air coming out of the vent below the A/C--what I call the intake vent, but I'm not sure if that's what it's really called. Anyway, it's REALLY cold air coming from there.

Any ideas? Am I about to have to spend a load of money on this thing? :confused:

Oh, and I thought the problem may be a faulty thermostat, but I replaced it today with a new one and I'm still having the same problem.

Thermostat model and brand name
Out and inside unit model number and brand.
With out this is will be bigger guessing game.

Outside unit is a Tempstar High Efficiency 5000, Model #CA 518VKD1
Inside unit is a Goodman, Model #AE24-10
Thermostat (the new one) is a Honeywell, RTH230B

Here is a copy of your thermostat manual.


http://customer.honeywell.com/techlit/pdf/69-0000s/69-1800.pdf

I cannot find a reset button in the manual?
What do you push to reset the thermostat?

Turn the fan switch on the thermostat to on. The blower inside the furnace should run all the time.

Post back with results.

Sorry for the confusion... the "reset" button was on the old thermostat, which I have already thrown out, so I have no idea what brand/model it was.

The new thermostat does not have a "reset" button on it, so when it stalls as described above, I turn the thermostat to the "off" position for about ten minutes, and then back "on", and it begins cooling.

I turned the thermostat fan switch to the "on" position, and within 15 seconds, the blower came on and has remained on, but it's not blowing as strong as it does when it's in the "auto" position.

Maybe I should mention... the A/C unit is in a condo that we purchased recently, and prior to that, it was a rental. The indoor unit shows that it was installed in 1999. Could the problems be due to lack of maintenance, as is often the case with rentals?

Lack of maintenance could be a problem. Usually for a homeowner maintenance consists of making sure the indoor air filter is changed regularly.

From what you said it could be the blower motor is wired for the wrong speed at the wrong setting. It could also be a defective or incorrectly wired blower relay.

Now may be a good time to have a professional service performed on your unit not only to correct the problems you are having now but to better prepare the unit for the summer.

Since you just purchased the condo it will also give you a much better idea of the general overall condition and correct any mistakes made while the unit was being serviced as a rental unit. Many times rental units do not receive very good service or in your case it could be the plumber who did the rental service could have put the motor in incorrectly. LOL

Your outside unit should never operate without the inside fan, it sounds to me like something is not wired right with the controls at the inside unit. The reason that the fan runs on a lower speed with the fan switch to on is this is usually used to circulate air with the low fan speed setting. When cooling is required the circuit board inside should kick the fan to high, there may be a problem with the board if the fan only runs sometimes. I would keep the fan switch in the ON position, this will get you by until you can have someone look at it.

Sounds like stuck contactor or bad stat