Howdy. We returned home from vacation last night to find that our A/C unit was not working properly. The compressor turns on but the blower fan does not (fan doesn't turn on and the compressor just hums). The first thing I checked was the breaker, and that unit's breaker is hotter than the rest of the breakers in the box--hotter than the other A/C unit's breaker when both are on.

We left it off all night and tried again this morning. Same conditions. Took the unit apart. Capacitor seems fine. It's not bulged and not leaking. I can also start the fan but giving it a little nudge, and it'll run fine until the unit shuts off. Next time around, the fan doesn't start again without a nudge.

Is this as simple as a breaker going bad? The breaker doesn't trip. Or am I looking at something more involved, like a bad motor?

Thanks!

I meant condenser fan... not blower fan. That's what I get for trying to post while walking out the door :-)

Just because a capacitor looks good does not mean it is good. If you have the proper tester use it if not the only way to know if it is good or bad is to replace it.

There are other items that can stop the fan from working properly and that is the motor itself is defective. Now usually if you can rotate the fan blade and get it to run it is the capacitor. Give the capacitor replacement a try and see what happens.

Thanks. It was the capacitor. All is good now :-)

Glad you got it going.