About 4 years ago I noticed that the airflow out of my condenser is very turbulent and not flowing upwards ,but more sideways out of the discharge bore,my sister in law has the same unit next door and her air flows very smoothly straight up... my blade shakes a lot like its unbalanced,but I put a new blade in and its doing the same thing.. the air just seems to churn around in the unit and kind of move out the very rim of the hole but in a very choppy manner.. on windy days its been so bad that the unit shuts(I believe its overheated and comes back on hours later once it resets)it seems like the fan can't get enough air to move it in a steady stream ,but I've cleaned coils and I see light through the spaces,anyone ever had this problem before ? I'm just vexed

Thanks in advance for any help :D

Its possible when new fan blade was installed it was put on upside down not pulling air in through the sides and out the top

Or wrong blade installed

Wow, that is a weird one.

In addition to wmproop's advice, I would say check to make sure the motor (albiet obvious) is mounted tight. Is the fan blade is attached to the shaft at the correct place, meaning high enough? If the blade sits too low or if blade too small I could see this as an issue.

Set screw on the flat side of the shaft?

I am surprised your motor has not crapped out completely yet. Any chance of posting a pic of the unit looking down or even a mini-vid of it happening?

Can you look up the model no and see what blade it came with. 2 or 3 blade. Who knows maybe someone swapped out something they just had in the truck on Friday night.

Hi guys, thanks for the fast response.. : )

But it's a problem that is harder to answer than that, I actually have some experience with HVAC I did take some classes and I worked at a college where I helped out a lot with chilled water systems.. so even though I'm certainly no pro with experience in residential A/C I do know a little, I purchased the house new so I am the only owner and the only person to have ever touched the system.. I have raised and lowered the original blade to try to remedy the problem to no success ,I have also taken the blade off and cleaned it hoping by some miracle it was like a boat prop with barnacles on it that can drastically effect performance, still no good, there are three balance clips on the blade.. but the blade is for sure out of balance as it really shakes pretty violently, I'm also surprised that the motor hasn't burnt, I'm sure its drawing way more amps than it should.. but its hanging in there :D, the new blade was put in by me and its oriented the proper way.. its a 3 wing 18" 33 pitch clockwise blade, the motor is tight mounted to the fan grill and I see no cracks on the grill,, its something really weird that I think has to do with the airflow.. like I said, its almost like centrifuging out the side and not really being focused upward in a normal upward air kernel... this wouldn't be the first time that I had a problem that nobody else ever seemed to have,, just how my luck is :D lol

Oh and PS, the new blade was just put in today by me and weighs less so the balance seems better and the motor working less hard I imagine bu the airflow is still as bad, I'm contemplating weather or not to bring the new oone back as that doesn't seem to be the problem.. thanks again in advance :D

Dang, that is so strange!!

Now its going to bug me. Positively ruled out airflow through the coil right? I mean can you take the grills off the side and really clean the coil up. Is it a spine fin like Trane uses? They pack more crap in them than anything I have seen.

I got to think there isn't enough air getting through that coil... wow

Please give an update if/when you get it figured out

Hey thermal.. thanks for replying

Im thinking airflow through the coil can be the only answer.. it had a lot of grass clippings and junk in it, but I took the housing off last year and cleaned it up really well and fixed the fin dents as best I could.. I see light through most of it.. but I guess it still may need more help.. as the fan is running I feel the air pulsing and not steady constant flow, but that still doesn't explain to me why the air is pushing sideways and slightly up, and not just straight up, I ready to just rip the fan out and drop a 15 dollar walmart box fan on top of this thing.. lol.. its making me crazeh :D

Also is the motor healthy?

Not getting a voltage drop or any surge in the motor itself are you?

I saw a pic of someone that put a wal mart box fan over the top of a condenser on a roof top. It was too funny. I tried to dig it up but can't find it.

Hey... I think I know what the problem is!

Ok so I went out today to inspect the coil very and instead of just looking at the top coils to see if I can see light I actually got down on the ground on my side (something you don't do in TX since fire ants are the most evil creature ever)and I looked really closely at the bottom 6-8 inches and they are compacted with dirt and grass... I took the whole unit apart last year and cleaned it from the inside out so as not to force dirt in further.. but I guess I didn't do a good enough job, so now my problem is how to get the compacted grass out :/ I went to home depot and looked at the coil cleaner foam, but its really just a degreaser and I need something that will either disolve the grass without harming the coil.. or try it with a brush... but either way I must be the only person in the world that's happy my coil is dirty, it at least lets me know what the problem is :D

Anyhow let me know if you have any good secrets to getting this thing clean.. and say hi to Hondo for me there will be celebratory beers once this thing actually discharges air upwards : )

wow, that would be sweet if that does it, and I can't imagine why not since that motor and blade are designed to move 'x' amount of air.

how about digging out around the base of the unit

pull disconnect
take top off and sides fins if you can do it comfortably and soak it gently with the hose. If you can get that dirt to slowly break down then pull the grass out without bending fins - that may do it.

I have a fin brush and fin comb and they are great for coil cleaning/straightening out fins. You might be able to get them from an appliance parts supply.

I hear you on the fire ants. I got tagged by desert bark scorpion last year and that put me into orbit.

Hondo says 'woof' he just ate my left over carne asada burrito

You might try blowing air through coil from inside out if you have a compressor.

I have a question. I doubt that the restricted air flow would cause the fan turbulence that you described. You have confirmed that the fan blade is installed correctly but have you confirmed that the fan motor is actually turning in the correct direction? If the fan motor rotation is reversible it could have been mis-wired at the factory or by the installer. If the fan is actually blowing air down into the coil it seams logical that some of that air would return up around the inside perimeter of the coil since there would be less resistance than going through the coil fins. That would result in a lot of turbulence above the coil. Air in the center would be flowing down while air at the out edges of the fan would be flowing up.

If all logic fails, borrow your sister-in-laws fan motor and blade and see how it acts on your unit.

Oh Man... did you have to mention burritos? I'm hungry and my wife made a comment last week about me getting pudgy O.o.. so I ate healthy junk today.. :/

Anyhow, I ordered a fin comb from Grainger earlier today but it was to late to go get it since it was getting close to the time I pick my daughter up from school, but its at the will call desk and I'm getting it tomorrow morning.. imma take the whole thing apart again, last time I used compressed air and the water hose and went from the inside out.. but I think this time ill try and get a good brush and try to rake the junk downwards.. I think that once this thing is cleaned it will really work well... its only a 10 SEER so it isn't that big of a coil and the clogging could definitely cause the pulsing cavitation air effect as the air passed the coils can't keep up with the fan... any advice on a cleaner.. I think acid type would work best.. but I don't want to damage the coil, and I don't know where to get any that isn't in a gallon size bottle which is like 35 bucks... anything available at like a loews or HD or autoparts place ?

Hi Harold... thanks for the reply

The fan is a clockwise blade and that's the direction of the motor.. funny story.. the first blade I ordered from HD suply showed a picture of a clockwise blade but when I put it in and turned it on it was blowing downward O.o that's when I realied it was a counter CW blade, and my first though was.. well I can just try to flip it upside down.. so I learned yesterday that turning the blade upside down still pushes the air in the same direction :D... anyhow.. im sure it isn't the fan or blade at this point.. I have checked and rechecked and rechecked it numerous times.. the motor is spinning freely and there is no play in the bushings/bearing.. its nice and tight and by this time I think it would have popped the capacitor if it were the actual motor.. any advice on cleaning grass out of a coil ?

You could try a power washer (from inside out) if you are real careful to reduce the pressure down so as to not damage anything.

Try your SIL motor and fan just to make me happy..