I have a combination carrier air conditioner and heating unit. When you turn the temperature down for cooling the compressor and outside fan comes on for about 30 to 45 seconds and then stops and will stay of for quite a while then do the same thing. I'm afraid I am going to burn something up. The a/c does not cool very well. What could this be? Larry

It could be a few different things... usually heat pumps have a loss of charge switch so that when it gets low enough on freon it shuts down, it also may have a dirty outdoor coil and it is going out on internal overload. Does the outdoor fan run? Either way you need to have the system looked at right away, I would suggest shutting it down and calling a pro. This may be a little more than you can deal with.