I have a 7 year old Trane XE 1000 and 2 days ago the fan simply stopped spinning. I also noticed that I have a blinking fan icon on the thermostat in the house.

When I turn the unit on (in the house), I can hear the outdoor unit doing something but the fan does not spin. The whole system was installed new in 2002 (new house) so I would have thought there should not be a problem yet. I have been out of work for 8 months so I am really concerned about what a fix will cost. I live in Florida with 95 degree days so doing nothing isn't an option. All power to the unit seems fine. Is there a capacitor I can check? Fan motor?

It gets up to about 92 here in the house and I have 2 small old dogs. I do have an a/c guy coming tomorrow but in hopes of fixing it myself, he's coming as a "preventive maintenance" call. (hard to trust maintenance people here in Orlando) :confused:

I'll take as much info as anyone can give!

One thing you may want to check is first whether the unit has a reste button as many of them do and also you may want to check and see if anything is physically stopping the fan from turning as there is usually very little clearance it does not take much to block it from turning.

Most tranes do not have reset buttons. If the fan has stopped could be a good chance the fan is bad or the capacitor for it is bad.
Turn the power off to unit and see if the fan moves freely by pushing it with a stick or soemthing. Also turn the unit on but be outside and see if the compressor is trying to start or not.

Unfortunately, I could not find a reset button. The fan does turn but offers "a little" resistance. I would have expected with an easy push it would have 3-5 revolutions - spin freely - but there is a resistance, albeit a small one...
If it's a capcitor, what can I expect to pay?

That really depends on your area and what contractors charge. In my area a capacitor could run you $70 to $200. And a fan might run $350 to 500.
Good luck and let us know what you find out.

Also if there is a grainger near you, you might be able to go get a capacitor yourself. Woud need to turn power off to unit at circuit breaker pull old one and take it to them to get a new one. Might be like $20 for cap then. Might even be able to get your motor there yourself if you have tools and are handy.
Unfortunately most distributors will not sell to the public.

Yikes - That seems so expensive for a fan... Does the flashing fan icon on the thermostat in the house signify anything (when I have the button switched to automatic)?

Yikes - That seems so expensive for a fan... Does the flashing fan icon on the thermostat in the house signify anything (when I have the button switched to automatic)?

Yikes - That seems so expensive for a fan... Does the flashing fan icon on the thermostat in the house signify anything (when I have the button switched to automatic)?

Yikes - That seems so expensive for a fan... Does the flashing fan icon on the thermostat in the house signify anything (when I have the button switched to automatic)?

That means nothing at this point and time. Sorry I forgot to say those prices are for parts and labor.

Exactly the same thing happened to my Trane XE 1000 unit (11 years old) a week ago. The service person found that the fan motor burnt out somehow. After replacing it, all is well again.

Siberianair - you have been a HUGE help so far! I went and got a new fan motor but now have a new issue. The old motor had 3 wires; a brown, purple and black. The new motor has 4 wires; Black, White, Brown, and Brown with white stripe. SO - what I did is to take a picture of the wiring as it was with the old motor. I labeled the individual pieces and pointed out the old wires. If you can copy and paste this link into your browser, you'll see exactly what I have now:

http://www.prorezonline.com/AC.html

Hopefully you can direct me where to put the new 4 wires... (I can bee reached at 321-285-3139 if you prefer)
THANKS!

Did you get a new capacitor for the fan? Is it a single or dual cap? If it is a single cap than do this.
Take the brown wire off the old cap.
Put your two new brown wires on the new single cap. One on each terminal. Find a place to put new cap. Be careful because it will be sending live voltage when you turn power on. Maybe tape over the terminals and connections. Also make sure no other terminals will hit the metal on it. Maybe under the control board. Might also leave in box for protection. Now put the white wire where the purple one went. That is the contactor, and yes it is a relay.
And the black where the black goes.

Hopefully you got the same specs on your motor. Horsepower, rpms, amps, volts, and rotation.
If dual rotation you want the fan to blow up and out not down.

This should help your issues. Anything else let me know.

"did you get a new capacitor for the fan? is it a single or dual cap? if it is a single cap than do this.
take the brown wire off of the old cap. "

I'm not sure. There are 2 capacitors there, one is labeled as a "start" capacitor If you can copy and paste this link into your browser, you'll see exactly what I have: http://www.prorezonline.com/AC.html

Also - no, I did not get a new capacitor...

The old motor had 3 wires

Should have got a new run capacitor for new motor. Sorry. The old one might not be the right rateing.

Also is there any directions with the motor? Maybe it has a wiring for three wire use? Some do and some don't.

Can you tell me where you got the new motor, who's it by and maybe part number and I can look it up.

Also there should be something on your old silver cap that will say something like 30/5 mf.. what is that rating? And what does the new motor say it needs for a capacitor?

New motor came from Grainger. It is model number 4MB19 made by A.O. Smith
Cap is 7.5 mfd and 370 vac. There is a basic wiring diagram: white & black go to line, Brown and Brown with white stripe go to opposing terminals on what is listed as “sep. cap”.

If you look on the picture I posted, the old brown wire is connected to top capacitor. That capacitor has 3 terminals ( it's B on the picture):

The terminal the brown wire is connected to has 2 possible wire connections, one is free. The second terminal on the capacitor has 2 orange wires connected to it and has 3 possible connections. Here, one orange wire runs down to the primary motor, the heart of the ac unit and the other orange is coming from unit “C”. There is 1 free connection left. Lastly, the third terminal on top has 2 red wires connected to it out of a possible 4. There are to available wire connections which are free.

Here's a new link with an additional picture. I added a closeup of the top capacitor:

The old motor had 3 wires

I guess the code here gets messed up if I do quotes - here is a fix

New motor came from Grainger. It is model number 4MB19 made by A.O. Smith

Cap is 7.5 mfd and 370 vac. There is a basic wiring diagram: white & black go to line, Brown and Brown with white stripe go to opposing terminals on what is listed as sep. cap

If you look on the picture I posted, the old brown wire is connected to top capacitor. That capacitor has 3 terminals ( its B on the picture):

The terminal the brown wire is connected to has 2 possible wire connections, one is free. The second terminal on the capacitor has 2 orange wires connected to it and has 3 possible connections. Here, one orange wire runs down to the primary motor, the heart of the ac unit and the other orange is coming from unit C. There is 1 free connection left. Lastly, the third terminal on top has 2 red wires connected to it out of a possible 4. There are to available wire connections which are free.