Thank you in advance for trying to help!
We are advanced seniors and suddenly bnoticed that our Braeburn thermostat showed 86 in-house degrees and it became uncomfortably hot. We are in Arizona with current temperatures around 110 degrees :-( The in-house (furnace) heat strip unit is from Goodman Model HK10-1. The airhandler: Goodman Model A 61-00 REV C. The blower fan works, having been replaced 1 1/2 years ago.

The outside condenser is a Goodman Model CKT60-1AB (5 ton). When I went outside I noticed that the condenser is running, although with an ugly, kind of metallic noise, BUT the blades are not turning. We turned the unit inside off, I went outside and klimbed :-( up a wall to reach the fuse box. Everything looked fine, still I switched the airhandler, as well as the A/C fuses off and on. Went back in, turned the A/C on, went outside, around the house to our condensing unit and, voilà, the blades were turning.

BUT, only for 1 minute, then it died again. Again we turned inside the unit off. Now I checked the circuit breaker next to the condensing unit (the rectangular box with only one off and on switch inside) and turned that one off, waited a minute and switched it back on, as well as the in-house A/C thermostat. The blades came on, running, but again only for a minute and then died on me.

Six weeks ago, although everything was running fine, we called in an A/C check-up. The technician confirmed that everything was working, but suggested that we replace the capacitor, which we agreed to [later I saw that he had written on the invoice $161 for the dual run motor capacitor by MARS].

He also sold us a 3-year maintenance contract which include two maintenance/safety inspections per year for $449. When I called the company now, he told me that, unfortunately he is quite a distance away and probably can not come before tomorrow morning.

Needless to stress, this would be for us, with a disabled person in the house, VERY uncomfortable.

Thus, my urgent request for help to whoever would be able to suggest for me what I can do in the meantime to perhaps get the fan going. I forgot to mention that I also tried to encourage the blades to turn with a stick...

With friendly HOT regards, Chris [Suchende]

Reading half way down, I might have said replace the capacitor or both but not without knowing the answer to the following:

Inside the outside unit there is a compressor and a fan. Hopefully the compressor is working and the system turns off because there isn't enough air flow.

What you could do, is take a regular fan and use it to blow air where the non-working fan is.

Might work.

Although not recommended, use a hose on the outdoor coil untl things cool down.

But, the compressor must be working.