My central a/c unit is driving us crazy. It runs for a long time, then shuts down... but the a/c outside unit itself is the only part that shuts down.. the inside unit in the garage (I forgot the name) stays on. The company replaced the thermostat and the capacitor but it still has this problem. THey added a little freon also. This occurs mostly at night. We had it set to 60 degrees and it read 81 in the house? If you shut the machine off at the thermostat and wait a few minutes, it will come back on and run for a very long time. Every time the repairman comes, it's working perfectly. Now they want to install a drip pan, which they say I don't have and which will correct this problem. They want almost $400.00 for this. Is this the cure? Your help is really appreciated.

The only reason I can think of where a drip pan (condensate drain pan?) would cure your problem is the existing one is rusted or cracked & causing water to drip onto a control. If this were the case, it would be very rare indeed for the control to recover. Usually once they are wet, they're done. Once in a while, a relay on a circuit board will fail after a long run time then work again after it cools. Do you have a make, model, & aprox. Age of the equipment?

Thanks. What would be causing the A/C unit to constantly shut off outside but not the air handler inside the garage. We are at our wits end and the A/C companies can't figure it out.

Before investing in this "drip pan", which I find hard to believe you don't have, I suggest you ask them their justification for installing such. If they say water is getting on the controls, say "show me". Sounds fishy to me.