I have a comfortmaker 3 ton system. I have everything working minus cold air. The fan spins outside and motor turns in closet. I think system got really dirty so A frame was cleaned with cleaner (myself) with a brush and a solution mix (tech) after. The tech yanked out motor from closet and he brushed off caked on dirt. It blows better in house but not cold.

He went to fan unit and hooked up test tools for Freon and nothing read. He mentioned the system isn't reading because one of two deals. First is a capacitor. Second is condensing unit. He said it would be cheaper to replace outside unit if capacitor doesn't fix. Today I have to go get one.

I had to replace capacitor before when fan was not spinning. Can the capacitor also prevent cold air but allow the fan to spin? I know the cap gives extra kick from stored charge to spin fan but didn't know how it relates to cooling. Just wondered if that could be explained. Or what do you all think could be issue?

Thanks!

Get a new HVAC tech.

The one you have is just blowing smoke up your. When he puts his gauges on the system it's going to tell him something. It going to tell him the high and low pressures of the refrigerant. That has nothing to do with the capacitor. You are correct that the capacitors (there are two, one for the fan and one for the compressor) are necessary for the fan and the compressor to start and run. You can tell if the fan and compressor are running from observation, not form putting a set of gauges on the system.

You said the condenser (outside) fan and the blower motor (inside) are running. Next question is, is there air movement (any air coming out the supply registrars and is air being pulled in the return?
Is the evaporator (inside) cold. If not, is the compressor running? You should be able to tell from sound and feel.
If compressor and fan are running, is the fan blowing out hot or warm air. If the air out of the fan is not warmer than the surrounding air, does the condenser coil need to be cleaned?

If the compressor, fan and blower are running and you have air movement, you get cooling. If these are all true and you don't cooling, then you may have lost the refrigerant due to a leak. That happens but nearly as often as you might think.

Get another HVAC tech, The one you had was just trying to sell you a new system. That's where he makes his money. He would have said what he said no matter what the problem is.

Thanks. I figured so. It is slightly more complicated. It's a family friend for my wife's side and wanted to give the benefit of the doubt. He's done free work before to help fix issues though I paid something for his time. And offered help over the phone. Something just didn't add up with the capacitor because he said this one was different but the date/copyright date on cap is around time frame I replaced cap when fan was not moving outside. And my ac is much older than date on cap.

I have air inside. I have suction as well. The air does seem cooler out of fan outside. I didn't do any cleaning outside so I might need to clean the condenser coil. I'm not home to test until this evening. Would that be the best bet?

If he hooked up his gages and got nothing then of course the unit won't cool. You have a leak some where, first step would be to find the leak and repair it.

He mentioned his gauge showed 120 and that meant something was out.

He may be well intentioned but he doesn't know what he is doing.

Is compressor running?
Is condenser fan (outside) turning?
Is blower motor and fan (inside) running?
Do you have air flow (inside)?
Is the air being blown out by the evaporator fan warm?

Not sure on compressor. I actually will check on that.

Outside is turning

Blower motor and fan inside is running.

Air flow inside = yes. When fan inside was cleaned and dusted off, it produced more air. Either time, a paper shimmys when put to vent.

Fan outside produced cooler air

Get another tech from another company out there and see what they come up with ( I wouldn't trust any other tech from that company at this point as they all might be pushed to sell a unit just like this last one to anyone with an older system). There is a lot more that can go wrong between the not working at all and everything runs but its not doing anything points.

The fan out side should be pulling air through the coils and pushing it out the top or the other side. The coils should have the hot gas in them. The compressor compresses the gas and makes it give up the heat. The air flow takes the heat away. The air coming out should be warmer than the surrounding air if the compressor is running

If you can't be sure the compressor is running, open the unit and put your hand on it. Careful, if it is running it will be hot.

How did you go about cleaning the inside coils?

I took a soft brush and pulled a lot of gunk out with plastic to catch junk that fell. Then used condensing approved spray from Lowe's. Sprayed both outside and inside.

When he cleaned it, he used a solution mix and sprayed and sprayed. He took out large fan and brushed it off with a brush.

OK. Now find out if compressor is running.

Well, the issue was a double whammy.

The larger capacitor outside was replaced. I instantly started to get cooler air. It was a capacitor I replaced before in the past. So I was for sure it was not the issue. Well, it was. The smaller cap outside is for the fan.

The story didn't end here though. The blower motor would run and shut off even though I had to the on position. So, bad motor...

Had to buy from local hvac store and he helped install it since I didn't have a puller. What would have been a $20 cap issue, turned out to be $220 +$20 issue. The blower motor was $199, bought the new running cap, and another cap for outside that's not broken but rusted. It was only $5. Lol. Might as well.

Let it run yesterday and it was much cooler when I came back to check on it.

What a pain! I looked up what a tech would have charged, and it seems it could have been twice as much as what I paid. Crazy.

Congratulations.

In my area that would have been $600-800.

Wow. I could see why.

For anyone else having these issues, I realized that my fan had been giving me issues for some time now. My a.c. keeps running until it reaches the temp now. Before, it would run for some time, go down a few degrees and shut off. Then kick back on to continue. I thought my a.c. was broken when it kept running yesterday to reach a temp it was having a difficult time reaching.