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Jerky_san · May 28, 2010, 08:50 PM

Today I washed off my outside A/C unit since I had recently bought the house and the p/o's weed eated and such constantly around it but never washed the thing off.. It had a lot of dirt and grim in the fins so I decided it would best if I took the fan and grill's off and washed the grills and fins from the inside as well. So I took some straps and marked how the fan wires were attatched to capacitor so I would not get them mixed up when reattaching and laid the fan housing to the side while washing off the rest.. I put it all back together and turned on the a/c to make sure everything was working and it appeared to be working dandy. So I went over and started wraping up the hose when I heard the fan not running anymore.. I kind of freaked out cause I could tell the compressor was running and the fan was clearly not. So not thinking very clearly I pulled the outside switch into the off and then ran into the house and turned off the thermostat.(I Don't know if that was exactly a good idea but I didn't want to have a damaged compressor.. )

Anyway I took the electrical panel off cover off the outside unit and checked to make sure all the wiring was the same as I had marked it. I noticed that one of the wires might have been loose so I made sure all of them were pressed down. So I decided I'd try again and stand next to it.. It started up and lines were cool/hot like they were supposed to and fan was running. Being nervous about it. I stood next to it for about 3 minutes when the fan turned off again.. There was heat rising so I'm wondering if I somehow got the wires reversed? Though I don't know how I could since I marked them? Any help would be extremely great since it's a holiday weekend and I doubt I'll be getting a guy to come out till Tuesday.. I really don't know what I could have done wrong.. I've done this same thing before and its worked without a hitch.. So I'm hoping you all can give me some help. If you all need pictures of the wiring I can take them tomorrow morning. Anything if it helps to solve the problem.

Joshdta · May 28, 2010, 08:54 PM

It was a 3 wire and a ground or a 4 wire with ground?

Jerky_san · May 28, 2010, 08:59 PM

Originally Posted by Joshdta

it was a 3 wire and a ground or a 4 wire with ground?

As far as I could tell there were only 3 wires.. I didn't see a ground? It wouldn't turn on at all if I didn't have ground connected though right?

Joshdta · May 28, 2010, 09:00 PM

Well then you should have 2 powers and 1 going to the start capacitor correct?

Jerky_san · May 28, 2010, 09:02 PM

By what I can tell yes.. If I remember correctly there was a purple, red, black..

Joshdta · May 28, 2010, 09:05 PM

Usually purple goes to the capacitor. When the motor shuts off is it hot to the touch?

Jerky_san · May 28, 2010, 09:06 PM

I in a way was thinking it might have been the compressor that was releasing hot air since the fan was not turning any long but yes you could feel heat radiating off the top of the unit around where the fan motor was.

Joshdta · May 28, 2010, 09:12 PM

Did you get the motor wet? Sounds like it is going off on inturnal overload from being to hot. Could be a loose connection. Or could be the motor itself starting to go bad.

Jerky_san · May 28, 2010, 09:19 PM

I'm pretty sure I didn't get it wet since I specifically laid it in a different place from where I was washing but if it did get wet would it stop acting up after it dried? I'll recheck the connections tomorrow morning and reread the diagram on the unit to make sure I didn't do something.. I'm mainly worried that I risk hurting the compressor. How long can it run without the fan? I am catching it basically immediately but just wondering since it turns off I got to either A run into the house and turn the therm off or B kill it at the unit but the inside stuff still runs until I kill it at the therm as well..

Guess this teaches me to not even clean it since it seems I've broken it by cleaning it.. I am surprised it happened though since I've done this about 8 other times without a problem at my old house.. ;-;

Jerky_san · May 29, 2010, 05:53 AM

All right I got pictures now and the model number.

The model number is

Standard mod 7b0030b100a1

Jerky_san · May 29, 2010, 06:22 AM

I think I figured it out.. the black wire was in the wrong spot.. It wasn't supposed to be on the capacitor but instead hooked into the main ground feed..

Joshdta · May 29, 2010, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by Jerky_san

I think I figured it out.. the black wire was in the wrong spot.. It wasn't supposed to be on the capacitor but instead hooked into the main ground feed..

I was going to say looked like way to many wires on the capacitor.