How do I get my central air conditioner compressor to kick on?

by jstroud on May 2, 2010

I noticed that my central air conditioner in my house was blowing air but not blowing cold air. I went outside and noticed that my outdoor air conditioner condenser fan was running fine but the compressor wasn’t making any noise. Any suggestions?
I looked at the fuse box and there are two fuses…is one for the compressor and one for the fan on the condenser…cause like I said, the fan on the condenser does turn on.


Related Blogs

{ 8 comments }

dodger May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

Could be low on freon and the evaporator coil is froze up. Are you getting or do you know where to look to see if any condensation is coming from the coil? Turn unit off and after a while you should see some sign of water dripping (from the ice melting on the coil) If this is the case you probably have a leak somewhere in the system. leak needs repair and freon added to system.

cRaZyBaBiE May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm
cherrihill May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

ours was doing that. and it was just a wire that went from the motor to the compressor that had come loose

Ingrid May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

Check if there is a fuse on the air conditioning unit outside.that popped. There is a small bod and the fuse would be in there.I hope that is it otherwise you may need a new compressor.

If you have the manual for the Unit, read and see what to look for in case of trouble.

wisdominknowledge May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

mine does that when it blows a fuse or trips the circuit breaker.

onvacation May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

There are seperate breakers for inside and outside. Look in your breaker panel and see if any of the 2 pole breakers are tripped. If so, what’s next could be bad. This is usually cause by a shorted winding in the compressor. That means replacement. However, don’t let the a/c people talk you into a whole new unit if the rest is in good shape. The compressor itself can be replaced. Next, and hopefully you won’t have, if the breaker isn’t tripped, you need to make sure the contactor is closed. This is a little dangerous, so if you know nothing about electricity, call a pro. If there’s control power (25 vac) to the contactor and there’s no breakers tripped, usually you’ll find either the contacts are dirty, or there’s a bug or something inside the contactor preventing it from making a good connection. Again, if your not familiar with electricity or a/c wiring, call a pro. Compressor, depending on size, $500-$1000, contactor, if it’s bad, $50-$100. This won’t include labor. Good luck.

val May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

Try to change the capacitor.
You may also hook an extra capacitor in parallel with the existing one.
If this doesn’t help, you probably need new compressor.
Good luck!

Robert Wood May 2, 2010 at 2:19 pm

You may need a start cap or a hard start cap! Let the a/c company check this. 220 volts can hurt you.

Comments on this entry are closed.

Previous post:

Next post: