On May 25, 12:56*am, Jo wrote:
On May 24, 6:46*pm, "
wrote:





On May 24, 3:29*pm, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote:

"Jo" wrote in message
The central A/C and heat in my house aren't working properly and I
need to figure out why. All the equipment (or whatever you want to
call it) is about 24 years old.

The problem started about a month ago when the heat was on. I noticed
that hardly any air was blowing out of the vents and the air that was
blowing out was cool, not warm. Also, the lights in different rooms
would dim every 4 minutes or so. I turned off the heat at this point
and notified the owners of the house who happen to be my parents.

I turned on the A/C this morning and the same thing is happening. The
lights in different rooms dim every 4 minutes or so and hardly any air
is blowing out of the vents.

He may have changed the filters, but the coil for t he AC may still be
clogged. *Since the lights dim every few minutes, I'd guess the blower motor
is not working properly and is cycling off and on. *There is a set of
potential problems such as lack of lubrication in the motor, the blower
bearings, belt loose etc.

You need a reputable service tech to check exactly what the problem is.
Also, at 24 years, it may be time to look for a new, more efficient *AC that
will save you money.

I air isn't blowing out even with the fan set to on, then something is
wrong with the air handler. * Could be clogged up coils, failed motor,
etc.
Time for a service call. *And with a system that's 24 years old, it
should
have been replaced last year when you could have gotten a 30% tax
credit. *A new system would also cut your heating/cooling bills
substantially.

This is probably a stupid question, but any idea how much a new system
would cost for a 2 story house that's approximately 2400 sq. ft. plus
the basement which is about 1400 sq. ft.? I'm just kind of looking for
a range, just to get an idea as to how much something like this would
cost. I have no idea whether it would be $10,000 or $5,000 or $20,000.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -
You're getting a mix of advice here, some of it not worth much.

Brownouts will not damage modern electronics.

It sounds like you have a heat pump. It also sounds like the
compressor is not able to start. Heat pump (and ac) compressors have
an internal thermal overload breaker in them. When it cools down it
will try again. There could be any number of reasons why it can't
start. It's not likely that anyone over the internet will be able to
pinpoint it without directing you to do a number of tests that you
probably don't have the equipment or desire to do.

Simply turning the thermostat to the off position will turn the entire
system off.

No one will be able to give you an accurate estimate over the internet
either but you should be able to replace a complete basic single stage
heat pump system (without messing around with the ducts) for something
between $2.5k and $5k unless you select more advanced equipment.