On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:33:08 -0700, Larry Jaques
wrote:

On Mon, 06 Aug 2012 22:45:54 -0500, Ignoramus25096
wrote:

On 2012-08-07, Larry Jaques wrote:

Felt the top of the condenser fan mount and found it very warm. OK,
it's 90 out, it'll be warm in the sun. I showered it with cool water
until it was cold.

Popped the bolts loose and the fan spins freely, no frozen bearings.
It has a 60Hz hum feel to it so I think it's being (somewhat)
energized. VOM confirms that below.

The condenser fan should be running whenever the contactor is pulled
in and calling for cold.

If the condenser fan quits, it should have kicked out the High
Pressure Safety on the output line from the Compressor to the start of
the Condenser Coils. And that safety is supposed to be a manual
reset.

Then again, it might just be low enough on refrigerant to stall the
compressor before it hits the 450 PSI threshold to trip the high side
safety.

Start relay has 24v from the thermostat and 119v through each
contactor and through the start cap to comp and fan. Looks normal so
far.

Then I heard a click and the compressor sounded like it labored for
just over a second before the second click happened. It was fairly
quiet.

That would be the compressor trying to start against high head
pressure, and then the Klixon overload cutting it off. It'll cool and
try to restart every two or three minutes.

First start with a good compressor and no condenser fan it'll load
down and stall as the pressures spike, and the Klixon cuts out.

Maybe the capacitor went bad.

Should I lick my fingers and...

No, read the instructions on your VOM or Digital Amp Clamp - a lot of
them have a Capacitor Test function.

-- Bruce --