"Clay Harryman" wrote in message
om...
Short version -- I ran a new wire from the blower to the compressor.
My blower used to work but now it doesn't. Ideas?
Long version -- A couple of months ago, our air conditioner compressor
quit working. The blower would come on, but only hot air came out.
We called a professional (ARS) who showed me the problem. A
2-conductor wire that connects the blower to the compressor had a
break somewhere down the line on the ground side. He said he could
run it for about $300, or I could do it myself for less than $10. I
chose the second route. In the meantime, he grounded the return wire
to the compressor body and everything worked fine.
Funny how that works...doing things wrong...like taking the common and
making it a ground...
Just because it works, does not mean it will forever..nor that it is right.
The common, unless its a grounded common in the system, should NEVER be run
to ground.
Thats what he did.
And $300 for a stat wire? Out of his damn mind.
To be honest, I was content to leave it that way, but my wife insisted
I fix it the way I was shown.
Or let the guy that had a clue repair it...
Today, I finally had the time to try to fix it. First I turned
everything off at the thermostat. I got 50' of 3-conductor intercom
wire from Radio Shack.
You get the cheap crap? What gauge is it?
Thermostat leads need to be 18g or better to work right...
If one of the conductors breaks, I have a
redundancy to fall back on. It was just enough to reach from the
blower to the compressor.
I keep about 600 feet of 18-4, 18-6, 18-8 and 18-10...just in case...
That way we never have to worry about...just enough..
I attached the red conductor to the red
wire on the blower. I attached the green conductor to the white wire
on the blower. I then went to the compressor and plugged my red wire
into the wire nut that held the red wire from the original wire.
Finally I connected the green conductor into the wire nut that held
the white wire from the original. Got all that? I'm not sure I do.
I got it, but not knowing your color code or unit, its hard to say...but you
screwed up, or you have a bad transformer, or too small a gauge wire, or you
pulled a connection out..
If you actually, really, honestly connected your wire to the red wire on the
blower motor...well...kiss more than your transformer bye..
I know one thing....all makes of air handlers and furnaces, dont use white
wires for blowers..the green lead, also called the G lead is.
Ok. I made sure all the connections were tight. Wire nuts outside.
Butt connectors inside. Electrical tape over all the connections.
(Yeah, I live in Texas. Tape does it all! 
. I went to the
thermostat and turned it on, now the blower won't even come on.
No one used butt connections are thermostat wire..they come loose.
Wirenut with a proper nut.
Any ideas on what might have happened?
Yea...you didnt wire it right.
You also didnt give enough information for anyone to knowwhat IS right,
unless YOU know what each lead does, and its clear you dont.
But...
At the sake of being called an ass for NOT letting you in on it, here
goes...and its VERY simple.
Wire COLOR is normally the color listed below..if yours isnt, I cant help
that.
R lead-Red, 24VAC
C lead-Blue, or black, 24VAC common
G lead-Green, fan blower relay
W lead-White, HEAT lead, either for gas valve, or heating control
Y lead- Yellow, COOLING lead.
Since you only had two wires going out to the condensors contactor (not the
compressor) They would have been red and white normally.
AT NO POINT should any of those been to ground.....like your so called pro
put the one lead.
One lead from the contactor will go the the C wire, and the other to the Y
lead.
With me so far?
IF you didnt shut off power to the furnace, or air handler, whatever you may
have, the R lead is hot all the time, and should IT go to ground at ANY
time, you will automatically blow a fuse, if the unit has a board with fuse
protection, or you have shorted, and killed, the transformer.
The butt connectins...need to GO. No one in their right mind uses them in
thermostat wiring. You use wirenuts, so that if you DO have a wire go bad,
that you have to cut and reuse your 3rd wire, you dont shorten the wire..and
since you claim its JUST barely making it....well...you figure out what
happens if you have a bad connection in a butt connection...
The electrical tape was not needed, unless you didnt trust how tight you had
the wirenuts...and even then, its a waste since they are not to be messed
with during the course of normal operation...this isnt 110 here..its 24
volts.
BTW...unless your original wiring went through a wall, down a stud, and was
impossible to pull another wire in the same location...the normal cost
around here for a standard AC only unit...that would be 18-4 wire, would be
about $75, -$100....with labor, fees, and materials....
Thank you,
Clay Harryman