I'm having a weird problem with our air conditioner. It is actually a
heat pump. About 8-10 days ago it was running but not cold air. I
cut it off for a few minutes and then it started working again. Then
last Wednesday it quit working and even seemed to be blowing heated
air! I'm fairly sure that it was heated air rather than recirculated
air. I tried cutting it off for a while, but when I cut it back on
the compressor wouldn't start. I tried this a couple of times.

Thursday I got the A/C repairmen out. They said it was a burnt out
capacitor. They also topped off the coolant, which was a little low.
They also cleaned out the drain, which was not working. It worked
normally for three days, then today it did basically the same thing -
blowing heated air. I cut it off for a few minutes and tried it
again. This time the compressor wouldn't come on and it was blowing
around room temperature air. I left it off for an hour or two and
turned it back on and now it is working again.

So right now it is working, but what is causing the problem? Has the
thermostat gone haywire? The night we first had the problem there was
strong lightning in the area, but no strikes were especially close.

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On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:53:27 -0400, Jud McCranie
wrote:

I'm having a weird problem with our air conditioner. It is actually a
heat pump. About 8-10 days ago it was running but not cold air. I
cut it off for a few minutes and then it started working again. Then
last Wednesday it quit working and even seemed to be blowing heated
air! I'm fairly sure that it was heated air rather than recirculated
air. I tried cutting it off for a while, but when I cut it back on
the compressor wouldn't start. I tried this a couple of times.

Thursday I got the A/C repairmen out. They said it was a burnt out
capacitor. They also topped off the coolant, which was a little low.
They also cleaned out the drain, which was not working. It worked
normally for three days, then today it did basically the same thing -
blowing heated air. I cut it off for a few minutes and tried it
again. This time the compressor wouldn't come on and it was blowing
around room temperature air. I left it off for an hour or two and
turned it back on and now it is working again.

So right now it is working, but what is causing the problem? Has the
thermostat gone haywire? The night we first had the problem there was
strong lightning in the area, but no strikes were especially close.


Sounds like the reversing valve is getting stuck/not switcing. It
could be the thermostat causing it or it could be the valve itself.
Bottom line, if it's blowing hot air when you call for cooling then
the reversing valve is not doing what it should. You need to have
someone that knows what they are doing look at it as the last one did
not. You should choose a company that has Nate certified techs. See
this link:

http://www.natex.org/consumer_locator.htm

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:07:17 -0700, Nate Certified Heating and Coolong
Technician wrote:

Sounds like the reversing valve is getting stuck/not switcing. It
could be the thermostat causing it or it could be the valve itself.
Bottom line, if it's blowing hot air when you call for cooling then
the reversing valve is not doing what it should. You need to have
someone that knows what they are doing look at it as the last one did
not. You should choose a company that has Nate certified techs. See
this link:

http://www.natex.org/consumer_locator.htm

Only one certified in my area and they aren't the one.

I told them that I thought it was actually blowing heated air at one
time, but they thought it was just un-cooled air recirculated. I've
felt the output of air conditioners enough that I can tell if the
compressor is running or not, and there is no doubt in my mind that
this was actually putting out heated air.
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"Jud McCranie" wrote in message
news
On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:07:17 -0700, Nate Certified Heating and Coolong
Technician wrote:

Sounds like the reversing valve is getting stuck/not switcing. It
could be the thermostat causing it or it could be the valve itself.
Bottom line, if it's blowing hot air when you call for cooling then
the reversing valve is not doing what it should. You need to have
someone that knows what they are doing look at it as the last one did
not. You should choose a company that has Nate certified techs. See
this link:

http://www.natex.org/consumer_locator.htm

Only one certified in my area and they aren't the one.

I told them that I thought it was actually blowing heated air at one
time, but they thought it was just un-cooled air recirculated. I've
felt the output of air conditioners enough that I can tell if the
compressor is running or not, and there is no doubt in my mind that
this was actually putting out heated air.
--
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Don't forget that the heat pump could be in the cooling mode but the
auxillary heat strips are coming on. If the unit is in cooling mode the air
from the outside unit should be warm. If it is colder than ambient, it is in
the heating mode.

Don Young

Jud McCranie wrote:
I'm having a weird problem with our air conditioner. It is actually a
heat pump. About 8-10 days ago it was running but not cold air. I
cut it off for a few minutes and then it started working again. Then
last Wednesday it quit working and even seemed to be blowing heated
air! I'm fairly sure that it was heated air rather than recirculated
air. I tried cutting it off for a while, but when I cut it back on
the compressor wouldn't start. I tried this a couple of times.

Thursday I got the A/C repairmen out. They said it was a burnt out
capacitor. They also topped off the coolant, which was a little low.
They also cleaned out the drain, which was not working. It worked
normally for three days, then today it did basically the same thing -
blowing heated air. I cut it off for a few minutes and tried it
again. This time the compressor wouldn't come on and it was blowing
around room temperature air. I left it off for an hour or two and
turned it back on and now it is working again.

So right now it is working, but what is causing the problem? Has the
thermostat gone haywire? The night we first had the problem there was
strong lightning in the area, but no strikes were especially close.

You might have a compressor running on its last leg. How old is the
compressor?
The compressor may be having a hard time in starting and when that happens
it might have kicked out on internal overload and after sometime it has
reset and will work.
Maybe a hard start kit needed?

--
Moe Jones
http://www.MoeJones.info

On Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:45:14 -0500, "Moe Jones"
wrote:

You might have a compressor running on its last leg. How old is the
compressor?

I'm not sure. We bought the house 6 years ago and it is 11 years old.
It was in 6 years ago, but they added it when they enclosed the
upstairs. I think it is 7-8 years old.
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On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:06:17 -0500, "Don Young"
wrote:
Don't forget that the heat pump could be in the cooling mode but the
auxillary heat strips are coming on.

It turns out that was it! It quit working again last night (actually
putting out heated air), so I had them here again today. I told them
that 3 times now I was sure that the heater was on. At first he
turned it on and it was working OK. But within a few minutes, hot air
started coming out, and he saw it. He said that I wasn't crazy, I was
right. He tracked it down to the thermostat telling the strips to
come on when they weren't supposed to. Bought a new thermostat
tonight, not installed yet. The night of the first problem there had
been a lot of lightning in the area, but no power failures. Perhaps
there was enough of a surge to mess it up (stat is only 4 years old).
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"Jud McCranie" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 22:06:17 -0500, "Don Young"
wrote:
Don't forget that the heat pump could be in the cooling mode but the
auxillary heat strips are coming on.

It turns out that was it! It quit working again last night (actually
putting out heated air), so I had them here again today. I told them
that 3 times now I was sure that the heater was on. At first he
turned it on and it was working OK. But within a few minutes, hot air
started coming out, and he saw it. He said that I wasn't crazy, I was
right. He tracked it down to the thermostat telling the strips to
come on when they weren't supposed to. Bought a new thermostat
tonight, not installed yet. The night of the first problem there had
been a lot of lightning in the area, but no power failures. Perhaps
there was enough of a surge to mess it up (stat is only 4 years old).
--
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Glad you found the problem.

Don Young

Can't decide if it's an AC or a heat pump. Identity crisis!

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..

I'm having a weird problem with our air conditioner. It is actually a
heat pump.

On Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:56:17 -0500, "Don Young"
wrote:

Glad you found the problem.

Yes, but I had to replace the thermostat, and they don't make them
like they used to.

My old one (and the one on the other unit in the house) is/was so
easy. A switch for Cool/Off/Heat/Em Heat. A switch for the fan
On/Auto. A button to Hold the temp. A button to return to the
program. Etc. Several buttons to directly program the thing. The
new one (both by Honeywell) has no switches and only three buttons
(other than up and down) and an extremely long and complex "menu" to
try to go through to program it, as opposed to a logical way of doing
it.
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