Air Conditioning or Heat-pump

service and repair question fill out form

by G&S Mechanical:

With emphasis on repair not replacement

Fill in your Air-conditioning or heat pump questions
and we will answer as soon as possible.

    I offer this as a public service because so many of you get ripped off each year by companies that will only replace equipment and not repair it, usually because they can get a much larger profit margin from "selling boxes with brand names" (see company page), not because it cost them less to change equipment than to repair it, but because most people are willing to pay a lot of money for a piece of equipment that is new and doesn't work than to have an older piece of equipment made to work better.

    I also want to share all my knowledge since this information seems to be top-secret if you ask anyone else in the trade. If you are going to do the work yourself I want to see you be successful and I will not encourage you to do anything that is dangerous. The following form is geared towards air conditioning and heat pump problems.
For General Heating or Furnace Questions Please use our Heating Fill out Form
For oil burner questions use this form. For Gas burner repair questions use this form.

    However I believe that just because I am honest doesn't mean I should work for free. I do need to make a living and pay bills so I can either be taking service calls or answering your questions. So if you make use of this service and can make a donation it will help keep me keep things operational. If you cannot make a donation I understand, I know what it is like to be in that position. Please take note that I have more time to talk on the phone than to answer e-mail, so don't hesitate to call.

    If your indoor section is forming ice or freezes (in the cooling mode) please read this page.
If your outdoor section freezes up in the (heating mode) please read this page, before filling out form. Please read those links before asking the question, it will most likely be answered in the links.

    If you have water leaking problems please read this page before filling out form. Inquiries about water leaks without a history of remediation will be deleted. In other words don't send a question that says" my unit is forming ice or it is leaking or no cold air is coming out" without a history of what you have done to correct or investigate the problem. In other words help me out. If I had a dime for every e-mail I get with the phrase "and it is blowing cold air" (in the winter) or "and it is blowing hot air" in the summer, I could retire.

    I do not have wiring diagrams, you should not need a wiring diagram to trouble-shoot most problems. The knowledge required to do an electrical repair safely and correctly and  is way above and beyond the information provided by a diagram. This means that if you need to look at a diagram then you most likely won't be able to do the repair anyway.

    With that said I love to talk shop. I get a lot of cooling questions from these areas and cities:
    Florida, Including Miami and the other coastal cities. Houston Texas and the neighboring city Katy. Dallas/Ft. Worth, Atlanta Georgia (you folks seem to have the worst mechanics in the world), Nashville Tn, Arizona, Huntsville, and Mobile Al, St. Louis Missouri, rural parts of Ohio, my local area known as "Northern Virginia" (you poor folks have it almost as bad as Atlanta).  Strange enough I have only gotten 3 calls to date from New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina, maybe someone is trying to tell us something. I may move this paragraph to another page. I should start a search for the "worst serviced city in the country". Or "nominate your city as crapsville USA" when it comes to repairs. I am also getting reports that if you live in a very "well to do" area you are more likely to get ripped off than if you live in a poor area.

    Please check out my weekly internet radio program on Saturdays from 4-6pm Eastern Time. Please click here to learn more and feel free to listen and join in.

    To solve problems with the compressor not starting read about a hard start kit on this page and a motor run capacitor on this page which is also used on fan motors.

    Visit the Heat Pump Repair page and read about a two stage 5 ton system in a large house that keeps the electric bills under $100 in the winter.

    Please DO NOT replace your thermostat as a diagnostic! You will only add more problems to the list, diagnose the control circuits instead or add test lamps like shown below.

    Your questions will help me improve the other pages on this site.
Thank you Scott Meenen n3sjh.

More below...

Brand of OUTDOOR Equipment:
American StandardArcoArco-Air Bryant Carrier Coleman Evcon
Comfortmaker Day/Night/Payne Dunham-Bush Fedders Fredrich
GoodmanGeneral Electric HeilIntertherm Janitrol 
Lennox (Armstrong, Johnson Air-Ease)Miller Modine
NordyneRheem/Ruud/WeatherkingStewart Warner Trane WilliamsWestinghouse
WhirlpoolWeil MclainYork (Frasier Johnson/Borg Warner)


Brand of INDOOR Equipment:
American StandardArcoArco-Air Bryant Carrier Coleman Evcon
Comfortmaker Day/Night/Payne Dunham-Bush Fedders Fredrich
GoodmanGeneral Electric HeilIntertherm Janitrol 
Lennox (Armstrong, Johnson Air-Ease)Miller Modine
NordyneRheem/Ruud/WeatherkingStewart Warner Trane WilliamsWestinghouse
WhirlpoolWeil MclainYork (Frasier Johnson/ Borg Warner)


Type of indoor equipment: Hot Air Furnace (gas or oil) with Air-conditioning added
Fan coil unit or air-handler (cooling only)
Fan coil unit or air-handler (heating and cooling ) a.k.a. Electric furnace
Heat-Pump with backup heat provided by one of the fuels Checked below (usually an electric furnace)
This system is a packaged or rooftop unit and has no indoor equipment

Fueled by: Natural GasPropane#2 Fuel oil#1 Fuel oil (kerosene)Electricity
CoalWood This is a chilled water system the cooling source in somewhere else and is piped in

The indoor equipment is located In:
BasementAtticGarageShedClosetCrawl space
Sitting in living quarters

The outdoor equipment is a/an: Straight "split" air-conditioning system (most common)
Air to Air Heat-pump (If you have a Heatpump system this is most likely it)
Packaged Furnace with Air-conditioning (the air is ducted into the living quarters to vents,. Used in many commercial establishment on roofs or the side of buildings. Generally referred to as a "rooftop unit" or "gas pack" in the south..
Packaged Air-conditioning unit ducted into an existing hot air furnace system. (Very common on mobile homes)
Through the wall or window air-conditioning unit commonly called a "window shaker"
Through the wall or window air-conditioning unit with a heat package commonly called a "window shaker"

The size (cooling capacity ) of this system is (look in the model number for clues to the size in Btu/hrX1000)
:Less than 1 ton (under 12,000 Btu/hr)
1 Ton (12,000 Btu/hr)
1-1/2 tons (18,000 Btu/hr)
2 tons (24,000 Btu/hr) (This is the most common size for residences)
2-1/2 tons (30,000 Btu/hr
3 tons (36,000 Btu/hr)
4 tons (48,000 Btu/hr)
5 tons (60,000 Btu/hr)


The Problem(S) Seems to Be: Temperature control Humidity Fuel consumption
Noise Leaking fuel Dust or dirt Odor or fumes Uneven temperature
Controls Problem Air Flow Air filter  Fuel filter (Oil or Kerosene)
Intermittent problem Flame roll out (gas) Ignition failure (oil) Ignition delay (Gas)
Fan Speed Pilot Flame out (gas) Refrigerant leakWater (condensate )Leak

More will be added later. The above information is not critical but it helps.

Priority of question. You must include a working phone number.
Low Priority will return an e-mail (at my discretion) or phone call in several hours or days..
Medium Priority: Will return a phone call the same day (no e-mail responses). I could always use donations to pay the bills.
High Priority: Will return a phone call ASAP (no email responses) and a donation is requested. $10-20
Email response with details: I will write you a detailed e-mail response but a donation is required because it is the most work. $50 to write a custom response.

Talk show reminder: Would you like your e-mail address to be added to my Cooltalk Reminder list.
"Cooltalk" is carried on Liberty Feed Internet Radio Listen Live.
Yes add me to the list.
No Thanks, I will add myself later.


You must include a working phone number
Questions without a phone number might not be answered, questions without a working e-mail address (check for spaces) cannot be answered.

    Help me out: If you have Refrigerant head and suction pressures it helps me to know what they are. See the Charging page.
I do not need to know what the differential temperature (Delta T) is since you can make it anything you want by adjusting the air flow. Suction Super Heat is a more practical and useful measurement. I will write a page on that soon.

    Please avoid using the phrase and variations of  "kick in" in place of a description.

   Your compressor or condenser is not the same thing as your outdoor unit! The "Heater", "Furnace", and "the Heat" are not components that can be diagnosed, you must think of the system as a collection of components not as a whole.

    A heat pump has a heating and a cooling mode controlled by a reversing valve but not a heating or cooling section. Most (99%) heat pumps are built into an electric furnace. If you have any problems including defrost problems with your heat pump especially in bad weather or snow please place it in the "emergency heat" mode and wait for service. This will disable the outdoor unit and run only on electric heat as though you only had an electric furnace. You can leave you system in the "emergency heat" mode indefinitely which is better than destroying your compressor or getting ripped off in the process of trying to get a quick repair.


  If you make a mistake after posting you can hit your back button and make the changes.
 





 
 

Click here to add yourself to an e-mail reminder list for my weekly talk show so I can let you know in advance that there will be a broadcast and you won't miss it.

Making a donation will give you highest priority. A donation of $10-30 (adjusted for inflation and the price of fuel) would help a lot to pay expenses. 


  To diagnose any control problem you will need a set of test lamps like shown below...
A volt meter is handy but lamps have many advantages. A neon voltage tester will NOT respond to the 24 volt control signal since neon needs at least 90 volts to fire and will pick up stray current. I get too many questions where using these lamps is the answer. Please don't hesitate to use these to diagnose control problems.
1819 light bulbs avaliable at Radio Shack a powerfull testing tool.
    See the Wiring page to learn the colors and codes.

    To diagnose any motor starting problem or circuit breaker problem you will need a clamp on ammeter like the one shown below. There is no other way around it. One of these can save hours of guessing and more damage or personal injury.
A.W Sperry clamp on ac ammeter avaliable at Lowes or The Home Depot
The device the ammeter is connected to is a contactor which if it sticks will cause your unit to continue to run and cause serious damage. If it doesn't make contact then nothing will happen like is an insect gets caught between the contacts.

    When diagnosing problems there is no "Harry Homeowner" short version that you can use as opposed to diagnosing the problem just like a service tech would, a homeowner turns up the thermostat, a service tech pushes in the contactor or gets 24 volts to it. Also a big secret to troubleshooting is to think like a Service tech and not a Homeowner. You will know the difference when you try to replace parts instead of diagnosing them. If you have a loose wire or connection it is possible to replace every part in your system and it still won't work.

More to come...

Please bookmark or shortcut this status page.
Try our New Contact page.
Please include a phone number.
Please be patient as I don't always get back as soon as I would like.

General contact number 301-591-1646
Email us at: jsmeenen@toad.net
This text written by: Scott Meenen * G & S Mechanical
"When good service is not good enough..."

Please check out my weekly internet radio program on Saturdays from 4-6pm Eastern Time.
Please click here to learn more and feel free to listen and join in.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR HELP IN THE

MARYLAND DC. VIRGINIA AREA

For a list of all files on this site go to the sitemap
Go to or return to the G&S Mechanical home page