Air-conditioner repair requires safe practices.
Your house won't stay cool if your thermostat does not engage your central air-conditioner compressor with the rest of the cooling system. The thermostat sends a signal to your furnace or air handler, which in turn sends a signal to the air-conditioner to start the compressor and initiate cooling. Air-conditioner repair requires a strong knowledge of electricity, electrical test meters, appliance repair and safety practices. Air-conditioner repair can be very dangerous, so do not attempt it without some experience working with electricity as well as air-conditioning. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Set your room thermostat to "Cool," and set a temperature well below room temperature to ensure the air-conditioner receives a constant call for cooling during the troubleshooting process.
2. Turn off the electricity to your air-conditioner by locating a small gray box (about 5 inches by 8 inches) mounted to the wall of your house somewhere near your air-conditioner. In most cases, you will see a gray metal or plastic tube containing the wires leading from your air-conditioner to the box.
3. Open the box's cover, grasp the plastic handle--often shaped like a T--and pull the disconnect plug directly out of the box to shut off the electricity to your air-conditioner.
4. Remove the air-conditioner access panel by removing either two, four or more screws, depending on air-conditioner brand and model, from the panel itself. Some air-conditioners require that two or more panels be removed to expose the controls and wiring.
5. Follow the thin low-voltage wire leading from your house to the air-conditioner. In most cases, this wire is brown and is bundled along with the copper tubing that also leads from your house to the air-conditioner. The brown plastic jacket is insulation that protects two thin wires (usually red and white, although the color does not matter).
6. Continue following the low voltage wires inside the air-conditioner to the compressor contactor. Inside the air-conditioner, each wire may take a different path through other controls, but both wires ultimately connect to the compressor contactor. Both low-voltage wires connect to the contactor itself in an identical manner, often opposite of each other.
7. Set the electrical test meter to read AC volts according to the meter's instructions. Touch one meter probe to one low-volt contactor connection, and touch the other meter probe to the other contactor connection. If the meter reads 24 volts (plus or minus 10 percent) and the contactor contact points are closed, proceed to the next step. If not, seek assistance from an air-conditioning expert. If not, a control circuit or refrigerant problem exists, so seek help from an air-conditioning expert.
8. Engage the compressor and air-conditioner by pushing the AC disconnect plug, removed in step 2, back into the socket. Both the compressor and the condenser fan motor should start. If both devices do not start after a few seconds, or you hear a loud buzz or hum, pull the disconnect plug. A control circuit, refrigerant problem or compressor failure exists, so seek help from an air-conditioning expert.
Tags: your air-conditioner, Air-conditioner repair, air-conditioning expert, disconnect plug, from air-conditioning
