My home AC blows warm air.

pressures like that are seen when the compressor is not running. You're going to have to fire up the system, give it 10 minutes for the pressures to stabilize, then read the gauges.

 

My outdoor fan was the issue when mine didn't work. It was turning, but wasn't moving much air. It was a quick and simple fix. No heat, no AC either..

 

I took the reading after 5-7 minutes. It started out much higher and then came down to 117. I can do it again and wait a little longer. It's cold outside though. I think I'll wait until it warms up again.

My fan works fine. My kids love to put stuff over the fan and let it blow it up in the air.

 

OK, I'm sure those pressures are not accurate. Try closing both valves on your gauge manifold. I think you have them open and the pressure is feeding through the manifold. It's that or the gauges are FUBAR.... lol

 

Here's my gauge readings after 25 minutes and 67* outside.

Low Side:


And High Side:

 

Mark, The same pressures on high and low sides tells me the compressor is not pumping. The first pic you posted, with the ice, tells me it runs and pumps. You also won't make ice with pressures above 58 psi so something is wacky. Do the gauges go to zero when you disconnect them? Are both valves on the manifold front seated, turned all the way clockwise when looking at the face of the valve? If we can't get to the bottom of this here I can walk you through it on the phone. I'll PM you with my cell number.

 

I have to hijack this thread, my home A/C is not working either. It is 78 degrees out & the wife is complaining. Here is the situation...

I got a new heating & a/c unit installed last year. A/C worked great all last year & heater works fine. I have gas, forced air duct heat/ac. On the t-stat, I enter a lower temp (60deg) & turn the switch on cool. I can hear the fan running(on Auto) but I look outside & the condenser fan is not spinning. The vents are shooting out air, but not colder than room temp. I took the cover off the heater & on the circuit board, I found a blown auto-type fuse(3amp) I replaced it, still no condenser action. I went outside & took the wiring cover off the ac cond & everything is hooked up & looks fine. there is an override spring-loaded check switch under that cover & I pushed it & the ac cond fan spins, but once I let go, it stops. I called the guy who installed it & he is on vacation. Any Ideas?? I'll take some pics & post em.

 

Here are pics of the units.

 

Make sure the breaker that feeds the condensing unit is not tripped or off. I assume you waited more than 5 minutes for the delay and you see a snowflake or similar symbol on the thermostat? Your system should be under warranty so it may pay to wait for the installer. Nice that he's on vacation. He should have someone covering for him. Can you talk to anyone at his office or will anyone call you back? How long until he gets back?

I can't tell if it's a fused or non-fused disconnect from the pic but if there's any fuses in that service disconnect you can check them with an ohm meter.

 

The gauges go to zero when disconnected. I hook everything up with the valves closed (clockwise). Then I open them both up to get the psi readings. Are they supposed to stay closed?

 

Now we found the problem :TU: The valves stay closed unless you are charging, recovering or evacuating.

Did you get pressure on both gauges before you opened the valves? If so, those are the pressures you are concerned with.

 

Alright, I'll check in the morning.

 

I checked Sunday afternoon and it was around 65* outside. After about an hour of running the low side had 23 psi and the high side had 148 psi.

It never did freeze up this time though.

 

Well, as you probably know, you most likely have a leak and need some R-22. I'd fix it for ya but the travel charges would be a little high....lol

 

don't run the system any more until you have the proper charge in it. the refrigerant not only provides cooling for inside your home. it also cools the compressor. if you run it low and it cycles on the internal thermal safety to much it can cause the thermal safety to stick in the open position or worse yet you can end up with a compressor failure due to locked rotor or a burnout..just adding R-22 without checking superheat or sub-cooling is not the right way to charge the system get a professional to repair and recharge.

 

Here's my update - bad compressor. So you are saying that running it with low charge (mine is PURON) can burn up the compressor? Shouldn't it have some sort of protection circuit? (Carrier - 2 years old)

- Bill

 

Yes, running with a low charge will overheat, damage and eventually kill a compressor. Different units use different ways to protect the compressor. A compressor thermal overload as mentioned above is found on every unit. Some units use a low pressure switch and some don't. There are other ways a compressor can fail like, factory defects, voltage problems, high pressure and heat, lack of oil etc.

 

Am I able to get my hands on some R-22?

 

You need an EPA certification card to buy R-22 and if you have that, you'll be looking at buying 30 lbs of it. Also, R-22 has almost tripled in in price in the last year. With a pressure of 23 psi, you're pretty low. You'll want to fix this leak too because the price is only going up. Low on refrigerant is not the only way to get those pressures and have it ice up but if your airflow is good, low on refrigerant is the most likely.

 

My problem was a bad (1 year old) digital Honeywell t-stat.