Ok we just finished but I think it's finally fixed! It's a long story, basically he replaced the motor, hooked it up and said it was pulling way too many amps. Thought it was a rare bad out of the box motor, so installed another one, same issue. We then thought it may be the electrical contact box, so replaced that. Oddly it worked fine with only 1 wire attached, but with both it once again was pulling about 8 amps. We were about to give up and him tell me I had to call an electrician, when he called a coworker again to see if they had any ideas. During that call he learned that with the newer motors they have some kind of second box they hook through, rather than hooking to the power direct like my old one. He thankfully had that part in his truck, hooked it up, and I think we both cried a few tears of joy. Yeah it would have been nice to save several hours had he known this before, but I do troubleshooting for a living and can relate. I'm just glad he stuck with it and got me running. House is still hot but slowly cooling.
I'd wager a decent sum that you have a dual cap and he tried to hook both the cap wires from the motor to the dual. Then his buddy told him to install a dedicated fan cap (not necessary if you know how to wire a replacement motor, but will do the trick). Nevertheless your tech sucks, poor guy spent all night on a fan motor, lol. Absent a great recommendation from a friend, I suggest finding a NATE tech at natex.org. It will filter out most boneheads. edit: re-read your post. Now I am POSITIVE that's what he did. He should have left it with that one wire unattached. That's how it's supposed to be.
Sounds to me like the new motor had a flux capacitor, and the dude didn't know how to wire that new, fancy stuff.
Damn, one wire is how it's supposed to be? That's crazy. He acted like it made no sense why it would run ok on just the one. Then he sounded like his coworker told this additional piece was needed for newer motors which he wasn't aware of before, and sure enough that cleared it up. The part he eventually installed was a small silver rounded piece. No idea what it was, he just said the newer fan motors require it. If it helps make sense of it, the model of my unit is an American Standard Allegiance 12. Air still running good today so it worked whatever it was. Thanks all for the info. Truly appreciate it. I'm an IT guy, but an idiot when it comes to things like this.
Did some googling, and this may be what my setup is. The one on the left looks just like my capacitor, which he replaced but it didn't fix the issue. The one on the right kinda looks like the part he installed which ultimately fixed it (after replacing the fan motor), but I'm not positive. The size and shape was similar though. Full link: http://www.hvachowto.com/2014/11/12/start-run-capacitor/
You had a duel capacitor (runs fan and compressor). He didn't know how to wire the fan to it. So he added a capacitor (small silver rounded piece) for the fan only. So you paid for two capacitors and a fan motor when all you needed was a fan motor.
Nice, that would be my luck. After reading this though I'm further confused. Is it possible the issue the entire time is that my "RUN" capacitor was bad, and if that had been replaced first it would have been the end of it? The symptoms it describes (starting up then dying, high amps) are just like what mine were: (From that same page linked above) My capacitor does have 3 leads though, so I don't freaking know. Based on that, what you said makes more sense and he just wired the dual capacitor wrong, and then added the 2nd one instead of wiring it correctly. Frustrating. I'm looking at the receipt, and it says "Condensor fan motor and Capacitor replacement." It cost me $462, but it appears he didn't charge me for everything he swapped out since those are the only things listed. Sounds like I may have gotten ripped off, but honestly when the house is that hot and I have a toddler, I'm not upset and I'm just glad it's running.
Ok, trying to understand this so forgive me for thinking out loud. I think this is what happened, please correct me if I'm wrong. - The fan motor was bad - When replacing the motor, he also replaced the dual run capacitor - When hooking up the new fan to the new capacitor, he incorrectly wired the part of the dual capacitor which controls the fan. This is why the fan would come on at this point, but the amps were way too high and it didn't run for long - This could have been fixed by correctly wiring the fan part of the dual capacitor. Or running that through a separate "Run" capacitor, which is what was done to fix it Am I on the right track?
That is exactly right. Only they are both "run" capacitors. The dual cap just combines the fan motor and compressor run capacitors into one. Generic replacement motors are different than the OEM motor. They have extra wires that allow the tech to install the motor in a dual cap or a two single caps setup, and also to choose the direction of rotation. There are two wires off the motor for the run cap. Since you had a dual cap all he had to do was connect one of them to the fan side of the dual cap and tape the other one off. This is a very green mistake. There is a good chance the capacitor did not need replacing, but overall the price is not horrible IMO. At least he wasn't one of these guys who always tries to condemn the compressor and sell you a new system.
This is all so familiar. A year or two ago I replaced the fan motor and the capacitor. I think at the same time. The bearings were bad in the fan motor and was making a horrible noise. I viewed some YouTube videos and bought parts from graingers. Spent about $175 total I believe. It was about one hour project for someone who knows what they were doing. It took me about six hours to buy parts and install everything. It was very hot that day. I was shocked when I flipped the switch and everything worked. The wiring was a bit confusing, I remember that. I wish I had taken some notes, I've already forgotten exactly what I did.
Great, thanks for the clarification. Glad I now understand all this, at least a little better. After reading some experiences online, I agree that the price wasn't horrible all things considered. My parents got a whole new system a few years ago (no clue if it was really needed). I can't imagine an expense like that just hitting me unexpectedly. I can see how techs could easily take advantage of customers, because when your ac is out during a Houston summer, you'll want to do whatever it takes to get it running.
Glad it worked out. The tech sounds like he sincerely did his best, but probably should have been able to figure out the amp thing quicker...or at least the need to call for help quicker, so the two of you didn't have to stand in the heat so long. But no harm done in the end, except added sweat. Maybe in the summer these companies send out the greener guys for presumably easy jobs, because they are booked up. Sorta like Level 1 tech support at call centers.
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/hm30l8sqlQw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Or it could be the fetzer valve, I'm no expert.
Though I never worked on A/C but theoretically you can't be sure unless used a multimeter , the humm noise is from drop of dc motor voltage,.as for the brushes that when amp reading is not accurate. As for dual cap. it's F,C and H on the top . Now that he has double cap. I am wondering if he needs a bleeder resistor !
The only DC motors in residential air conditioning are brushless ECM and they don't use capacitors at all. If you want to hear the cap on his PSC motor, better get a stethoscope.
Same thing happened to me. Luckily for me, my home has two air conditioners. So when one went out, I didn't feel the pressure to call the first tech that would come to the house. I ordered the original motor and capacitor for my AC for around 250 bucks so it was a matter of taking it apart and putting it back together exactly the same way. I took lots of pictures as I was taking it apart just to make sure I didn't plug anything back incorrectly. Air conditioner guys make all their money during 5 months so they try to make as much as they can. New high end HVAC systems cost about 2-3K in parts. The rest of the 5-7K they quote is supplies, margin and labor.
This is all semi-incredible to me. I worked as the "get the screwdriver" guy for my uncle for a couple of years, and I guarantee I could have wired your replacement motor correctly. Maybe it was that guy's first day.
