AC froze up now it wont turn on

[jimsheue]

I would appreciate any help. my air handler froze up, coils in the inside air handler were iced over. I turned off the air for a day and let it de ice. Now there is just a sound like the freon is running through but the blower motor does not kick on. Any help?

[HayZee518]

blower

check for power at the blower motor when its calling to come on. this motor may be off a separate circuit breaker than your a/c system. if there is power, is the motor humming? this will indicate the start or run capacitor bad or going bad.

[Nestor]

Based on my very limited knowledge of refrigeration, I'd say that your AC coil iced up because your blower wasn't working. (Not that your blower quit working because your AC coil iced up.)

I think you need to concentrate on getting your blower motor working again, and that will solve the problem with your AC coil icing up. So, I'd turn the AC off until you get your blower working again. Otherwise, I'm thinking you're going to have a deja-vu experience with that AC coil icing up.

Also, typically the capacitor on a capacitor start motor will be mounted inside a cover that's screwed to the motor housing. Capacitor start motors are very reliable, but a bad capacitor (and not getting any power) are two of the very few things that can stop them from working. If you do attempt to remove the capacitor, be sure to short the leads to the capacitor to discharge it before you handle it. Otherwise it might give you a bit of a shock. Any electric motor shop can check your capacitor to see if it's OK. But, if you see any liquid leaking out of the capacitor, that means it's shot.

There is also a way to check that the windings in your electric motor aren't grounded. There should be three wires going to your electric motor. One of them goes through the start winding; one goes through the run winding, and the third wire is the "Common" terminal:

1. Measure the resistance between one wire and the common terminal.
2. Measure the resistance between the other wire and the common terminal.
3. Measure the resistance between the first wire and the second wire.
The resistance you measure at Step #3 should equal the sum of the resistances you measured in Step #1 and #2.
4. Measure the resistance between the first wire and the motor housing. You should get infinite resistance.
5. Measure the resistance between the second wire and the motor housing. You should again get infinite resistance.
6. If you get a measureable resistance between either Wire #1 or Wire #2 and the motor housing, that means one of your motor windings is grounding out, and you motor is toast. In that case, you need a new blower motor.