Trane compressor short cycles & fan won't turn

[zannej]

My AC stopped cooling on Friday. We spent Saturday trying to fix it. Our regular HVAC guy (the only one who would come out regularly) is in jail. He apparently made a mess of the wiring gerry-rigging it to work. Only other HVAC people in town refused to come out but sold new capacitors (one of them at a total ripoff price but we couldn't find anything else locally) & walked my friend through the installation process over the phone. My friend sent pictures & he confirmed it was set up properly. Before the repair the fan was not spinning and the compressor was short--cycling. Afterward fan did not come on so my friend pushed it with a stick and it worked. He then had to replace he capacitor for the fan because it tested as bad.

Once the two new capacitors were in the fan and compressor worked for maybe an hour or so but then the fan stopped and the compressor short-cycled again. My brother went out and pushed the fan with a stick and it started spinning again and we had cooling for about another hour but then it stopped. I went out to check & compressor was still short cycling and fan wouldn't turn. It was trying to turn but wouldn't go. It looks rather rusty on the motor casing. Maybe I didn't push hard enough but the blades wouldn't spin.

Unless the fan compressor was defective or blew out, my only thought is that the problem is the fan motor. Any other thoughts?

There is no label on the unit to indicate what model it is. I don't know why but its missing. None of the paperwork with it gives any indication of model year & number. I just know it is a Trane and that we got it sometime between 2009 to 2012. I really can't remember the year anymore. I doubt the installer remembers either.

For now I have turned of the outside unit and only have the inside fans going to avoid burning out capacitors.

So, any thoughts?

I have a crappy video of it. It has trees growing next to it and I need to find powerful enough tools to cut them. I got tangled in blackberry vines at one point so I was trying to get free and the camera roamed.
View attachment video-TraneHVAC1.mp4

 

[user 4883]

Sounds like the fan motor went bad. Don't attempt to run it until replaced. Most of the time you'll want to order new fan blades with the motor and a new capacitor if it doesn't come with the motor.
Get your model/serial numbers and start googling for motor specs or take it to a local shop to see what they can match it up with.

 

[zannej]

It was the fan motor. AC people FINALLY called back and came out. They had a universal fan motor on the truck. Blades on old one looked fine. Capacitor was already replaced.

I set the thermostat to internal fan only to keep the outside compressor from short-cycling.

 

[billshack]

with all that crap around the condensing unit it could be shutting down
with high head. remove all the crap and let it breathe .

 

[zannej]

billshack, it used to be worse. I cleared as much as I physically could. I have to hire someone else (the guy we paid to do the work stole stuff from our carport and workshop and refused to do more work unless he gets more $ even though he still owes $900 worth of work).

The crud around the air conditioner is trees and I don't think I have the right tools or strength to take those down. If I get the right tools I'll need help. But I do agree, that stuff needs to go asap.

 

[billshack]

billshack, it used to be worse. I cleared as much as I physically could. I have to hire someone else (the guy we paid to do the work stole stuff from our carport and workshop and refused to do more work unless he gets more $ even though he still owes $900 worth of work).

The crud around the air conditioner is trees and I don't think I have the right tools or strength to take those down. If I get the right tools I'll need help. But I do agree, that stuff needs to go asap.

It is not your fault , who ever installed it did a very bad job. It should be up on a concrete pad or on a stand . And out away from all that crap.

 

[zannej]

It is installed on a metal pad but it was put next to a tree so leaves were always falling into it. The tree got taken out by a storm but smaller trees are growing up. Also the ground is eroding behind/next to it so it is slipping off of the base. I will need to get the ground reinforced, base straightened out, and unit pushed back on. If it hadn't been raining, I would have asked them to push it back on the base more. I still plan to cut back as much as I can. I'm supposed to spray the sides down with a hose from time to time to clean it but none of the outside hosebibbs on that side work anymore. Only working hose we have is connected to a water trough on the opposite side of the house.