AboutHoward Livingston Expertise Can answer questions on electrical control circuits, power supply,airflow & distribution, electrical components,refrigerant problems,gas, electric & propane furnaces.No boiler or refrigerator or oil fired furnaces experience.Just HVAC questions please.
Experience 35 years experience in residential & light commercial repair & installation.
Question QUESTION: Help! On house is on the market and we just realized our central air isn't working. We want to fix it before our open house on Sunday. We have a Bryant unit we cannot find the model number. The unit worked last summer. We have checked a bunch of websites and still have not figured out the solution. The unit does not turn on at all as if it is not getting electric. We have tried the main breaker and the furnace switch. These 2 seem fine. There is no out side shut off that we can find. We have checked the thermostat and replaced the batteries. My husband is very handy and really wants to fix it himself. he has cleaned the unit and everything looks in order. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Our house burned down last year and the restoration company redid everything the A/C unit is the original from when we moved in 6 years ago and looks to be in good shape. I know the restoration company recharged it.
ANSWER: Me again. What did you mean "replacement" Nasha ?? If it ran that indicates it is a control ciruit problem that needs fixing. Please explain.
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QUESTION: Oh, I thought he could just replace the contactor. It did run when he pressed it with the screw driver, so what should we do now?
Answer Got my email ?? Its a control circuit problem. !!! So lets carry on with the diagnosis.
It can be low on freon & have a low pressure switch that turns it off. Got any guages to test ?? Needs to have at least 50 lb pressure reading on the suction line. Have a dog in the backyard that can chew on the low voltage wires. Possible ?? Try exposing the wires behind the thermostat & jump across the red & blue(or yellow) wires & see if it runs. The points on the contactor could be burnt & will not make contact on their own. The points can be filed with sandpaper if so.
Thats about all I can think of. If freon, thats trouble, huh ? Good luck. Find out more give me another email. I just thought you were on the wrong track with that contactor.
