Landlord replaced our AC last year when our old one crapped out.

It has been working just fine since the weather got warm... until now. I assume it stopped working yesterday, when I started hearing a strange buzzing sound (like a clothes dryer end of cycle alarm) from outside every three minutes or so like clockwork.

Yep. Coming from my condenser unit. A Payne PH14, less than a year old.

Fan is going strong, thermostat is set to cool. Just no cold air.

What’s going on? I can’t find anything about this regular buzzing from a non-cooling condenser unit. Seems like a distinct signal of some sort.

I’ll call the landlord in the morning, but inquiring minds want to know.

Thanks.

-Rob

My old house had a septic tank, that tank had a sensor on it that would buzz like a dryer. I'm wondering if maybe theres a float switch installed on that unit and the noise is an indicator. Long shot, but it's the only time I've ever heard a non dryer make a dryer buzzer noise.

Good luck, I'm sure one of the HVAC guys will be around to give you legitimate advise.

Start capacitor is always my first guess but I'm not an A/C expert.

Is the fan running on the outside unit? If so, Sounds like the compressor is the issue and trying to come on, then hits the thermal overheat and shuts off, then tries again, perhaps you lost all of the refrigerant/oil or the compressor is bad..... It's something that's near impossible to diagnose on the internet without standing in front of it with gauges and a multimeter. Could be as simple as it lost one line of electricity and only getting 120 volts.

Sounds like the contactor or capacitor has gone bad. If so, they’re 20-40 bucks on Amazon. But, the only way to be sure is to be at the unit and test/inspect. Could even be a bad compressor. Turn your thermostat to off and leave it off until you can get someone to repair it. Since it’s the landlord’s responsibility, hopefully he’ll have someone out quick.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Turn your thermostat to off and leave it off until you can get someone to repair it.

^^^^ This. It should be comfortably cool tonight.

Last time mine did that, there were ants in the starter capacitor, blew me it out with air and it worked fine.

—-
EDit for spelling

Ha! Who knew having a stroke would be so much fun

This message has been edited. Last edited by: MikeinNC,

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:
blew me out with air

Uh, oh, never mind

Mine died yesterday, too. The wife walked around to the back of the house to look, Some ice on both lines, with the fan and compressor running. I called my buddy who does that for a living. He wasnted me to turn off the AC and the fan on. Said it should be defrosted by the time he gets here. He looked and said its probably a leak and low on freon. But it hadn't defrosted and it had been a hour. So we set the thermostat way up and turned to heat for a few minutes. The drain from the A coil was running like a faucet. He put in some 410a and the pressures came way up, nearly 400 on the high side.

He said it would take a while to cool the whole house off. But by bedtime it was dryer if not cool. When we got up it was cool and dry. He's pretty sure it has a leak, but no idea where. Says the govt doesn't like this plan, but we'll see how long it goes till it dies again. If it took the full 10 years to bleed down, its OK. I don't plan on living that long. With any luck I'll die before the pain gets too much.

We change the filters every few months, and wash out the condensor regularly. There are things you can do. First, see if its iced up. Or if the filter is dirty and won't pass air. Not sure who is responsible in a rental for filter changes. Doesn't matter, for how little the filter costs, a good nights sleep is worth the cost. Go check it and post back.

I'm not an AC guy, but I'm smart enough to watch. If its minor maitenance like a filter, just turn off the unit and take the filter with you to home despot and buy another. Cheapies are good for a while, not just the rest of the season.

The rule here, if you can't see ice and all is running, get an expert. AC doesn't break on cool nights during the week. It dies on hot days and weekends when you can't get anyone to come.

I'm not a hvac guy. but the float switch thing mentioned earlier i have seen before at beach house we rented for the week. The drain line went out into the yard and just had to be cleaned out with a shop vac. See if you have any pooling of fluid anywhere

Probably a bad capacitor.

They should check the accumulator to see if its leaking refrigerant. A common problem with the new Payne heat pumps.

quote:

Originally posted by rburg:
But it hadn't defrosted and it had been a hour. So we set the thermostat way up and turned to heat for a few minutes.
He's pretty sure it has a leak, but no idea where.

It's not wise to run a furnace to defrost a frozen coil. No airflow will over heat and stress the heat exchanger.

If one has to add refrigerant to balance the system, it has a leak, no two ways around it. The refrigerant doesn't just go bad or disappear.