Outdoor AC Unit stops working after running for 5 minutes with overheat?
Question:As soon as I turn on the cooling, the outdoor unit starts running but very slow, not at its full speed. In the mean time, the unit is making an exceptional noise, it also becomes very hot in less than 30 seconds after it was turned on. After running for 5 minutes, the fan completely stops, but the noise continues on until I turn off the cooling on the thermostat.
Had the AC company come, replaced a bad capacitor and washed the cooling coil. but the problem still remains. What can be wrong and is it fixable. The unit (Trane) is 12 year old by the way.
Answers:
condensor fan motor is bad, the condensor fan motor is running slow because its probably got bad bearings, once that stops running, the head pressure rises and causes the compression ratio to jump, compressor overheats then trips on internal protection, but yea in a nutshell your condensor fan motor and it is fixable, the service company may try to sell you a new blade when they replace the motor, be sure to opt for the new blade, you dont want an old blade that may be cracked to break on you and damage your new motor, good luck with it.
Greg's advise is good.
Don't run the unit this way, as you will damage the compressor, which is much more costly to fix. Turn off the unit at the disconnect outside. You can run your indoor fan, but you won't get any cooling, but the air will still circulate in the home.
Get the repair company out to fix the unit properly.
Sounds like the condenser fan motor is bad. I bet they replaced the capacitor for the fan motor thinking that was the problem.
Don't run the system until this is fixed you will damage the compressor. If that happens you will be looking for a new system.
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