Central air conditioner quit working, what could it be?

Question

My central air quit working, the indoor unit will run(fan) but the outside condensing unit will not come on. The condensing unit compressor or fan will not kick on, the thermostat is set to a low setting, thank you for any help.

Answer 1

check the breaker for the outside unit if it's ok, check the fuses at the outside disconnect if they have them, check the float switch in the evaporator (inside unit) pan. If the pan is full of water it will trip the switch and shut down the outside unit so that it doesn't flood your house. if it's full of water you will have to clear out the condesation lines with air or a wet vac.

Answer 2

You might also check around the outside compressor unit. I have had a small wire that goes into the unit from the thermostat. The wire had a break and wasn't connected good. I wiggled those small wires around and the compressor kicked on. If this happens....look for the break and / or have it fix by service tech or yourself.

Answer 3

automatic shut off from an elec overload or from a dirty dirty dirty filter

Answer 4

Verdugo: What you wanna do first. Is to check to see if you got power feeding your main disconnect on your condensing unit.  Check continuity on your fuses or resistance. If they are both good, and you still have power. The next thing to do is to kill the power on the main disconnect box and open the condensing unit electrical panel to see if you got a bad relay, a bad contactor, or capacitor. Check all of those. If you don't know how to check those controllers then you must call a technician. good luck.

Answer 5

Do you have a fuse/breaker box that is powering it? Might check that.

After that you really just have to get a voltage tester out and start trouble shooting.

Answer 6

There is a reset button on the unit outside. Unscrew the cover plate and look.