AC fan and blower motors: symptoms and diagnosis

So, guys, even here in our market, we've had instances where there are different people or different companies running around and they put on covers around and a condensing unit outside. And here's kind of the reason why that's not really a good idea and it doesn't really work is because if you hold your hand over that fan out in your on your outdoor condenser, you're going to feel hot air blowing up out of that fan. So, that that hot air in the middle of the summer, that's actually heat leaving your house via the vehicle of refrigerant. The idea and design of that condenser is to pull air in from the outside and push it up and out. So, what that does is that cools off the refrigerant so that way we can send it back to the house to absorb more heat so that you can remove more heat out of your house. Now, as soon as you put a cover on that or you put obstructions around that, you're making the condenser work harder to pull air in from the sides. And so, during the hottest parts of the year, when your AC is working its hardest, its most important job is to be able to dissipate heat. And putting a cover on that hinders that ability for it to dissipate heat well.

Three red flags we spotted on this AC system in Norman, Oklahoma. First, the outdoor coil was extremely dirty, so we gave it a deep cleaning to restore air flow. Second, the contacttor was in rough shape, so we replaced it today to keep the system running. And third, the condenser fan motor showed signs of wear, so we recommended replacing it soon. With the coil cleaned and contacttor replaced, this AC is ready to keep the home cool for summer. And shout out to our technician, Joseph, for doing great work. [Music]

this fan motor is actually used to pull air through the condensing coil to dissipate the heat typically the fan motor on these usually last anywhere from seven to ten years usually we see bearings going out or an electrical failure with the motor the actual fan blade can last the life of the unit and should only need to be replaced whenever you have like hell damage or some other reason why that it gets damaged typical cost to replace the motor is anywhere from 500 and up a handbag can be a upwards of 200 and up and that's what I tell people about this part

The AC is blowing warm air. This is the big one. Warm air can mean a refrigerant issue, a compressor issue, a dirty coil, a failed capacitor, or even something as simple as the outdoor unit's not running for whatever reason. The symptom is simple. The cause, that's not always simple. Here's what you can do as a homeowner. First, look outside. If the indoor fan is running but the outdoor unit's silent, that tells us something. If the outdoor fan's spinning but the air is not cooling, that tells us something else. Don't take panels off, but do look and listen.

This is what an out-of-balance blower wheel looks like. The homeowner actually replaced this motor themselves, but it wasn't wired in. Our tech came out, wired it up properly, and the moment we fired it up, you can see it. That wobble [music] is not normal, and it's not something you want running all summer. And this one's getting replaced the right way. If your system sounds off or just isn't keeping up, don't ignore it. Send us a message, we'll come take a look. Your home. >> [singing]

This is a fan motor. Most time most common problems with these are getting overheated or a bad capacitor. Anytime you're looking at replacing these, you're looking at about $750 and up, and that includes labor and part. And that's what I got to say about this fan motor. >> Young Rhodes

So, dirty blower wheel is something that we've seen pop up a little bit more consistently here lately. I can't explain why, but when your blower wheel gets dirty, it decreases your airflow. It puts more strain on your blower motor. And could cause a failure. A tenth of an inch of dirt on your blower wheel will decrease your airflow by 20%. That's not my numbers. That's science. And I've been doing this for 15 years. Keep blower wheels clean. But, you know, when we're out there doing maintenance and we we open up that furnace or air handler and and we see that dirt on that blower wheel, we're going to recommend it to you. Your home >> [singing] [music]

this is a great reason why your ac system needs to be maintenanced and serviced to keep problems like this from happening so the fan blade was loose on this condenser and it completely wore down the connection right here and loosened up where the fan blades were able to spin freely however they would like to and all of them have snapped and are now in the bottom of the condenser and it's caused all sorts of havoc inside this ac unit so um if you're hearing a very very loud rattling sound uh have your system maintenance because you don't want that to happen

what you really want to do anytime you change out a capacitor is you want to check some things so any kind of compressor if a capacitor is going out there's a good chance that that compressor or that fan has a underlining problem internally so things like that could actually cause it to overload which would kill a switch inside and so one thing you do is go out there and check make sure if that compressor is hot um that would be a good indication of why that capacitor went out just because you replace capacitor doesn't mean that's the only problem and that's one reasons why as a professional we want to check those things to make sure you don't just replace a capacitor and go on down the road because you can run into that problem so we've been in the Home Comfort game since 88 here in OKC share this with a friend who's in need of some serious homecomfort help

10 years is what I usually look at a life expectancy. Now, with that, that's kind of an average. We could see one that goes, you know, only 5 years. Factors that can make this go out is if you have a dirty system. Anytime this coil is dirty, you're not getting the fan to pull the air it needs through there. Not only is that air pulling through here actually taking the heat out of the refrigerant like we want it to, it's also bringing air across this fan, which without air coming across this fan, it's going to get hotter. Other factors are, just like we said before, that capacitor. If it gets weak, it can start putting a strain on this motor to not run as efficient and it's going to make it be hotter. Young bro