air conditioner problems help......

I know it is a little early but I turned my a/c on to test it out since we bought the house in the fall and haven't used it yet. So after messing with the thermostat which I should probably replace since it is one of those confusing ones with no manual. I got the a/c unit to work where it was running outside yet there was no air coming through any of my vents. I gave it about 30 min. before I turned it off. The air coming directly from the a/c unit outside seemed to be cold but just nothing happening in the house. I had the thermostat at cool with the fan on auto. Does it sometimes take awhile for it to actually work if it has not been used in awhile? Something possibly wrong with a blower? I am not a hvac guy so I am a little lost so if anyone has any ideas or reccomendations that would be helpful. I would hate to call someone in because I have been off of work for almost a month and finally get back on Monday so all the money I had saved up basically went to bills and the rest will be going to medical bills so I can't really afford having a tech come out. Thanks

Likely to be a bad capacitor. You can get them at any HVAC wholesale shop, if nothing else Grainger sells them, but they are overpriced. Also, if the fan motor was not working hopefully your condensing unit has a high pressure safety or your compressor may be toast.... Do you see any little red buttons where the copper lines go into the unit? If you do, don't push it until you get your fan motor working. If you don't see one, let it cool down for a few hours, and turn it on just long enough to verify your compressor still runs, then turn it off right away and replace your fan motor. If you let it cool down and then turn it on briefly and the compressor does not start it is exceedingly likely your compressor is shot so no need to fix the fan. Hottest day of the year of course...

the fan on the top of the a/c unit, once I nugged it it would run for about 10 minutes then would stop. If its not one thing its another.

Which fan? Anyways, if you gave it a spin by hand and it took off the capacitor is bad.

It was blowing somewhat cool air, I did however go into the basement and checked the line that goes into the furnace and it really wasn't cold, not hot, almost "room" temperature or a tid bit cooler

Ok....so another problem now, I was away for work on hwy 41 in oshkosh and my wife calls and tells me the a/c aint working. When I got home it would kick in and it would blow air but the fan would not go. I took a little twig and gave it a little nug and it would work fine, then it would almost bind up. I took the cover off and looked at it and the fan seems to spin freely, I just tried it again and the fan has been going for 5 min now but I am keeping a close eye on it because i don't want it to burn anything out if it binds up again, any suggestions as to what it could be?

Now this is what lake-link should be all about! Helping another linked out! Way to go!

yea, just in time for today anyways. Now the wife can enjoy it while I am away for work this week. thanks for all the help everyone

Awesome! You picked a good weekend to get her going, and saved some cash getting her done on your own. Glad to hear it all worked out...

well Menards had a 7 day programable thermostat on sale for $35 so I hooked that up and so far so good.

thanks, I suppose that is one of the cheapest fixes you can have. I will probably get around to it this weekend and give it a try.

thanks, I suppose that is one of the cheapest fixes you can have. I will probably get around to it this weekend and give it a try.

So I think your at the finish line. If you notice, the terminals on the furnace (R,W,Y,G) match the terminals on the stat with the exception of RC, and you have the correct jumper in place, so no wiring issues. When you manually jump out R to G on the furnace the fan starts, this is the same thing your stat does on a call for cooling. Since you know it works on the furnace your down to a bad stat or bad wiring. If the connections are tight it's time for a new stat. By the looks of it that stats been there for a spell....

Ok, so here are a couple pics of the thermostat and yes that is the correct temp, I left a few windows open not realizes it was going to get cold but I am comfortable. I didn't take a pic of the back of the thermostat since I didn't think it would matter, if I need to show a pic of the furnace wiring let me know, but this is what I got

Didn't realize that you had never ran it before - what Kodiak said may have some merit if the previous owner installed the stat himself and wired it incorrectly. When you tighten the connections make sure that there is a jumper between RC and RH. Anyways, on a call for cooling the thermostat energizes the high speed indoor fan by sending 24 volts to the "G" terminal on the furnace terminal board. On a call for heat your thermostat energizes the "W" terminal on the furnace terminal board, which turns on the burners, and after about a minute the furnace will index the low speed (heating speed)to operate because the heat exchanger is up to temp, but this function is not controlled by the thermostat, rather by the furnace itself. Just curious if the stat looks brand new. The more I think about it, the seller may have been fixing things up so it looked presentable for sale. Older stats do not have a "RH" and "RC" terminal, just a "R" terminal so I suppose it would be easy to miss. Nice call by Kodiak, something to check before you buy a new stat.

so I will take a look at it this weekend but just to get this right, if I have this right is even though the blower turns on for the heat but not the a/c it can still just be the thermostat since maybe?? it runs on a differenct circuit that doesn't fully get completed so it is almost like a broken circuit for the a/c but a full running circuit for the heat? So maybe something is messed up on the thermostat where if I have to get a new one I would be fine with since when we bought the house I could never find a manuel to figure out how to properly program everything to kick the heat and air on at certain times