Has anyone seen this problem?

[hotgastruass]

Residential condenser....
The unit is off by on the t-stat and the condenser fan is spinning in the reverse direction. When stat calls for cooling it stops and goes the correct direction. Then when you cycle unit to off position the fan slows down and goes the reverse direction again. It is getting 120V feedback from somewhere. I didnt have alot of time to troubleshoot this. Was the first time i saw this. I figure there is a feedback coming from one of the legs.

Or there is

a: defective disconnect
b: bad contactor
c: feedback coming from panel somewhere
D: defective fan motor

Just curious if anyone has seen this issue before? I didnt have alot of time to stay there.. thanks for the feedback

[t527ed]

sounds like motor or compressor has short to ground. disconnect wires to isolate and ohm wires to ground

[hotgastruass]

put my meter to each lead.. and ground... it should read 0 resistance.. then what

[websy]

I sure hope you meant infinite resistance!! If you have a reading between any lead and ground with the wires to motor disconnected than the motor had a short to ground.

-websy

[rimek]

Is it spinning at full speed? Does the contactor break both lines in or just one? If you pull the disconnect does it happen? You may have a ground somewhere that's allowing voltage to the motor, although reduced. Have you checked with a meter at fan leads to see if there is anything there?

[hotgastruass]

no it is not running at full speed.. and no it doesnt happen when you pull the disconnect... seems the contacter is breaking just one leg...would that make the fan run in reverse..?

[Edited by hotgastruass on 06-09-2005 at 05:47 PM]

[websy]

Only if there is power going to ground through the motor.


-websy

[Aeromech]

I have seen that problem and it was the motor (short to ground in windings) That motor is probably not long for a complete burn out and needs replacing.

[nutshell]

I saw the exact same problem last week. There was a short in the crank case heater. Weird Huh?

[hotgastruass]

so in other words.. i have to find out where it is grounding out. Could this be a bad contactor.. or is that out of the question. Is replacing this fan motor going to solve this .. or am i looking for the ground throughout the whole system?...

[t527ed]

you have to isolate each component in unit and check to ground. doubt very much it could be contactor. i would not start changing parts until you know for sure which part is the culprit.

[sadlier]

No capacitor can cause the motor to run backwards. Perhaps the short is between the capacitor and the motor. Or, for that matter, in the motor.