Any home A/C experts here? What does it mean if the fan on top of the outside unit is not turning....is it a bad fan or a symptom of another problem....

Like Nelly said... Its gettin hot in hur [:|]  

btt

What the hell's a crawl space? We have slab foundations. No basements either- although the concept is pretty cool.

First disconnect the power from outside disconnect block. Take a long blade screwdriver and stick it thru and try to turn the fan. If it will turn or hard to turn its tied up. If it turns freely chances are you have a bad capacitor. Some systems have what they call a split capacitor. Both the fan and compressor are hooked to one capacitor. Usually they are separate. The fan capacitor will be smaller and read something like 370 7.5 mfd.
If you gonna fix it yourself you can get the parts at grainger including the motor. They will need the exact model number off the parts.

Pretty easy if you understand basic electricity.

Rick

Thanks for all the help guys...just go home from work....I will check the fan in the morning and report back...thanks again!!!!!

If the compressor is running and the fan is not, it's a fan problem.  If the compressor is NOT running & the inside fan is, likely freon is low and the low pressure cutout is protecting the compressor.

Like was said above, turn off the power, & spin the fan blade.  If it spins freely, turn the power back on & listen for the compressor.

Loosely-related, almost-interesting story:

Back when I lived in an apartment, the central A/C stopped cooling. The manager said it couldn't be fixed over the weekend, and I was desperate. I checked the outside condenser unit and discovered that the compressor was running, but the fan wasn't. To get some relief, I duct-taped a box fan over the condenser coils, and fired her up. Worked pretty good!

I went out to check on it a few hours later, and noticed that the evaporator fan was now working! Turns out that my box fan was drawing enough air to also spin the condenser fan fast enough to get it started. After that, all I had to do was stick a pencil in the fan blades, give it a push and it would SLOWLY spin up to speed. Apparently, that first couple of RPMs is a REAL BITCH when your condensor's shot...

It's not the load on the motor usually that keeps it from spinning, it's the burned out startup capacitor. Single phase AC motors have no, meaning zero, starting torque unless some form of starting device is used. A capacitor is the most common form of starting device. That is why the pencil trick works. As soon as the motor gets turning then there is a little torque being generated by the motor itself.

So if the thing was working recently and just stopped working all of a sudden it is quite possible that it's an electrical problem. I've seen A/C units where everything was rustier than a chevy truck frame and it all still worked fine mechanically.

OK...first off...Only this site could generate such excellent help and advice, Thank You.
Now on to my problem, you guys were right on the money about the fan. I took a ruler and spun the blade while the unit was off and the fan spun freely. I turned the unit on and gave the fan a little push and the damn thing starts working...LOL. Sounds like shit though.
Knocking sound definately coming from the fan.
Cool air blowing from vents in the house.
I guess I better get to work looking for a replacement.

(edited to add that the fan is not turning full speed and seems to wobble and knock, so I am assuming that the fan is the problem????)

Sounds like a bad bearing in the fan to me.