Help, Heat Pump AC Issue

[v10guy]

Got our first warm day here and decided to turn the AC on. The fan comes on, but it wasn't getting cold. So, I went outside to the condensor unit(Carrier HP) and it was making a groaning noise. The fan wasn't turning. I could turn the fan blade freely with a screwdriver. The unit is prob. 10-15 years old. It worked great all last year. Didn't use it for heat since Jan. when we got a pellet stove.

Any ideas on what I can check? I already checked breakers, etc. Any help would be appreciated, as I am imagining a very big repair bill if I have to call someone out.

thanks.

[leejosepho]

I would guess the fan inside the house came on in anticipation of the cool that never arrived from the groaning compressor that is not needing its cooling fan to work since it is not actually producing anything at all ... and that you are likely correct about the anticipated repair bill.

[jimbo]

If you're lucky it will be some easy component like a contactor, but at 15 years old, who knows? This is usually not a DIY job, because you do not have either the knowledge or specialized test equipment to trouble shoot this stuff.

Now the bad news. If you do need to replace the heat pump, you will also have to replace the indoor coil, be it an air handler, fan coil unit, whatever. It is not possible to match a new 13 SEER ( minimum ) heat pump with a 15 year old coil which is undoutedly not 13 SEER. You will probably also have to replace the line set. And, the new coil unit will be larger and not a drop-in replacement. Some fitting work on the duct connection will be necessary, meaning more labor hours for the HVAC tech.