Last year my home's central air condenser fan motor stopped working. When I noticed the house wasn't cooling down I went outside to investigate and found there was a humming sound coming from the unit, but the fan wasn't turning. After researching the problem online, I found the capacitor may be bad and causing the problem. The capacitor wasn't blown, but I replaced it anyways. The problem still existed; Fan won't spin and a humming sound is coming from the unit. So, I inferred that the motor must be bad. Yesterday I unbolted the fan from the unit to try and spin the blades by hand. To my surprise, it spun. It spun 3 to 5 rotations with a medium amount of force (the same force it would take to bounce a basketball 8 feet in the air). I expected the motor to be stuck and not spin at all, so now I'm second guessing myself. My question is: How freely should it spin? I've read in numerous places that the blade should spin "freely", but I'm not sure what that means. Should it spin around 50 times with a medium amount of force?

If I was holding it up in the air, should a 15mph breeze spin the blades like a pinwheel? Or is the 3-5 rotations freely? If you replaced the start capacitor, and you are getting proper voltage to the fan motor than the only thing left is to replace the fan motor. If the fan turns at all without forcing, it should spin when powered up. If the fan turns freely or not is not a definitive indication that is good or bad. It should spin freely... I looked at neighbor's condenser fan and they all spin freely with very slight force. However how a motor spins isn't necessarily indicator of whether it works or not. A coil could have shorted or insulation burnt. You can test this by taking an ohmmeter, one lead to the motor leads, and the other to the case. If there's continuity between the leads and the motor casing, it's bad (and in fact sometimes it should blow breakers too). You can also read the resistance of the motor leads, if it's too low then there's a short between the windings.

Basically a good fan should spin at least half a revolution with the amount of force it takes to lift a sheet of paper. I'm far from being a HVAC person, but I do like to figure things out on my own. I had the same thing happen and before you order a $300 part, all I did was take it apart and clean it really well. I used graphite lubricant on the blades and 3-in-1 on the shaft of the motor and guess what?!! It puuuurs now ;) if u change the capacitor and does not work turn the power on use a screwdriver and try turning the fan you will notice motor making a buzzing sound and hard to turn just replace motor.I had the same problem and that took care of it.Two more things your motor may have three wire black brown and orange today motor have five wire instruction come with it connect the two extra wire together with a wire nut and wrap it with some electrical tape.Last i recommend u change your contact switch because when your motor start going bad it spark more and more as the motor life coming to an end.

I hope this was helpful good luck.Browse other questions tagged hvac fans or ask your own question.Where to start: troubleshooting a heat pumpsize of split ac unit If your heat is not working, start by checking the thermostat. what size ac unit for a 2000 sq ft house turned on and set to heat? ac unit phoenixTry setting the temperature 2 to 4 degrees(When troubleshooting heat pumps in cooling mode, follow this same process but set the temperature below room tempSwitch the fan on. If the fan doesn’t start, check the fuses and breakers. Replace the fuse or flip the circuit breaker to the closed position and determine the cause of the overload. You may have a bad connection, a seized blower motor or a shorted controller board.

you didn’t blow a fuse or trip the circuit breaker, old or worn-out wiring on your heat pump may be the cause . Wiring or loose terminals will need to repaired or tightened. It could also be defective thermostat or a stuck fan relay. If your fan is running, but you still feel cold air at the normal setting, check to see if warm air is coming out of the vents when the thermostat is set to emergency heat. Make sure the thermostat is at least five degrees above room temp. If you feel warm air, then the problem is with the outdoor unit. If you don’t feel warm air, you may have a defective thermostat or air handler to blame. Examining the outdoor unit Once you’ve determined the problem is with the outdoor unit, return the thermostat to normal from the emergency heat setting. minutes before investigating the outside unit. When you inspect your unit, do you notice ice or frost building up on the outdoor coil? may indicate a defective defroster timer or control module, or the

unit could be low on refrigerant. If there is no frost check to make sure the airflow isn’t blocked by debris – grass clippings, sticks, leaves and weeds can all accumulate and prevent air from going in andAlso check to see if the outdoor fan is running. may be a problem with wiring, the fan motor or compressor run capacitor. Beyond troubleshooting: heat pumps that require additional service If you are unable to diagnosis and fix the problem with your heat pump, or if you have additional questions, contact your local TraneA certified technician will help you correct the problem and keep your home at a comfortable temperature.How to fix a car fan Did you find this helpful? You can now get the whole How A Car Works site as a beautiful PDF ebook. Over 250 illustrated pages Print out the pages you need and take them to the garage. It's just $5 to buy - exceptional value for money. The PDF is 80mb in size - it's high resolution!