Your condenser fan motor is located usually on the top of the condenser or on the side of it. The condenser is located outside. If the fan is not blowing any air when the a/c is on, most likely your condenser fan motor is burnt out. However, if you do not hear any noise from your a/c you might have other issues like no power to the unit or you’re not getting signal to the condenser to turn on. When your condenser fan motor stops working it can be a couple of things causing that. 1) Your run capacitor is bad. The run capacitor gives the motor a jump start every time it starts.  The cost to replace a run capacitor for a condenser fan motor from an HVAC contractor can range from $150 to $275 depending on the size and the labor need to install the part. 2) The Condenser fan relay is bad.  New condensers have a relay they turn the motor on and off when the system starts and turns off. The cost to replace a condenser fan relay can range from $175 to $275 the cost depends more on the make and model of the unit and the contractor installing the part.

3) The condenser fan motor electrical winding are bad (burnt motor).  If the motor is burnt out your motor may be moving slowly, but not to full speed or dose not turn on at all. Always replace the motor with the same specifications that the original motor has. Replacing the motor without the same specs can cause higher utility cost and a shorter life span of the air conditioning system. Also replace the run capacitor when you replace the condenser fan motor. The average cost to replace the condenser fan more can range from $350 to $575. The cost depends more on the size of the condenser and the features of the motor. A high efficiency condenser may have a two stage motor that dive the cost up. There are many reasons your air conditioning compressor can fail. The biggest factors are poor installation of the condenser and lack of maintenance. If your compressor stops working you may not need to replace the compressor. Some of the components that can cause compressor failure are:

1) Over heating from a dirty Condenser coil or bad condenser fan motor. home air conditioner compressor for saleWash your condenser with water and allow to cool down properly before starting system again. cheap ac condensing unitsCheck if your Condenser fan motor is working properly.air handling units calculation 2) Low refrigerant in system. Running a compressor with low gas is like running a car with no water. Have your HVAC contractor check the refrigerant levels before he condemns the compressor. 3) Bad run capacitor to the compressor. Like the condenser fan motor the compressor needs a run capacitor to turn on and stay on. Sometime replacing the run capacitor can get your compressor to work again. Also adding a hard start to the compressor can turn it on too.

A hard start is like a run capacitor however it gives it a little more juice to kick over.  A new compressor run capacitor can range from $250 to $350 depending on the size and air conditioning contractor. The cost to replace your air conditioning compressor can range from $1500 to $2400. There are a lot of variable that can bring the cost up and down. The biggest cost factors are the size of the system and the labor needed to get it replaced properly. 4 out of 5 times it’s more economical to replace the system if it’s older than 10 years.  When having a HVAC contractor replaces your compressor. Make sure he practices these tasks: 1) Remove all gas from system properly. If they just release the refrigerant into the air. Stop them and call someone else. They and you can be fined for pollution from the EPA. 2)Have them replace the run capacitor to the compressor and electrical contactor that powers the system. A good contractor will know that compressor failure is caused by these two things and should avoid doubt that they are working properly.

3) Provide a new liquid line dryer. The dryer is a filter to the refrigerant system which catches all contaminates in the system and removes moisture from the refrigerant. 4) Provide a vacuum to the entire refrigerant system. Removing moisture from the air conditioning system insures your system has no or little contaminates in the refrigerant. 5) Provide a leak check. When installing a new compressor the HVAC contractor will weld the compressor into the condenser. The last thing you want is to leak out the refrigerant from your a/c system. 6) Provide a warranty longer than 30 days. Request a minimum of a 1 year warranty with this remplacement/repair. You want peace of mind its done right and pay for their mistakes.I am the owner of a single family house with a 15-year-old heat pump.Recently the unit stopped defrosting. I had a service technician come to inspect the unit. He said the electronic board that controls the defrost cycle is not working and must be replaced.

The estimated cost is about $350. However, due to the advanced age of my heat pump, the service technician recommended replacing my entire unit — inside and outside. The cost of replacement is about $5,000.Generally speaking, I love my current heat pump. It is very reliable and very economical. I have extremely low monthly utility bills and the unit does a good job in winter and summer. Which leads me to my two questions. Do heat pumps really need to be replaced at such an early age? Everyone I talk to seems to say heat pumps generally only last about 10 to 12 years. Anything more and you are on borrowed time. Everyone tells me that the service technician is right -- replace the unit, don't fix the part. I don't get why a heat pump should need complete replacement after only 10 to 12 years -- in my case 15 years. It seems like you should be able to repair and fix the unit many times before you will ever match the cost of replacing it. I know many older furnaces would last for 30 plus years.

Our society seems to be a very "throw away" society these days.Wouldn't it be wise to invest money into repairing a heat pump, before replacing it?Do you feel that both units should be replaced as a "matching set"? Or can you just replace one unit at a time? My outside unit is the one with the problem. The inside unit is fine. Although it is even older than the outside unit -- probably 20 plus years old. But once again, everyone seems to tell me the same thing -- replace both units. I don't seem to understand the logic behind replacing both units.I'm going to echo the advice of your service provider and the other wise folks with whom you've consulted. I must tell you, however, that your 15-year-old compressor/condenser has done its job and doesn't owe anybody anything. It has served you well but it's time for it to go for a couple of reasons. Sure, it seemed to you to work well and operate at a level that did not weaken your bank account, but all things are relative.Let's look at it in its 15-year time frame and compare it to what happens today.

Heat pumps have a reputation for lasting from 8 to 12 years -- in my experience -- on average. Some last longer -- some less. That's because they do double duty; both heating and cooling. Those furnaces that you eye enviously lasting 30 years plus are only working less than half the time the heat pump does -- no A/C -- so proportionately the heat pump's right up with them. When I see a heat pump working well at the age of yours I always say the good news is, it's still working and bad news is, it's still working. The older a heat pump is in today's world the more electricity it will use to do its job.There is a formula that is used in the industry to calculate the energy in against the heating and cooling that comes out of it. It called the SEER rating and means seasonal energy efficiency rating. You see them written on the sides of the newer units and they are numbers that hover around 10 and up a bit. The SEER number indicates the amount of electricity that goes into the unit against the amount of heating or cooling capacity that comes out- - the higher the number the more efficient it is.