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Reasons an AC would intermittently not blow cool?
Posted on 7/31/26 at 5:24 pm
Posted on 7/31/26 at 5:24 pm
Background: I had a company come out a few months ago because my AC (installed just a few years ago) wasn't cooling at all. Turns out every bit of refrigerant leaked out where one of the welds had failed. $2500 later everything was fixed and recharged, blowing cool again.
Now 2 months later, every so often it'll blow warm air. When it's blowing cool the air coming out of the vents will be 56-58 degrees, but when it's blowing warm it's 75-80 and lets the house temperature creep up close to 80. When it happened today, I turned the unit off to go outside and check. No leaks when I sprayed it with soapy water and the line wasn't frozen up. When I turned everything back on, it was back to blowing cold.
Any idea what this could be? I'd like to check everything I can DIY before I call the company and have them come out again. Especially because it's intermittent and may not even be happening when they get here.
Now 2 months later, every so often it'll blow warm air. When it's blowing cool the air coming out of the vents will be 56-58 degrees, but when it's blowing warm it's 75-80 and lets the house temperature creep up close to 80. When it happened today, I turned the unit off to go outside and check. No leaks when I sprayed it with soapy water and the line wasn't frozen up. When I turned everything back on, it was back to blowing cold.
Any idea what this could be? I'd like to check everything I can DIY before I call the company and have them come out again. Especially because it's intermittent and may not even be happening when they get here.
7
Posted on 7/31/26 at 5:31 pm to Ingeniero
When it gets warm the next time, go outside and see if the large line is sweating and cold.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 5:47 pm to Ingeniero
Was the condenser fan spinning when it was blowing hot?
Might have a bad capacitor not kicking on the coil or fan, or fan motor out.
Might have a bad capacitor not kicking on the coil or fan, or fan motor out.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 6:14 pm to DukeSilver
I'll take a look at that next time it starts blowing warm. It's spinning now but I've also got air coming out of the vents at 50 degrees 
it always seems like something goes wrong at 4:30 on a Friday
it always seems like something goes wrong at 4:30 on a Friday 
Posted on 7/31/26 at 6:37 pm to Ingeniero
Really need to know what type of system, thermostat and if you have a watt-saver (something your local utility might have signed you up for) installed?
Posted on 7/31/26 at 6:39 pm to Clames
It's a 5 ton single stage Goodman. Nest thermostat. No watt saver.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 6:53 pm to DukeSilver
quote:
Was the condenser fan spinning when it was blowing hot? Might have a bad capacitor not kicking on the coil or fan, or fan motor out.
Do this - check to see if both the condenser fan and compressor are running, or not, when this occurs. Could be a weak capacitor.
If you are comfortable with this, check for loose wires/terminal connections on the capacitor and contactor. Always pull the condensing unit disconnect first or flip the breaker off for the condensing unit.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 7:12 pm to CrawDude
Could the capacitor already be bad in a unit that's just a few years old? I took the panel off last time it happened to see if the top of the capacitor was bulging out, but it looked normal. Could it be going bad even if the top looks flat?
Posted on 7/31/26 at 7:45 pm to Ingeniero
quote:
Could the capacitor already be bad in a unit that's just a few years old? I took the panel off last time it happened to see if the top of the capacitor was bulging out, but it looked normal. Could it be going bad even if the top looks flat?
Absolutely it could be bad, or going bad, after a few years. Doesn’t have to be bulging - if it was bulging likely would not work at all. I don’t know if Goodman has Chinese capacitors or not.
If the problem it’s intermittent - sounds it could be electrical related. Could be a malfunctioning high pressure or low pressure switch, …..?
I see you mentioned you have a NEST thermostat. NEST thermostats are known to sometimes do “weird” things to HVAC systems. I can post some links to what many HVAC techs think of them, and it ain’t good - from putting their kids though college making HVAC repairs caused by NEST, to not warranting HVAC repairs if the homeowner has a NEST. Here is one for your entertainment LINK. Consider a Honeywell or Ecobee thermostat that has similar features to the NEST.
This post was edited on 7/31/26 at 7:47 pm
Posted on 7/31/26 at 7:56 pm to Ingeniero
quote:
Nest thermostat.
That Nest thermostat might be the issue, think they basically opt you in to certain features to save energy where they will cycle off your condenser while keeping the blower fan going during "peak" hours. I would seriously look into that first before worrying about the rest of the system.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 8:01 pm to Clames
Well I'll be F'd. I just checked my settings and I was "automatically enrolled" to something called Airwave that does exactly what you described. Shutting down the compressor and using the fan to distribute air to "save cooling costs." I turned that off and I'll see what happens over the next few weeks. I'm also looking into ecobee based on what Crawdude said
Posted on 7/31/26 at 9:11 pm to Ingeniero
A capacitor can work intermittently that powers your compressor.
Also the relay can be wearing out.
Look at some YouTube videos. Extremely simple to change snd troubleshoot.
Also the relay can be wearing out.
Look at some YouTube videos. Extremely simple to change snd troubleshoot.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 9:23 pm to Ingeniero
Doh just saw your resolution. Thanks for letting us know.
Posted on 7/31/26 at 9:25 pm to Ingeniero
It’s broken
Posted on 7/31/26 at 10:03 pm to Ingeniero
If I could find old mercury-switched thermostats, I would put those in in place of the cheap electronic ones I have now. I have had to help out folks with Nest and Honeywell smart thermostats so often, basically by the time everything was sorted out it may as well be just a dumb thermostat for all it was going to control.
Posted on 8/1/26 at 11:01 am to Clames
quote:
If I could find old mercury-switched thermostats, I would put those in in place of the cheap electronic ones I have now.
Though I like the modern smart thermostats, I keep my old mercury-switch thermostat that was installed with my original HVAC when the house was built as a backup just in case.
Posted on 8/1/26 at 11:52 am to Ingeniero
quote:
Well I'll be F'd. I just checked my settings and I was "automatically enrolled" to something called Airwave that does exactly what you described. Shutting down the compressor and using the fan to distribute air to "save cooling costs.
It kind of hurts your pride, but it is actually nice when you find this kind of problem!
Posted on 8/3/26 at 11:23 am to Spankum
I think there's a decent market for thermostats that look like Nest units, but zero smart features. I'm friends with a couple than put three Nest units in their house right when they moved in, loved the look and function but wound up hating how poorly they maintained set temperatures. Added accessory temp sensors, constant adjustments, and never worked right. Wound up taking them all out, replacing them with Honeywell units that did no better in terms of smart functions but at least could keep the temps consistent.
This post was edited on 8/3/26 at 11:24 am
Posted on 8/3/26 at 2:00 pm to Ingeniero
quote:
$2500 later everything was fixed and recharged
that's an eye opener. is that due to increased cost of refrigerant?
Posted on 8/3/26 at 2:41 pm to Jmcc64
$2500 was for a service charge, leak test, labor for fixing the weld, then refilling it with like 13lbs of R410a. Probably a little high but I have a toddler and it was getting into the 80s inside so I called whoever would come out and fix it
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