MISDIAGNOSED! Rheem 2-Ton Broke Again, But Now Should Be Fixed

Originally recorded July 11, 2023.

If you had followed this series, you will recall that the A/C company came out and the guy was SO SURE it was the capacitor. So sure that he refused to answer my question of "But what if it's not?" That was an immediate red flag in my mind, I was not sold at all on this being a capacitor issue, though I had long thought the capacitor in this unit was getting aged and should be replaced. Regardless, after replacement of the capacitor, the unit started up and ran just fine each time there was a call for cooling.

Until----2 days later! Yep, lexmarks567 was here and we decided to each turn in for the night. I went upstairs a few minutes later and immediately I could tell it felt a bit warmer upstairs. Thermostat setpoint was 70°, but it was reading 71°. I felt the air coming out of the vents, nope, not cooled at all. This time, I left the system running as is and went outside to see what was going on. Nothing at all. No compressor, no fan. Well, that's DEFINITELY NOT a capacitor issue! I knew that guy was full of it!

I went back in and cycled the thermostat off and back on, I have a 5-minute compressor lockout delay so I knew that would kick in (though wouldn't have mattered anyway since the compressor wasn't running.) I told Lex he might want to kick that window rattler back on since the A/C cut out again, and explained that I got nothing outside and it's in the lockout period. I told him I was going back outside, and he went with me. We stood and waited 5 minutes. And then it kicked on and run just fine.

All this time I had thought the unit had frozen up, but ESDI80 had said that was impossible based on the circumstances. Thinking about it, yes, that indeed is correct. So that means it never froze up at all, ever, and instead we were dealing with an electrical issue the entire time.

Lex and I started mentally troubleshooting, and the common denominator that Lex came up with was the contactor. Let's see, that controls the fan and the compressor. If it's not working properly (pitted/burned contacts), you'll have intermittent operation or outright failure.

I called the A/C company up a week later and explained that when I pressed the "button" on the contactor, it started up, and requested they come back and replace it under "warranty". They did, they showed up and replaced the contactor at no charge, no questions asked. One thing in particular that he found was a burned wire.

Burned wire? Why didn't the tech see that the first time? And not just burned, but a very loose fit on the contactor as well. I had taken the cover off since the first tech was here (which also was not reinstalled correctly!) and I didn't see any burned wires. This time, the guy said it could have happened in the week since the first tech was here. Yes, it could have, but I think that's unlikely.

After the tech left, I set the temperature down to 69° upstairs. It was a very hot day as well. Not only did it achieve 69°, it was able to maintain it all day. Looks like the problem the entire time was electrical in nature, and now has been resolved.

Sorry about the focus issues, the camera just was in the wrong position and couldn't obtain focus lock on any one spot in particular.

ESDI80 wrote:
The outdoor fan not running will cause the head pressure to skyrocket and the internal bypass on the compressor to open provided there isn’t a hi pressure cut out switch. This will not cause an indoor unit to freeze as the refrigerant will not be able to condense into a liquid. I’ve had this happen to me before on an older Goodman unit. Question is, does your indoor unit have a capacitor going out which caused the blower to stop running? If you indeed had a freeze up, you should see frost on the suction line going into the outdoor unit. I’m thinking your outdoor unit shut off on high pressure due to the fan stalling. The fan motor probably shut down on thermal overload due to a failing capacitor.

Special thanks to lexmarks567 for suggesting the contactor may be bad. Whether the contactor, burned wire, or both, if it weren't suggested, this problem would have happened yet again.

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Related videos:
COOLING FAILURE! Rheem 2-Ton Is Down! Part 1 - Scrambling For Solutions
https://youtu.be/vjcvrrRJLIw
COOLING FAILURE! Rheem 2-Ton Is Down! Part 2 - The Cheapest A/C Walmart Has To Offer
https://youtu.be/LLn4TFuqDDs
COOLING FAILURE! Rheem 2-Ton Is Down! Part 3 - The Sharp Monstrosity
https://youtu.be/RKCSimbeiR4
COOLING FAILURE! Rheem 2-Ton Is Down! Part 4 - Help Is On The Way!
https://youtu.be/Uixj9mydQlU
COOLING REPAIRED! Rheem 2-Ton Is Fixed? Part 5 - Another Bad Capacitor!
https://youtu.be/seygon8vAv0

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