Equipment
- Carrier 24AAA5 central air conditioner, outdoor condensing unit
Carrier AC not cooling in Fremont
Problem: The request came from the property manager of a rental home in Fremont. The tenant’s report was short: the air conditioner wasn’t cooling, and only the fan was working. So something was running, but nothing was getting cold. For the people living there, that meant no AC at home.
Diagnostics: Outside, next to a wooden fence, sits a Carrier 24AAA5 condensing unit. Our technician opened its electrical panel. Two parts live side by side in there. The contactor is the switch that powers the compressor and the outdoor fan when the thermostat calls for cooling. The capacitor gives those two motors the push they need to start and keep running. This one was a dual capacitor, rated 70/5 µF on its label, so one part was serving both motors. The 70 side runs the compressor, the 5 side the outdoor fan. A bad contactor or capacitor is a common cause of what the tenant described: the system seems to be on, but the air doesn’t get cold.
Solution: We replaced the contactor and the capacitor. Then we rewired the connections in that panel.
Result: Both parts that start the outdoor unit are new now, and the wiring to them is redone. If your AC’s fan runs but the air stays warm, switch the cooling off at the thermostat and call. A compressor that keeps trying to start without a working capacitor overheats. We repair Carrier air conditioners in Fremont and across the East Bay.
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