Carrier 38YCA condenser motor problems

[Monkaree]

We have an 11 year old 38YCA048300 Carrier heat pump that quit working in May of this year. The service man replaced the condenser motor and we were problem free (ok, except for an ant nest ruining a contactor) until yesterday when the unit suddenly stopped cooling. We turned the unit off and called the original service man but he was unavailable so we called someone else that he recommended. After turning the unit back on and it started cooling properly, the new service man suspected that the motor overheated and shut off. After cooling down it started right back up and worked properly when we started the A/C.

He declared that he thought the new motor was the correct HP (1/4) but possibly too high RPM...new motor is 1075 and he thought the unit might need a 825 but couldn't tell us because we no longer have the original motor. He said that the vibration and noise from the outside unit sounded like the motor was too fast for the fan blades...I thought it sounded noisier after the original motor was replaced but I don't know anything about heat pumps so I shrugged it off. He said that the blade is true so he doesn't think that's the problem. He also said that the unit stopped vibrating/rattling when he cleaned the coils...he seemed to think this was significant. This seemed to be an issue with the repair man who replaced the motor so he left us with the task of finding out what the correct RPM for our unit.

After finding the specs for our unit online (we didn't get them when we bought the house) and found that the new motor is the correct RPM 1070/1100 so we're left with wondering why the unit quit working and why it has the vibration problem. Does anyone know why the unit stopped cooling suddenly?

 

Thank you from Louisiana!

Chrissy

 

 

[applianceman18007260692]

did you say that the 2nd guy out cleaned the coils? If so why didnt the 1st guy do it?

[Monkaree]

My husband had already cleaned them prior to the motor repair. Let me clarify in saying that the unit resumed rattling and vibrating once he had cleaned the coils.

[applianceman18007260692]

I recomend a new blade, chances are that some damage was done to it while it was being removed from the old motor