# Central A/C not working after power outage



## ggold (Mar 19, 2012)

you should be able to reset it with a push from finger, did you check fuses ?


----------



## rs1971 (Jul 6, 2011)

ggold said:


> you should be able to reset it with a push from finger, did you check fuses ?


Which fuses? Are there fuses inside the unit? 

-rs1971


----------



## ggold (Mar 19, 2012)

should be a fused disconnect box next to unit.


----------



## rs1971 (Jul 6, 2011)

ggold said:


> should be a fused disconnect box next to unit.


There is a box next to the unit (attached to the exterior wall of the house). When I open it there is something which may or may not be a fuse. It's essentially a black rectangular piece with a little notch in the side which displays the word 'on' underneath. It looks like it should slide and I tried sliding it and got it just far enough to see the word 'off' on the opposite side but no further. Again, I didn't apply to much pressure for fear of breaking something. Does this sound like the fuse box?

-rs1971


----------



## ggold (Mar 19, 2012)

yes, remove that piece with the on/off tag, there should be one screw holding a black cover, behind that should be two 35 amp fuses..


----------



## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

do you get a least supply fan from the stat in FAN ON position that shows you have 24Vs down in the furnace/air handler.if the fan doesn't run might have a glass auto fuse on the control board within or a mini circuit breaker on the transformer mounted in the furnace


----------



## ggold (Mar 19, 2012)

yes, biggles is correct. do you have a electrical meter (tester) ?


----------



## rs1971 (Jul 6, 2011)

ggold said:


> yes, remove that piece with the on/off tag, there should be one screw holding a black cover, behind that should be two 35 amp fuses..


When I remove that I actually don't see any screw. There is what looks like a tab which may be removable unfortunately, I don't even have a screw driver and am working with a little penlight. This isn't my primary residence and unfortunately all of my tools (including my multimeter) are 200 miles away. I guess that I'll just have to sweat the night out and try to get a hold of the landlord again in the morning.

Thanks a lot guys for taking the time to try to help.

-rs1971


----------



## Techy (Mar 16, 2011)

could easily be a nonfusible 'pullout' disconnect aswell,


----------



## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

Flip all breakers off and then on.


----------



## rs1971 (Jul 6, 2011)

Techy said:


> could easily be a nonfusible 'pullout' disconnect aswell,


Yeah, that's what it was I think. The piece that pulled out had four metal prongs positioned asymmetrically so that if you flipped it 180 degrees the prongs inserted into a different set of receptacles, obviously killing the power (and exposing the word 'off' in the little slot).

-rs1971


----------



## rs1971 (Jul 6, 2011)

biggles said:


> do you get a least supply fan from the stat in FAN ON position that shows you have 24Vs down in the furnace/air handler.if the fan doesn't run might have a glass auto fuse on the control board within or a mini circuit breaker on the transformer mounted in the furnace


When I flip the fan from 'auto' to 'on' I don't hear anything, so I guess that there is no power to the fan. I'll try to look for those in the morning but one thing that strikes me as strange is that the unit was turned off both at the moment the power went out and also when it was restores. Given that, wouldn't it be strange that a circuit breaker would have tripped / fuse blown?

-rs1971


----------



## rs1971 (Jul 6, 2011)

Doc Holliday said:


> Flip all breakers off and then on.


It was worth a try but no dice. If nothing else, at least I'm getting good at resetting all of the digital clocks in the house.

-rs1971


----------



## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

The breaker is tripped even though it appears to not be. I bet you didn't reset them, did you?. Flip both a/c and furnace breakers off and then back on.


----------



## Doc Holliday (Mar 12, 2011)

rs1971 said:


> It was worth a try but no dice. If nothing else, at least I'm getting good at resetting all of the digital clocks in the house.
> 
> -rs1971


 
Dang, forgot I said that already. Reset them again.


----------



## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

if the transformer is shot it won't be warm to the touch:wink:if it is with all the breakers on inside the 24V side might be opendo you see or hear clicking when you work the servcie switch on the side of the air handler..even clicking will indicate 24Vs...LED screen on the stat if you have one.if you had a 12V tester or bulb handy you can check those fuses with the car batteries +/-..... for continuity if your up in the mountains there.at the condenser if your fuses are in place in the knife holder you push in giving the compressor contactor a qhick push with the end of a pencil will indicate power....just a quick BUMP ON...


----------

