# Burnt wire in outside AC unit



## brandonbrummett (Apr 13, 2014)

My AC is not working (and of course we discovered this at 11PM last night). Everything inside the house seems to work, but the fan on the outside unit was not working. I tried the "stick test" to see if that would work, and while the fan blade spun freely, the outside unit still did not come on. This morning I took the cover off and found a burnt wire that is going to what I think may be the contact... I am assuming this is also one of the higher voltage wires. Any suggestions on what to do, or what it may cost to have fixed? I've attached a couple of photos. One is the wire itself, and the second is where the wire should be hooked in (and if you look closely you can see where part of the wire is still there at the top of the lower left connector). Any help would be greatly appreciated!


----------



## brandonbrummett (Apr 13, 2014)

Forgot to mention the outside unit is a Goodman GSH130481A.


----------



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Loose connection, along with a whole lot of Corrosion, caused the wire to burn up like that. What does the other side look like in the Disconnect?


----------



## brandonbrummett (Apr 13, 2014)

A little bit of dirt, but overall it looks pretty good. But then again, I will admit if I really knew a ton about what I was looking at I wouldn't be on this forum asking for help... The contact looks pretty well fried around that connection, so I am assuming at the very least I would need to have it replaced. Hoping nothing else is badly damaged...


----------



## clocert (Oct 14, 2010)

From that one picture, it is hard to tell which wire goes to where. Can you post a couple more photos and show all wires connected to that contactor. The contactor is in pretty bad shape, so at least you need a new contactor which may cost you around $20.


----------



## brandonbrummett (Apr 13, 2014)

It's hard for me to get a better picture; but I was able to see that the wire that was burnt is a black wire coming out of "LOAD" on the right hand side of the picture of the disconnect and is connecting into the "L1" connection on the contactor. The other wire coming out of the "LOAD" on the left hand side of the disconnect is going into the L2 connection. Does that help? And yes, the contractor looks to be fried (or blackened cajun style)


----------



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

clocert said:


> From that one picture, it is hard to tell which wire goes to where. Can you post a couple more photos and show all wires connected to that contactor. The contactor is in pretty bad shape, so at least you need a new contactor which may cost you around $20.


It goes to the Left Terminal that there is no wire attached to, that is all corroded.

This falls under poor maintenance of the unit. The OP is lucky that it did not cause the unit to catch on fire.


----------



## clocert (Oct 14, 2010)

OK, L1 and L2 are your power wires from the house. reconnect those 2 wires your system should work fine. But you need to replace that old contactor first. (cut the power first before touch those wires)


----------



## brandonbrummett (Apr 13, 2014)

Definitely something I'll have to keep an eye on in the future from a maintenance standpoint! 

Thanks for the help, folks. Looks to be a fairly simple repair, but I can't buy the part locally without a license (at least according to the 4 stores I have called this morning; one told me it was "illegal" to give me a ballpark idea on the price) so I have a contractor coming out to fix it shortly. 

Was told it would likely be $69 plus parts; and they could service the unit as well. I thought that sounded reasonable.


----------



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

You are going to have to pull new wires through that whip. Get some No-OX from either the local Autoparts store or at the local Electrical shop. All you really need is a couple of packets.

I have to deal with the Midwest humidity wrecking havoc on outdoor wiring, etc. I put the No-Ox on the contacts for the disconnect pull, the wires at the contactor, and inside the disconnect for where the wires connect in there.

Looks like #8. You can take the longest one to the local hardware store and buy #8 stranded by the foot. Just make sure you double the length for two wires for power. That ground just needs to be cleaned up with some 240 grit sand paper.

The contactor, you may have to order online from Grainger. Unless you can get it at a local hvac warehouse (you may need to contact a hvac installer to purchase).


----------



## biggles (Jan 1, 2008)

general purpose contactor just check those amp rating on its tag check the terminal on the compressor also slip sta-kons or screwed down...any looseness will cause wire insulation to melt..definitely pull new wire contactor to that pull disconnect.... http://www.grainger.com/product/SIEMENS-Compact-Contactor-6DRC5?s_pp=false might want to go double pole to break the entire 230V


----------



## brandonbrummett (Apr 13, 2014)

Thanks for the help guys. Could not get the part anywhere locally without a license, so I ended up calling a local contractor who did the work at a reasonable price. Contactor was fried, and the capacitor was damaged as well. 

With our crazy weather this week, I've already had to turn the heat back on. It was 80 on Sunday and it's only going to be 35 today (snow on the ground even).


----------



## clocert (Oct 14, 2010)

If you don't mind to spend that $100-200 dollars. call an AC tech is the best way. But I do not understand why you need a license to purchase a contactor. What kind of license do they want ? EPA 608 ? or State license for business ? or ??


----------



## gregzoll (Dec 25, 2006)

Tell me about it. Our weather has been out of whack down here also. If the tech that did the work before is still able to do it. I would just let them do the work. Sit and watch what they are doing, so you know how to do it next time.

If you give him a warm or cold drink, or feed him. You might get a break. When I got our a/c for the house. I placed the outdoor unit, disco, ran the electrical, put the A-Coil into the furnace. Ended up saving me a ton of money.

You should be able to order that contactor online through something like Cozyparts.com or one of the other hvac sites. I have found the parts on amazon.com also.

As long as you have the info off of the Capacitor & Contactor. You should be able to get it I would think through Grainger. Use their Cross Reference if you have to.


----------



## digitalplumber (Jul 8, 2011)

brandonbrummett said:


> Thanks for the help guys. Could not get the part anywhere locally without a license, so I ended up calling a local contractor who did the work at a reasonable price. Contactor was fried, and the capacitor was damaged as well.
> 
> With our crazy weather this week, I've already had to turn the heat back on. It was 80 on Sunday and it's only going to be 35 today (snow on the ground even).


Although it was an unexpected expense, you did the best thing by calling someone since you knew little!

Smart move! :thumbup:


----------

