Of Central Air Conditioners and Dogs

darqness

Just last night we had to turn on our AC for the first time this year. However after about an hour we noticed that air was blowing in through our vents, but it wasn't cold. I went and checked our AC unit outside, and noticed it hadn't kicked on. Since it was too dark, we shut off the thermostat and waited until today. Before leaving for work I went outside to check the unit in the light. Lo and behold, there was a red and white electrical wire that looked like it was disconnected from the unit.

The only explanation I could think of was that one of our Huskies disconnected it. They hang around that side of the house most of the day, and like to run between the wall and the unit where the wires/hoses are hanging. I'm sure they tripped on it and caused it to pull out. There were no signs of chewing, however I'm going to cover the unit with a fence or case to prevent this in the future.

Mainly my question is should I spend the $80.00 to have a professional come out and see how big of an issue this is? Or is this something I can simply do myself? I've done small electrical work in the house such as creating an outlet for our over-the-oven microwave, and re-wiring all of our outlets and light switches. However because I'm not familiar with AC units I don't know how this compares. I've taken two photos to show the wire, and where I THINK it came from.

You can see a small hole in the background here. This is where I think the wire was pulled from.

Spoiler:

This is the wire that was no longer attached to the unit.

Spoiler:

Figgy

I would try to locate an installation manual for your AC model before attempting anything. You don't want to short something out and fry the entire thing.

Then again, for peace of mind, what's $100 for a service call?

Djeet

Can't see the pics you posted, but the electrical side of modern Residential hvac is pretty simple. Just don't kill yourself and you'll be fine. There should be a cutoff switch near the external unit (local code demands it be be within 3 ft of the condenser unit). I'm paranoid and in addition to interrupting the circuit there I throw the breaker for the ac before touching wires.

Try to locate the wiring diagram. On previous units I've worked on it's on a sticker on the inside of the panel you need to remove to access the the capacitor and the relay. Take a good while to look at that wiring diagram and figure out which wires you see on the relay and capacitor correspond to the wiring diagram. The color of the wire may not mean anything in particular as whoever installed/fixed it may have used whatever wiring was available, so look at the diagram.

You'll have wire coming in from the breaker box, through the kill switch and into the relay (contacter), usually at the bottom. These provide power of course. Then there will be some low voltage wires coming from your thermostat, also on bottom or sides of relay. And coming out the top will be wires that go to the capacitor. These orientation notes should be confirmed with your diagram, don't work just on my word.

Disconnected wires certainly could cause the external unit not to run. But it could also be burned contacts, corrosion, blown capacitor, blown relay or blown motor.

darqness

@Figgy Good idea, that was my next plan of action. If this proves to be too difficult, or if I feel overwhelmed I will just call the pros.

@Djeet Thanks for the info. I plan on killing all electricity, just because, well, you never know. I'll take a closer look if it's still light outside after work and see what I find. This seems to be a very old unit, and something we're planning to replace in the future.