Our heater is not turning on, you can hear the constant noise it is making trying to but just won't kick on?

We were referred to a company a couple of years ago and the first service call and repair was great and reasonable. The last couple times I felt like they were taking advantage of us.

We are not ready to drop $10,000 on a new system yet so if anyone out there knows someone that is really good and reasonable that works the North Dallas area please share that info with me.

Very Much Appreciated

Fair and reasonable:

https://bigbearair.com/

Ryan Tiller

Ryan My AC Guy 972-235-1487 or ryantiller88@yahoo.com.

As fair as they come, been using him for 20 years.

Sounds like a start capacitor

Yep, $15.00 start capacitor for the squirrel cage motor IF the blower is not working.

OP can just turn the wall thermostat to FAN and then go the air handler and see if it running. IF not...then capacitor most likely.

IF is running then relay or faulty T-stat at heater.

Sent you a PM I’m out in East TX at the moment working.

Lucas HVAC

Lol not a start capacitor. Could be many things but that’s not likely. There should be a peep hole. Look in the hole for the red light. It will give you a code. Certain number of fast blinks and certain number of slow blinks. Codes are on the back of the bottom cover.

So what's making the noise?

Whoo Hoo

So after watching several Youtube videos and paying attention to comments on here and a special Thanks to Lakhota for the inside info I got the system fixed.

Went to a HVAC parts place with my old Capacitor, handed it to the man behind the counter and I said "Hope this is all I need"
Kind gentleman said that will be $17.27 would you like me to test yours first before you buy a new one Yes sir please.

He said mine new has a 20 whatever rating or reading with a + or - 6%, he then test mine and said its good, it reads 19
I ask so there is no way it is my Capacitor, he said no telling it might just need that extra little kick.
I asked him if I put his new one on and it does not fix the problem can I bring it back for a refund, he smiled said nope because your system might corrupt his part testing it, sounds reasonable to me.

I asked about other repair scenarios and the cost of parts and how challenging to DIY and figured that is more than I want to take on, let the pro's like Lakhota take care of that.

So I figured F it, for $17.27 I will take that chance and Bingo it worked

An excellent good neighbor report - hats off to Lakhota and to Stub for passing it along!

But @Bildo said it couldn't be the Capacitor....? So I am confused.

Just because your 20mfd (microfarad) capacitor tested 'good' doesn't mean it was. It depends on how it was charged and simply get weak over time.

Anytime your blower motor is not 'starting' (just sitting there humming)....always check your capacitor first.

U Won !

And another happy ending for Stub. Glad you got it fixed. There are some great folks on here.

THF probably saved you $250.00.

Good going Stub!

Fixed both of my Trane furnaces 2x that weren't operating. They were calling for heat but wouldn't advance beyond the pilot. New gas valves solved the problem the first time. 2nd time replaced both boards. EZ stuff. Relatively inexpensive too.

Crazy turn on my HVAC repair.

This last cold spell the Heater was up to its old ways, not working
Okay did the youtube research and thought maybe it is just the ignitor or control board and figured I can do that
Then I got my azz up there and where my ignitor is buried versus the easy access on the videos I decided time to let the pros handle it.
My neighbors had a whole system put in and highly recommended their company " The One Time Experts" , so I called them Monday around noon and they come out a few hours later.

We are up in the attic and I ask the lead guy who looks like he is around 40 how long has he been in the business? He replies licensed for 3 years but his dad owned an HVAC repair company so he has been around it 20 years. Me what did you do before that? Him I own a small healthcare company and am financially set for life and do not have to work, I do this because I like it
In the back of my head I am thinking what financially set person would rather get up in peoples attic during the freezing or blistering heat just because they like it?
The other guy around 30ish has been licensed for only a year but you could tell he was a straight up cool dude.

I tell the guys I want to do as minimal repair right now just to keep it going until spring and then we will look at a new one.
Mr financially set is painting a bleak picture where as the other guy is saying it might only need this to keep it going which did not sit well with the senior guy.
He also tells me that my motor is seized up and thats why it will not come on. I responded the motor is Not seized up I can turn the systems fan only on and it blows just fine.
He then responds what he meant was that it is electronically seized up because of certain things in the process are not working.
Right after that the heater comes on and is blowing and I say alright its working, he says it is only working because the cover is off and it is getting fresh cool air which is blah blah blahing the system.

Senior man goes to the truck to write up a couple of proposal/estimates to fix it while the younger guy is up there putting everything back together..
So he says what you now need as a temporary patch will cost $4,300 and if that works you will probably need this work done also within a couple of years and that will run another $4,700.
I said that is $9,000 on an old system and that is not happening , he responds that he can have a person come by tonight to talk to me about a brand new unit that they can start installing tomorrow. Said thanks but no thanks

I also asked him if this was their slow time of the year/season he said nope real busy. Of course my mind is saying probably more BS since they were able to come out just a few hours after I called, can have a person come out tonight to sell me a brand new unit that they can start the install the next day.

Here is the kicker, I turned the system on a little later after they left and it has been running just great

Just curious...what did they finally charge you for that?

For the service call and diagnostic they are supposedly not charging us anything because my son is active military (Navy) and our house is still considered his main residence because he has been stationed overseas for most of the last 4 years in Japan and now Bahrain, he is on our insurance policy that we pay for with this as his residence.

They do free diagnostic for vets, active duty and first responders so that was very nice of them.

Cool beans!