I found mine was running in reverse. Did some investigating. There's 8 wires coming out of the fan motor. 2 are the power leads, 2 are for a running capacitor, and 4 thinner gauge color coded wires connected with spade connectors to each other. Label on the fan motor has a color to color connection diagram for these 4 wires to select the rotational direction. So glad it was an easy fix. Thanks for the vid.

nice video. another way the fan would run backwards is if you accidently put the motor lead on the herm side of the capacitor. learned that from doing a maintenance on a unit one time

Good job as a 30+ year retired Master HVACR tech, your thought process was spot on. I am also glad you also called the motor and let the customer know it needs replacing those baring and windings in that motor are shot and sound like poo. I have seen tech's not tell the customer about this kind of problem, (maybe from lack of knowledge or just don't care but that dose not serve your profession or is in the best interest of the customer.) and have a call back, which kills you creditabilty in the customers eyes. On a condenser fan motor running backward for a long time kills the magnetic fields and destroys the windings and bearings from the added heat and harmonics. If you bench test that motor with an oisiliscope it will prove that fact. I know this is beond what would be expected of a technition. But beleive me it is true I have a friend that was a electrical engineer and we did just that test. Just an FYI, also all new techs should watch using reversible universal condenser fan motors for horse power, amp draw, and RPMs not to mention making sure the fan is running the right way. Nice job HVAC Tech Tips. PS: I have seen a run cap test good at say rated at 5.0 MFD and test at 5.9 MFD and the fan motor be good also but the fan would still run backwards from high winds. When the unit shuts down and the wind starts spinning the fan the wrong way it will continue to spin that way even when the unit comes on, as a younger tech this problem drove me nuts for about 2 days on a commercial roof top unit, until I cought it in the act. I had to install a high wind shroud on the top of the condensing unit to stop it.

I’m a new tech and I have been following you for some time now. You have help me with a lot. Thank you for explaining the whys.

Thanks for the assist getting my 30 year old AC running again. Found the cap swollen on both ends. Replacement from Amazon the next day, cold air 20 minutes later. Thanks again!

Good Job! Nice to listen to someone that knows what he is talking about

When our company is ready to hire, we hope we find a tech as good as you. Good job!

My fan is running backwards and I am waiting on the repairman now. I pray he is as competent as this guy in the video and not some landlord jackleg. This guy knows his stuff and actually has all the technical knowledge you need. I am an electrical foreman and i forgot my tester at work so I hope I see him doing this the right way with real equipment.

the red wire goes on the 4 spade terminal C,7:22 somebody switched yellow and red that is why it ran backwards,but that is a great way to verify, .thanks for sharing.

That's why I keep you around cause you can figure things out ... Good vid ... Thx man ...

Nice job! interesting the cap reads good but still runs backwards. keep up the good work 💪

Just had this situation happen yesterday! I'm the only one working on the system therefore I went straight for the capacitor and found the capacitance was still good. Replaced the motor, problem solved!

Excellent video - 4.5 microfarads on a 5 microfarads capacitor is off 10% which I have to believe is out of spec right? Great job diagnosing. Never seen or would have thought a bad capacitor could cause the motor to reverse!

good information in a good video not all drawn out.. thank you for helping others

Greatly appreciate your knowledge

I have an extra compasitor so i’ll hook it up in the a.m because mine started running backwards ✌️ thank you

Had this happen on a boat once! We were on shore power left for the weekend and an electrician came down and replaced a transformer on the pier. The electrician didn’t connect the phases back the same way. The air compressors air conditioners and everything with a three phase motor ran backwards. Most stuff was ok but the air compressors all locked up as the oil pumps don’t work when it’s turning backwards. The AC unit somehow survived running backwards for the weekend it sounded horrible when we arrived on Monday morning but after swapping a couple phases the thing quieted down eventually. The air compressors were junk. Fortunately we didn’t have most of the stuff on the boat running. We had to replace the AC compressors a few months later as they were severely damaged from running backwards for more then 48 hours!

Great 👍🏻 video like always keep them coming stay safe out there

only have to pull that main power cuttoff to work on the outside unit? it's ok to leave the breakers on in the house?

I put a brand new fan motor, brand new capacitor. It is running backwards since the replacement. We had a reversible motor on as the first replacement but it burned out when we swapped the purple and brown. 3rd fan motor on now and going in reverse still.

never assume ,,,,,always check ,,,,,is how i was thought ,,,,,but i dont always do it but WE SHOULD lol ,,,,,,great job from an old retired tech ,,,,god bless

Thanks for the video. Just confirming...the reason the fan was running backwards was because the capacitor was bad? Correct?

Great diagnosis, just wondering why you would need to jump it if you can swap the dual run c and be certain.

Did the motor have revers directional taps. Some have those

“A few things it could be..” The thing that it is: wired wrong.

Had a york commercial that kept going into free cooling even though it wasn't set up for free cooling and disabled on board. One day when resetting it to get it out of free cooling I heard an electrical arch, fan stopped and went into reverse, unit kicked off on high pressure and went into free cooling. Wire had tiny nick in it and periodically hit bottom of metal floor. This took 1 1/2 seasons before the problem happened while I was standing there.

why would you replace the motor when its working and you fixed the rotation direction?

He didn't show the capacitor reading on camera. He says we saw it, but that part must have been cut out.

So, if we are looking down at the fan from the top....the fan should spin clockwise? Which way should the fan on the compressor turn? You are not clear...u keep saying running backward and reverse but not pointing out clarity as to clockwise or counter clock wise. Remember that everyone is watching this video and not HVAC tech. We regular folks will not know your terminology. My trane xl 1400 variable speed roof top unit is spinning clockwise and I feel hot air blowing up. It could just be the outside air temperature but I know it's spinning clockwise. And my AC was working before and it stop blowing air through my vents in the house. So I went up roof and found it spinning clockwise. Anyone can help please help and I will buy the parts. I got quoted $500/hr diagnostic fee, to come out for one company. Another company wanted $200/hr and $1800 to refill freon for 8lbs2.0z. and diagnostics fee will be extras. Ouch. So help please. I'm in Sacramento. Heatwave is 104F all week. house is Sooo hot at 88 wit 3 fan running all day n night and it never gets cooler than 86. Help!!!

A four year old system and the capacitor fails and takes the fan motor with it. That's horrible.

So the AC fan should run counter clockwise?

Here's one for you, replaced fan motor couple years ago, worked fine until now, when air is running fan works as it should, when it kicks off fan stops and starts to slowly go backwards even after shutting thermostat to off, only way to get it to stop is flipping the breaker .... Any ideas ?

8:17 - Would this be an instance where it's appropriate to elevate the head pressure by blocking the condenser air flow to see where the numbers go? I've seen some of my mentors do this to verify charge.

I’m impressed with video’s. Can Correspond with you at all

Great video brother 💯💯💯💯

So I just replaced a Motor (yes it was bad) But I was only able to find a Motor off Amazon with same specs but not same manufacturer. So basically I came across this issue where the motor fan would change direction after running for a while. What I noticed was the original motor had a clockwise rotation and the new motor had a counter clockwise rotation. So I swap the wires to make it run in direction I needed but then noticed that when it would stop and start up again it was going (counterclockwise). Finally called a Tech and when he looked at it he said it was because the motors where different and i should have used the exact manufacturer. Which is ideal but I couldn’t. So long story short this could cause your fan to go wrong direction as well.

Should my fan be running COUNTER CLOCKWISE ?

So the orange is hot, is the black neutral or is it ground

Great video

good video i never seen that happen

Wow thanks a lot Sir great teaching

Had a problem come up 2 times now in a week. We've had a couple power blips or surges. When it's happened the fan runs backwards, and gets kinda loud. The 2 times it's happened we were at home, so we turned off ac for a minute or so, then turned it back on, and all was good again. I'm just wondering if it happens when we aren't home what could happen and we don't know about it to turn it off. It's been over 100° here for a solid month or more. Sure don't need a broke ac in our lives right now.

I think I am having this problem now. I just replaced my condenser motor but I am 100% certain I re-wired exactly the way it was with the old motor. SMH.

Could u show the process of replacing the motor in your video

what about if the indoor motor started going backwards? could it also be the cap? or time to replace the motor?

New to the field, just graduated school but, would the condenser fan motor running backwards give you a high head pressure ??

what is the name of the app you use on thi video to read psi line temp subcooling super heat

Hey my ac went out this spring I think it’s the compressor… but the guy came out and just said you need a whole new system… like everyone our system is over 20 years old but we are over 7p so we just getting by on social security … they want to sell us a new system but I think it Might be worth it to put a new compressor in and roll the dice… any advice? I am discouraged because I used to trust this company… they have property diagnosed start and run capacitor issues before and spiders in the circuits but now they are a walk around and look doctor

That motor does sound like it is shot....

Dang Quite good 🤙

What exactly happens when the fan motor blows in reverse?

Easy fix, swap the wires lol

Nice...

Do you have an email that we can exchange information

All you had to do was swap the fan wires. I can't believe your 1st thought was a bad fan motor. 🤔

That motor is trash. Also look for oil wicking around the shaft where it comes out of the motor. If that is present, the motor will fail and has been overheated in the past.

👍

After 25 yrs of service work I would have changed cap in 3 mins done with job . All the rest of that was pointless 4.4 out of 5 is not the worst but was it 440v and plus minus 6 or 5 etc

Interesting how there was a screw already removed and placed on top of the unit when you walked up for (supposedly) the first time. Then when you removed the other screw placed it in the same way beside the other one, what a coincidence! See you just uploaded a short with another unit with reversed wires on the cap.. more coincidence! I wonder who the "hack" really is here. You'd be going back and replacing that motor on principle if that were my unit. Lengths people will go too for a stupid video, hope you're not charging for those "repairs"