How to Check Amperage on Compressor and Fan Motor

This will be great in allowing you to determine if the amp draw on your compressor is causing your breaker to trip. I also included the amp draw test for the condenser fan motor. Always refer to the specs on your compressor to determine the proper amp draw for your specific system which is usually located on the identification plate on the compressor itself. When checking specs for condenser fan motor you will find the specs on the fan motor itself.

[gnosis]

Thanks for demonstrating this test! People, do yourselves a favor and buy a clamp multimeter. It only cost about $25 on Amazon and could save you thousands! I had two HVAC technicians come over and test our compressor and they both told us that it was drawing over 30 amps which means it's about to die and needs to be replaced asap! The quoted us $13, 000 for a new system. What they failed to mention is that the reason the compressor was drawing so much power is because the capacitor was bad. I had it replaced myself for $20 and then used my own multimeter to test the amps. What do you know, it was drawing 18 amps! Be careful, there are a lot of HVAC scammers out there! They all want to make money on account of your ignorance! Don't let them do it. Get educated and fix things yourselves whenever possible!

[anthonyfernandez]

Good video right here and good explaining just wish you would have shown what was the amp draw asking for in the diagram

[gregoryl]

You should be an instructor, Sam, awesome tutorials, very informative.

[realestateinfonet]

Superb info! Thank you very much for taking the time to share it with us!

[jamesrockford]

good camera work, good information and explanation, keep it up.

[OthmanAlikhan]

Thanks for the video, and in particular for mentioning not to measure both wires at once. Explains why my measurements were off =)

[petkoandreev]

One clarification. To check the start up draw or so called inrush you have to have a clamp with the inrush fuction. MinMax function is not fast enough.

[ros]

Hi Sam, thank you for the vid. How do you know what the running amps should be?

[HowToDoitright]

You said there is no other way to know when compressor is running. That is incorrect. There are many other ways to tell if compressor is running. 3 to mention below. First it is loud and your can hear it. Second you can touch the suction line and if it’s cold means compressor is running. Third you can disconnect the fan from capacitor and just hear for compressor if it’s hard to listen with fan on.

[antrinh]

Good explain. Are u a general contractor ? U sound like u know stuff very well.

[condor]

I guess the Klein tool doesn’t record maximum draw? My 4 ton unit had a max of 80 amps on each leg at the circuit breaker at the panel and 17.5 amps on each leg steady state running. Fluke 87V. Thanks for the video.

[antoniovallejo]

Sam great video but for education purpose the amp reading you always have to take it from the C wire from the compressor or CFM

[pottedrodenttube]

Anthony Jeselnik does HVAC videos? Nice!

[roylane]

If I don't have th eClamp Meter, where do I connect the wires from the meter? JUst where they connect to the termicals on each end?

[OG-Malinali]

What are the three amperage readings that we are supposed to get on a good compressor from common start run as far as numbers?

[cococuzoful]

How do you know youre getting the proper amps not just amps in general and what is the LRA on the unit

[brandonh]

I’m glad to see this was 5 years ago and if you stuck too it I know you have gained the experience necessary since this video.

Your amp drawl should be read if your testing the starting or running amps of compressor would always be at the in line that feeds cap and compressor as well as fan 👍🏼

Not the L2 which coming from said components

Now if the starting amps which I’m sure you know by now your meter has a feature that if set will record max amperage should never exceed more than 80 in any residential circumstance. In that case you would know that the windings of the compressor are are going bad and you need to add a hard start kit to the system to increase the life expectancy of said compressor. But great video though don’t know why algorithms showed me a five year old video but I’m confident you’ve progressed since 🙌🏼 great start

[JuanMorales-ksll]

what happend if the amp in the comp is 10.97 and the RLA is 20.3

[randyjames]

Did you show what the compressor amp load max is? Is it on the compressor or the data sticker? You just showed the amperage but was it ok or too high etc?

[steven-sljv]

how do you now how much amps should be? does it say in plate?