How To Replace An Air Conditioner Condenser Fan Blade

Whether you’re fixing sudden damage or looking to get your AC in working order before warm weather hits, you’ve come to the right place. In this guide, we’re walking you through the steps to replace the condenser fan in a whole-house AC unit. You’ll also find tips for picking out the right fan for your system.

The prospect of tackling HVAC may be intimidating, but this particular repair is potentially very easy, depending on your AC unit’s make and model. You’ll save money by skipping a professional repair, and can enjoy the confidence boost of a successful DIY project. Ready to do some maintenance? Let’s go!

Need a replacement condenser blade for your air conditioner? Search below using your specific air conditioner model number to identify the exact part needed:

How does an air conditioner unit work?

Whether you’ve got central air, a window unit, or a ductless mini-split set up, air conditioning systems all work in roughly the same way. They function a bit like refrigerators – pulling in warm air from your home and cooling it with refrigerant before releasing the air back into your home. In central air systems like the one we’re repairing in this guide, it all starts with a thermostat, which measures the temperature inside your home. When it’s warm enough, the system kicks on.

Warm air is pulled into the system’s indoor unit, where it is filtered and then passed over evaporator coils full of liquid refrigerant. The refrigerant absorbs the heat in the air, turning into a gas and cooling the air passing over the coils. The cooled air is then pumped back into your home through ducts and vents. Meanwhile, that gas refrigerant is passed through copper tubes to the AC’s outdoor unit, where it is fed into a compressor and condensed back down into liquid – releasing the heat collected from the air inside. Once in a liquid state again, the refrigerant is passed back into the AC’s indoor unit to repeat the cooling process again.

Signs And Symptoms Of A Damaged AC Condenser Fan

If there’s something wrong with the fan blade in your AC system’s condenser, you’ll likely hear it. When a blade is damaged, it will produce a howling or metallic wobbling or rattling noise. A visual inspection can help to confirm that the blade is the issue. Bent, severely corroded, broken, or fractured blades should be replaced as soon as possible. Not only will your AC unit be less effective, the condenser could potentially risk greater damage due to overheating. Check around each individual blade’s rivets for any signs of damage like cracks. If you see any, replace the blade as soon as possible. A fractured or cracked blade can split, flinging metal that could cause serious injury to anyone nearby or damage to your AC unit.

Checking your AC unit’s condenser fan blade annually will ensure you start off the warm months knowing that your equipment is in good shape.

Finding The Right Replacement Fan Blade

Typically, finding a compatible replacement fan blade should be as simple as searching by the AC unit’s model number. By matching your unit’s exact model number to an OEM part, you should be able to find air conditioner parts that are an exact fit for your condenser. Search below for an exact replacement if you have this number available:

If that isn’t possible, however, you will need a few details to find a fan blade that will work with your AC unit and the condenser motor:

• Number of fan blades.
• Angle of the fan blades.
• The diameter of the fan blades. To get thus number most easily, start with the radius, which is calculated by measuring from the center of the condenser fan blade out to the tip. Multiple the radius by two to get your diameter.
• RPM of the motor, which should be printed on the motor itself.

Having this information will help you to track down a compatible part.

How To Replace An AC Condenser Fan Blade

In this guide, we’re setting you up with a general overview of how to replace the condenser fan blade in an AC system’s condenser unit. This walkthrough should help you regardless of the model of your AC unit. If you run into any difficulties, consult your AC system’s manual for diagrams that can help you track down the location of a component.

Please note that on some condensers, you may need to discharge the AC unit’s capacitor before you can safely replace the fan blades. If you do not have electrical work experience or are not comfortable discharging a capacitor, hire a professional repair technician to assist you with replacing your fan blade. A mishandled capacitor contains enough charge to cause fatal injury even days after power has been cut to the equipment.

Tools for the job

The following tools are required to replace the fan blade in most AC system condensers. Depending on your brand or model, you may need other, unlisted tools, but this is a good place to start.

• Flathead Screwdriver, preferably with an insulated handle
• Nut Driver
• Adjustable Wrench
• Wire Cutters
• Zip Ties
• Multimeter (optional)
• WD-40 (optional)
• Work Gloves – the metal panels on most condenser units are generally fairly sharp, so wear gloves to protect your hands as you disassemble things.

Before you begin

Shut off the power to your AC unit and to the furnace. Never perform maintenance on any appliance or piece of equipment that is still receiving power – you could get a nasty, possibly fatal shock! You’ll need to either completely remove the fuses from the disconnect box or shut off power at the circuit breaker.

Replacing A Condenser Fan Blade

1. Start by removing the control box access cover. It is likely held in place by a few 5/16-inch screws. Use your nut driver to loosen and remove those, then pull the panel down to remove it.
2. At this point, you may want to check to confirm that the AC unit is totally unpowered. To do this, use a multimeter that is set to Voltage and test the contactor to verify that no power is reaching the unit.
3. Cut any zip ties securing the wires to increase the slack on them.
4. Depending on which model of AC unit you have, you may now need to discharge the capacitor, which is the large battery-shaped component mounted to the side of the unit behind the control box access panel. If your AC unit necessitates completely removing the fan assembly to switch the blades out, you will likely need to do this.
   1. Again, if you do not have electrical work experience or are not comfortable discharging a capacitor, hire a professional repair technician to assist you with replacing your fan blade. A mishandled capacitor contains enough charge to cause fatal injury even days after power has been cut to the equipment.
   2. To discharge a capacitor, use a flathead screwdriver and touch the metal portion of it to each of the capacitor’s terminals. Avoid touching the metal portion of the screwdriver, yourself, when doing this.
   3. Once the capacitor is discharged, detach the fan motor wires from the capacitor and the contactor. Make note of where each one goes.
5. Remove the air grill cover. Use your 5/16-inch nut driver to remove the screws holding this in place. Number of screws will vary depending on your AC unit.
6. Flip the air grill cover upside down. Most fans are attached directly to the cover, so you’ll be working from here. You may need to clip a few more zip ties to slacken up wire bundles enough to give you room to flip the grill cover over.
7. Note the position of the fan blade on the motor shaft, and the direction of the blade angles. This will be important when installing the new shaft.
8. Loosen the set screw with an adjustable wrench. You will likely need to steady the fan blade with one hand as you do this.
9. Remove the old fan blade by lifting it off the shaft. If you’re having difficulty with this, you can apply some WD-40 to help free it, just be sure to wipe it away before installing the new fan blade.
10. Loosen the set screw on the new fan blade. This will make it easier to install.
11. Install the new fan blade. The set screw should be aligned with the flat side of the shaft. Make sure the blades are angled in the proper direction. Then tighten the set screw to secure it.
12. Flip the grill cover back over. If you pulled any wires loose during disassembly, be sure to feed them back through and replace any of the interior zip ties you may have snipped. Make sure everything is properly reseated before moving onto the next step.
13. Reinstall the cover screws using your 5/16-inch nut driver. If there are any screws directly above the control box, don’t fully tighten those down, yet, as it will make installing the cover more difficult.
14. If you disconnected any wires from the capacitor or the contactor, reinstall them now. Either way, also replace the zip ties you clipped earlier.
15. Reinstall the control box access cover, and make sure all screws are adequately tightened down.
16. Restore power to the AC unit and furnace, you’re ready to test the blade out!

Wrapping Up

Replacing the fan blade on your home AC unit isn’t a tough job if you have the know-how, and we hope this guide has helped with that. Need more tips, tutorials, or maybe some genuine OEM replacement parts? Keep AppliancePartsPros.com in mind. Our friendly staff is happy to help you fix your appliance yourself!