Air conditioner not working. Any ideas?

It could be as simple as a loose wire yes. To something more complex. You could always call a company that offers the "tune up service" Then they can tell you whats wrong with it. They you can decide for the say 60 bucks your out, is it something that you can do yourself and save some money.

I would go that route if I were you. Just play dumb like it works just fine when you call. The come out and you say well its been acting funny. Just dont be surprise if they tell you need a new unit. Anything around or past the 10 year mark they want to sell you a new system. Hog wash, if it repairable a good company wont try an pull the wool over your eyes. So just keep that in mind.

I would not continue to opperate the unit if I were you. As the what if might be repairable, and you keep using the ac and send it to it grave. Seem it happen all the time. Customer said well if I turn it off and on a couple of times it will run. And by then its dead. some get lucky and some dont.

The best thing you can do to help your system keep functioning properly is change the air filter on a regular basis. If you’re not familiar with the location it's usually in the ceiling under the ac unit. Or it could be in the wall, the proper name for this is the return air vent. The funny looking square filter fits right in side, and a clean filter keeps the compressor running cool. A dirty filter that's never changed can cause your compressor to strain, and over heat. Eventually burning out and costing you big bucks to replace in the neighborhood of $700 and up. It's best to have a certified HVAC technician service your unit once a year.

You can read the entire article here: http://www.karpanto.com/hvac/home-air-conditioning...

Check the filter and also the condensor coil. If this gets clogged up with dust, the unit will overheat and shut off. It will come back on automatically when it cools. This could be the problem.

Fuse is out, it would either work or not work. A loose wire can happen but is highly unlikely.

Hope this helps.

filter is always a good place to start but not in this case. if filter was clogged then you would have ice built up on your evap. cond. coil could be dirty. wash it with a water hose carefully not bending the fins over. turn the power off to the unit just to be safe while washing coil. sounds like compressor is going off on internal overload from getting to hot. when it cools off it will come back on until it gets to hot again. when you say it comes on whenever it feels like it is the t-stat calling for it or is it in the off position. if in the off position then the t-stat may be bad. also could have a leak and no gas in the system to cool the compressor off. if you wash the coils and filter and still not working then call hvac tech. could be a loose wire in unit.

Another idea;

Most use a thermistor to sense temperatures these days since they are all electronic. It the thermistor gets loose and it is against the cold evaporator then it will act like that. Normally that thermistor is mounted to a pad in front of the evaporator coil. Or the thermistor itself could be going bad and not reading the temperature right.