I'm living in a townhouse with an "older system" as they've called it. There's an intermittent issue where some days it just doesn't work. A tech has come out and "inspected everything" and "topped off the freon"... and it works... usually. But then it's like some days it just DOESN'T. It's not super hot here yet, about 80-85 during the days, so it's not like it's 100 out and I have it set to 65. I have a reasonable schedule with it set to mid-70s during the day and 70 after about 9pm so I can sleep comfortably.

Yesterday it was in the mid 80s during the day and was down to 65 in the evening. The AC was at 70 last night, it's 75 inside, 65 outside, and the fan was just running endlessly, blowing room temp air out of the registers. I walk outside, the outdoor unit isn't spinning/running/blowing/whatever. I just turned it to OFF and said fuck it. I can guarantee when the tech turns it back on, it will be fine and I'll sound crazy. The guy that owns the house acts like I don't know how AC works and tells me "it takes a while to cool off since it's an older unit" and "upstairs will be warmer"... and I'm like yes, I'm not dumb... it just isn't working.

I know a problem like this that comes and goes can be very hard to diagnose, but is it a correct assumption that AC on, air blowing from registers, the outdoor unit should be spinning? That seems like a pretty obvious issue, is it not? Also, if anyone has any ideas as to what the problem could be... feel free to throw your thoughts at me.

Thanks everyone!