What is the model number of you r condenser? Do you have an Infinity controller? The usual time delay when shutting down the AC is 5 minutes. I have never heard of a 4 hour delay with the blower continuing to run. I think you have a system issue. You should have the problem diagnosed by a competent Carrier dealer.

'The usual time delay when shutting down the AC is 5 minutes."

If you google "carrier 4 hour timeout" you will find that this is known issue with this series of Carriers.

Turns out the company that installed it no longer represents Carrier. No surprise there. I'm in a rural area so there are only a few possible choices to come out and look at it, but fortunately one says he's coming by 2pm. House is getting hot - it could be close to 95F today here.

Had a 15+ year old Trane before than ran fine for the 5 years I owned it, through brown outs and power outages and heat waves. Only once needed a slight charge topping. To say I'm disappointed with the reliability of this unit would be an understatement. On the plus side I do think it lowered my AC bill, just a little.

cf:
http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/archive/index.php/t-297602.html

Here is a link that might be useful: http://hvac-talk.com/vbb/archive/index.php/t-297602.html

I Googled "carrier 4 hour timeout". The only thing I found was the link to your thread.

I read the thread. The condenser cuts out when it detects three consecutive faults. Do you see the fault messages on the Infinity controller?

You have either an equipment problem or an installation problem. This I why I said you should not experience more than a 5 minute delay when you get a power interruption. A 4 hour delay is not normal operation.

Your best bet is to find a Carrier Factory Authorized dealer. If your equipment is less than 10 years old then it should be under warranty if it was properly registered at the time of installation.

Does this answer anything

http://www.manualslib.com/manual/25476/Carrier-Infinity-24ana.html?page=13

Yes I knew that 3 normal faults put it into the 4 hour lockout. The question was why does it keep having multiple faults in a row. Maybe brownouts caused the compressor to become stressed and then the starting circuitry wasn't able to work right. I don't know. Brownouts have become alarmingly frequent here since Hurricane Irene. I pestered the power company about it a few months ago and it seems better since then.

But, it was fixed the next day. Guy replaced the stock cap, said it was bad - "under warranty" but charged me $200 for some super-booster cap that he said would help alleviate future problems. I now find out these cost Still think it's idiotic that the default behavior is to keep circulating hot air when it has a fault. EVERYTHING should shut down and the error be displayed on the controller.

Now that I understand your complaint, I agree the Infinity controller should shut everything down when it detects the type of fault you are experiencing.