AC capacitor died, went 2 days without AC

[SandEagle]

every single HVAC business was booked and scheduling out by a week after last week's power outage. luckily one called back and said he could stop by and take a look. appears to have been a blown capacitor. after watching him do it, i couldn't believe how simple it was. although i didn't have a volt meter to test with. diagnostic, parts, labor came out to almost $200, but the relief was worth it.

has anyone actually changed one before? i'm thinking of taking up HVAC as a trade. so much money to be made in it.

 

[Ronstang]

That is about the easiest and most common HVAC repair there is and it is going to make you joyful that that capacitor probably cost $10 or less.

I say this all the time.....find out what capacitors your inside and outside units take and get spares to keep in the closet. Get a contactor also as it is a cheap repair and common problem. Just about anyone with can change these parts as long as they know how to turn off the electricity to the unit.

I have changed these parts at 3 AM in the morning. Waking up to no AC and having it working again in 15 minutes is priceless.

 

[SandEagle]

That is about the easiest and most common HVAC repair there is and it is going to make you joyful that that capacitor probably cost $10 or less.

I say this all the time.....find out what capacitors your inside and outside units take and get spares to keep in the closet. Get a contactor also as it is a cheap repair and common problem. Just about anyone with can change these parts as long as they know how to turn off the electricity to the unit.

I have changed these parts at 3 AM in the morning. Waking up to no AC and having it working again in 15 minutes is priceless.

well, i've never opened one up before and have no idea what the problem could have been. in fact, first time seeing a capacitor of that size. i ran a few searches and found that these go for around $30. ffffffcccckkkkk. the tech told me.he'd sell it at cost, which was $150 for the part. where do you gwt these from? i'll chalk this up as an expensive.lesson learned, but i couldnt wait and had to get it done. im pretty confident that i can do this myself next.time.

 

[Ronstang]

Those prices are not correct. I buy them all the time from any HVAC wholesaler. They will not always sell to the public but some will if the sale is for small items. I have never had a problem. If it was one of those dual capacitors it could have been a little more than $10 but not much. There is NO capacitor used in HVAC applications that costs $150, the guy was lying his ass off. You have to remember this is a rapists business. I know, my best friend owns his own HVAC business and admits the markup is criminal.

Simply get the specs off the side of all the capacitors in your system. It will take you less than 30 minutes. Go get spares and keep them on hand for next time.

 

[BUTCH1]

Those prices are not correct. I buy them all the time from any HVAC wholesaler. They will not always sell to the public but some will if the sale is for small items. I have never had a problem. If it was one of those dual capacitors it could have been a little more than $10 but not much. There is NO capacitor used in HVAC applications that costs $150, the guy was lying his ass off. You have to remember this is a rapists business. I know, my best friend owns his own HVAC business and admits the markup is criminal.

Simply get the specs off the side of all the capacitors in your system. It will take you less than 30 minutes. Go get spares and keep them on hand for next time.

Yep, something I need to do as mine exploded 2 years ago, I was lucky and found an AC wholesaler open till noon on sat. He told me he's not supposed to sell to the general public but for a cap it was OK, just don't go there and expect him to sell you an evap coil though, he won't. He also said something interesting, a lot of the caps are sourced from China and some are really crappy quality and are lucky to get one season out of 'em. I'm gonna open mine up this weekend to get the size and hunt around for a Mallory or other decent brand to have on hand.

 

[Broheim]

clearly this was the work of dirty cops.

 

[SandEagle]

thanks Ronstang. wish i saw the other thread earlier, wouldve saved me money. im going to order a few dual caps and a meter and keep em on hand for next time.
:thumbsup:

 

[SandEagle]

clearly this was the work of dirty cops.

get a life.
and, fyi, 'dirty cop' is redundant.

 

[Broheim]

get a life.
and, fyi, 'dirty cop' is redundant.

ok I guess I'll leave then


...


lolj/k guys, I'm back.

 

[lokiju]

Happened (again) on mine. Noticed the house was hot when I got home this past Tuesday. Thankfully the compressor was able to kick in on and off throughout the night so I was able to sleep some.

Ordered a replacement off of eBay but also had a guy that's a private AC repairman and friend of a friend come out.

He replaced the capacitor, checked all the pressure and freon levels and cleaned out my coils (took a hose to it basically) for $168.

Was worth paying the price to not wait for the new capacitor to arrive.

But at least now I have a spare on hand for when it happens next time.

From what I've been reading apparently these capacitors go more and more often these days since GE sold off the manufacturing to some other company and everything's cheap junk now.

At any rate, you can go on eBay and get one delivered for $20 to have on hand as a standby.

Its just a matter of popping off 3 wires that have clamps from the prongs of the bad capacitor and putting them on the new one.

Very easy.

This is the eBay store I bought my capacitor from and they seem to have every kind possible.

 

[BUTCH1]

thanks Ronstang. wish i saw the other thread earlier, wouldve saved me money. im going to order a few dual caps and a meter and keep em on hand for next time.
:thumbsup:

Remember you will need the specific values for your unit, some are single, some are dual (start/run) ect. and it also must be the same (or close) physical dimensions and voltage ratings..

 

[jhansman]

Sorry, but yet another 1st world problem. Too much real shit going down on the planet to care if you are comfortable or not.

 

[Ronstang]

Sorry, but yet another 1st world problem. Too much real shit going down on the planet to care if you are comfortable or not.

Sounds more like you are the one with problems. I am going over to the house I just bought to do a coil cleaning this morning so the AC is nice and efficient. I take care of my own problems, that is why I am comfortable. I suggest you learn how to do the same.

 

[momeNt]

Sorry, but yet another 1st world problem. Too much real shit going down on the planet to care if you are comfortable or not.

Yea? So don't post in his threads and instead buy bags of rice to ship to Africa? Now YOUR problem is solved.

Leave us alone so we can discuss how uncomfortable it is to live without AC when it is hot outside. If you did care you'd realize that we become conditioned to require it, and not having it can be as painful as any other "real shit" that can happen to people.

 

[brianmanahan]

lol, change your own capacitor you nub

 

[Herr Kutz]

That's why I prefer DC. DC capacitors are much more reliable. Edison ftw.

 

[SarcasticDwarf]

Meh, I have been without a/c since Tuesday because of a bad reversing valve. Outside temps have been in the upper 90's.

FML

 

[Red Squirrel]

This is something I should probably lookup how to do, and get a spare. Though getting those parts is hard, normally you can only get them at hvac supply houses that will only sell to EPA certified people. But I wonder how hard it is to get that cert, it's probably worth it just so you can do work on your own AC. Would even allow you to charge it with refrigerant if ever you need to.

 

[SandEagle]

well, today i did something that i was afraid to do before. i removed the panel from my outside AC unit. its not my area of expertise, but after seeing the tech, i figured what the hell it couldn't be that bad. found the capacitor, got the info off of it, and found it online for $22. ordered two spares in case i have this problem again. A good DIY for those that run into this in the future: http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/capacitor.php

 

[CallMeJoe]

This is something I should probably lookup how to do, and get a spare. Though getting those parts is hard, normally you can only get them at hvac supply houses that will only sell to EPA certified people. But I wonder how hard it is to get that cert, it's probably worth it just so you can do work on your own AC. Would even allow you to charge it with refrigerant if ever you need to.

The blower motor went out on my heat pump this past winter. The local Trane supplier sold me a motor and cap (cheap precaution w/ new motor) with no problem. It's only the coolants that require EPA certs.

 

[waggy]

Sorry, but yet another 1st world problem. Too much real shit going down on the planet to care if you are comfortable or not.

obviously not. you cared enough to be a jackass.

 

[rayfieldclement]

every single HVAC business was booked and scheduling out by a week after last week's power outage. luckily one called back and said he could stop by and take a look. appears to have been a blown capacitor. after watching him do it, i couldn't believe how simple it was. although i didn't have a volt meter to test with. diagnostic, parts, labor came out to almost $200, but the relief was worth it.

has anyone actually changed one before? i'm thinking of taking up HVAC as a trade. so much money to be made in it.

NOOOOOOOO! Take up Radiologic Tech at Drexel here in Phila. I think the salary according to Yahoo or MSN is nearly $100,000 for a two year degree.

 

[BUTCH1]

That's why I prefer DC. DC capacitors are much more reliable. Edison ftw.

But now you have to incorporate a DC power supply in the condensing unit to supply the fan motor and you would need a HUGE (and energy-wasting in heat loss) power supply to run a compressor, probably a 150 volt 75 amp unit...

 

[BUTCH1]

well, today i did something that i was afraid to do before. i removed the panel from my outside AC unit. its not my area of expertise, but after seeing the tech, i figured what the hell it couldn't be that bad. found the capacitor, got the info off of it, and found it online for $22. ordered two spares in case i have this problem again. A good DIY for those that run into this in the future: http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/capacitor.php

Great, good site also explaining how to check 'em and safely change 'em out. Here is a pic of my cap when it went bad, it sounded like a shotgun blast in my backyard!..http://s239.photobucket.com/albums/ff296/butch100_2007/?action=view&current=waterhole.jpg#!oZZ1QQcurrentZZhttp%3A%2F%2Fs239.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fff296%2Fbutch100_2007%2F%3Faction%3Dview%26current%3Dbadcap.jpg

 

[bearxor]

I had one go out a few weeks ago. The outdoor unit would kick on but the fan wouldn't run. I know it's the capacitor. But I have no way to verify and there's an elderly woman who needs air in the house.

Call for service. $275 and 20 minutes later, the new capacitor is installed. Definitely need to keep a couple of them on hand.