My ~3 year old central AC stopped cooling at some point yesterday afternoon. Was working just fine all through the recent 105+ heat wave, and ticking right along as recently as about 11 am yesterday, but I came home at 5 pm to an 80 degree house with 80 degree air coming out the vents.

Both interior and exterior fans run, but the compressor doesn't appear to be running as both refrigerant lines were the same temp. Ran through some troubleshooting, but it wasn't anything obvious to me. Filter is replaced monthly on the 1st of the month. Coil is clean. Drain pipe is clear. Nothing was frozen up that I could see. Capacitor doesn't appear noticeably bulged (but could still potentially be bad). Even tried a power cycle reset with the breaker.

So having exhausted my DIY capabilities, it was time to call in a pro. Possibly something electrical, or low refrigerant from a leak (despite no freezing), or worst case scenario a bad compressor (that may or may not be covered under warranty).

Made it through a semi-sweaty night with just fans, then starting calling repair places first thing this morning.

Both of the first 2 repair places I called this morning advised that their offices were closed today for the 4th of July holiday, so a service call would involve emergency call-out pricing! I declined to play that game.

Finally was able to find a place that doesn't close on July 3rd for July 4th, and they said they could be here around noon.

Good luck, sincerely. But the skeptic in me asks how are you going to know if they're not charging you holiday pay? I feel for you.

This is the first AC issue I've run into with my new house in a new town, so I don't have experience yet with any of these local folks to know if they're honest or not, like I had with my previous HVAC guy. I guess if we're being ultra-cynical, this third place might still try to sneak that in. But this place was answered by their normal office staff, who said they're working normal hours today, with no mention of extra holiday call out cost like the first two places. I'm going to take them at face value.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
This is the first AC issue I've run into with my new house in a new town, so I don't have experience yet with any of these local folks to know if they're honest or not, like I had with my previous HVAC guy. I guess if we're being ultra-cynical, this third place might still try to sneak that in. But this place was answered by their normal office staff, who said they're working normal hours today, with no mention of extra holiday call out cost like the first two places. I'm going to take them at face value.

It may not be a game . A lot of businesses close on the 3rd . I have a AC guy that lives across the street from me and his van is in the driveway . He probably won't make it through the day without getting called out though . He worked all day yesterday .

Fixed, with no holiday upcharge. It was the capacitor after all. Even though it wasn't noticeably blown/bulged, it wasn't sending enough juice to get the compressor started.

Reminds me that I really ought to invest in a multimeter, and learn how to use it for some of the simpler DIY homeowner tasks. Meant to do that years ago, for situations like this.

That A/C should be in warranty. Businesses can charge whatever the market will bear. Went through this with Roto Rooter. They probably have a hard time getting their employees to come in.
When I did factory work it was double time and one half.

3 yrs old, why not call the company whom installed the system?

Parts should have a 5 yr warranty.

By your description and age, it is probably a bad run cap.
United Technologies (who owns several brands) has had a rash of them in that age range.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
That A/C should be in warranty.

It has a 5 year warranty from the manufacturer (Carrier), which covers parts only.

Not worth the warranty claim (and longer wait for a factory-certified service tech as required - there are only two in the entire area) for a $25 capacitor. I'd be paying labor either way, which was the bulk of the bill. And considering how disposable capacitors are, I wouldn't be surprised if those were specifically excluded in the fine print...

If it was something like a $2k new compressor that was needed, I'd have looked more closely at going the warranty claim route.

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Originally posted by Excam_Man:
3 yrs old, why not call the company whom installed the system?

Tried that. No call back. They might be closed today as well. The house itself was built in 2020, so this was a new construction installation for the builder. So it's not like they have an existing customer relationship with me or anything. I had to dig back through my "new home packet" just to find who the installer was anyway.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: RogueJSK,

The Fourth falling on a Tuesday this year seems to have caused IQs to drop sharply. Everybody wants to close or leave early today. (Even including my own workplace, which was pretty much shut down by the parts stores sending their drivers home at 2:00; we went home at 3:00.) That could be forgiven, but the fireworks show tonight, a day early, is over the top stupid.

Our 3 year old capacitor went out last year replaced at no charge. There was a defective batch.

Glad you got it fixed but places being closed today isn't abnormal. I do service work on very specific biomedical equipment and the company I work for is closed today (and tomorrow). If you have an emergency service call and want it handled today (or tomorrow) the charge is over $600 per hour with a 3 hour minimum.

I keep a " Crash kit " . A couple of capacitors and a 30 amp contactor along with a bottle of turbine oil .

I'm going to keep a spare capacitor on hand, alongside picking up a multimeter.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
I'm going to keep a spare capacitor on hand, alongside picking up a multimeter.

Be careful with Air Condtioning caps. They hold 230v for a while after being "unplugged".

They need to be drained, before working on them or you can get a very bad shock.

Always check voltage across contacts before touching them.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
It has a 5 year warranty from the manufacturer (Carrier), which covers parts only.

Carrier is one of UT's labels, guess how I knew it was their failed product?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
And considering how disposable capacitors are, I wouldn't be surprised if those were specifically excluded in the fine print...

They are covered by the parts warranty...

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:


Both of the first 2 repair places I called this morning advised that their offices were closed today for the 4th of July holiday, so a service call would involve emergency call-out pricing! I declined to play that game.

I'm with you. I'm sure lots of folks took yesterday off in order to have a nice long holiday, but yesterday was not a holiday. In fact, I had my annual HVAC service done yesterday and it was scheduled months ago. I even remember the scheduler saying "It's the day before the 4th. We're working, but are you sure you'll be around that day?"

A compressor that fails to start has only a few causes. Similarly, a condensing unit fan that won't start has only one common cause.

The capacitor is about $10 at a real HVAC supply store.

Cautions about 230v and 35 microfarads are valid. Take a picture of the wiring (usually four colors) and don't bridge any terminals.

Pull the disconnect at the outside power cable box.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
A compressor that fails to start has only a few causes. Similarly, a condensing unit fan that won't start has only one common cause.

Hmmmm.... only one for the fan?

Several come to mind for no fan operation while everything else is running along fine.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
A compressor that fails to start has only a few causes. Similarly, a condensing unit fan that won't start has only one common cause.

You want to rethink that ?