Unit quit blowing cold air. Condenser isnt firing up. Of course, it's fucking Friday and all I want to do is relax for the weekend.

Here we go.

More proof of The Universal Law Of Negative Dynamics.

Weekend at the beach?

You mean the compressor ?

Murphy's Law. Damn. I've had that, too.

Been there, done that, on July 2nd (Sunday) of this year. My compressor wouldn't fire up. Turned out to be a bad capacitor, which in the grand scheme of things, is an easy fix that shouldn't have required me sweating it out for a day and then calling in an HVAC repairman.

Since then, I've learned how to use a multimeter and how to diagnose most common AC failures, as well as purchased a multimeter and common spare parts for the unit to have on hand.

Next time, I'll be prepared to handle common failures myself, even if it strikes on a weekend.

I have a contactor and two capacitors , along with a bottle of turbine oil . I'll go down fighting ...

I believe it. My last two AC breakdowns were on a Saturday morning (condenser fan motor) and Friday evening. The last one was several weeks ago. Just about sunset I noticed the supply air was warm. I checked the condenser unit and it was dead. Pulled the panel and sure enough the capacitor top was bulging. Fortunately I had picked up a spare a year earlier so in less than 15 minutes back up and running. I feel for you. Hope your back in cool air before Monday.

Fortunately, I have a serice that responds quickly and doesn't charge more for weekends. They're ALWAYS "weekend" expensive. They did, however, come out within two hours and replace the outside portion of my failed heat pump in 10 degree weather in a snowstorm, under warranty.

No, they also breakdown on the hottest days of the year.

At least it wasn’t a holiday weekend.

Top three reasons the AC quit working that you can fix without the repairman:
1. Clogged condensate line - I’ve stopped counting
2. Bad breaker/shutoff switch - 3 times
3. Bad capacitor - 3 times

I had a bad contactor once as well.

That really shitty part, pun intended, is the repair guys never have the parts and the suppliers aren’t open. I pay for the call, they diagnose it, then I go to Home Depot to get the part and replace it myself. That happened to me twice and that’s when I decided to cut out the middleman.

If you can turn a screwdriver, use a multimeter, understand a minimum about electric circuits, and know how to discharge a capacitor, then you can diagnose and fix the issues above.

Happened to us twice in as many Saturdays back to back. August Saturdays in The South. First time was blown capacitor, second time was clogged condensation drain line. I thought the tech on the first call had told me he’d cleared the lines. Apparently not haha…

House has two units, the main for the downstairs and another for what we use as a large playroom for the grandkids and a storage area. Thankfully, the upstairs unit runs fine (it was replaced a few years back) and we were able to at least stay cool there between the repair calls.

Second tech did give me some pointers on what to look out for and some interim steps to take should there be another issue.

OP, here’s hoping you get repair and relief soon!

The inside blower motor went out in the middle of summer of 2018. One of our nephews walked me through the troubleshoot over the phone. Used motors were still going for $300+ IIRC on eBay. I was able to find the correct motor on Amazon, but the 5 day shipping was miserable. I order a puller on his recommendation. I glad I did as the SOB was stuck harder than sin in a whorehouse. Lets say it mushroomed the metal head of the puller before it released. Beside that, the replacement was straight forward. Motor is still going strong. The brand of the motor is a Genteq Evergreen if anyone is curious. Save myself over a $1K with only $265 out of pocket.

A capacitor change is easy for most, I'm still reluctant to tell anyone not familiar with electricity to be messing around though. Sometimes when capacitors go bad they bulge - like a soda can in the freezer. No need to have a meter.

I keep two capacitors on hand and one new contactor. I've had both go out in the last 21 years. I've also had a condenser fan go out (swapped that myself) and the compressor breaker go bad (I hate pixies so I let my HVAC guy do that one). It's never been anything serious, I get my charge checked yearly and that gets me through most failures.

Hopefully you got your going.

I live in a townhouse, the exterior has been painted a thousand times, this includes the AC breaker box. In an attempted to check the breaker last night, I grabbed some tools as the layers of paint wouldn't allow me to open the panel with my mitts. As I was orienting myself near the box, I casually placed a hammer on top of the AC unit which either encouraged the unit to kick on, or the AC Gods granted me another day of non-misery.

Prior to this, I'd also cycled the breakers on the interior panel and turned everything off/then on at the T-stat. I'm at a loss.

YESSS!

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
At least it wasn’t a holiday weekend.

Top three reasons the AC quit working that you can fix without the repairman:
1. Clogged condensate line - I’ve stopped counting
2. Bad breaker/shutoff switch - 3 times
3. Bad capacitor - 3 times

I had a bad contactor once as well.

That really shitty part, pun intended, is the repair guys never have the parts and the suppliers aren’t open. I pay for the call, they diagnose it, then I go to Home Depot to get the part and replace it myself. That happened to me twice and that’s when I decided to cut out the middleman.

If you can turn a screwdriver, use a multimeter, understand a minimum about electric circuits, and know how to discharge a capacitor, then you can diagnose and fix the issues above.

This post should be a sticky with the additional of
4.Bad Contactor (usually due to ants or spiders shorting it out)

The thing that frosts my balls is the cheap Chinese capacitors that go out in two or three years. Capacitors used to be made in USA and would last 10 to 15 years. Then production moved to Mexico and quality went to shit. Now I think a lot come from China and they literally won't last more than 3 years. The capacitor costs less than $10 wholesale but can cost the homeowner hundreds for a service call to replace. FFS someone make a decent $30 capacitor and stop this insanity.

It’s almost always the hottest day of the year, on the weekend, just after 6pm. You and 200 other people are all calling at the same time.


I have two systems, and one of them clogs the condensate line regularly. I’ve tried vinegar, and bleach. Some kind of white sludge builds up, the float trips, and the whole thing powers off. Easy fix.

If the compressor won’t start it’s likely the cap.

Although my carrier system has a massive motherboard. It’s highly prone to failure I can’t diagnose.

I so wish I had not let them talk me into that system.

At least I have two units, and if one goes down the other can keep some part of the house livable.

Yearly maintenance def helps.

quote:

Originally posted by straightshooter01:
The thing that frosts my balls is the cheap Chinese capacitors that go out in two or three years. Capacitors used to be made in USA and would last 10 to 15 years. FFS someone make a decent $30 capacitor and stop this insanity.

Mars does still offer a line of US-made capacitors, which run ~$40. But they're only assembled in the US using "global materials", likely the same materials that go into their Mexican-made capacitor line. They basically offer two identical capacitor lines, one made in USA with a 14XXX model number, and another made in Mexico with a 12XXX model number. (For example, 14288 and 12288 are both 45/5 440 capacitors, just made in US vs. Mexico.)

So provided you're comfortable with installing your own capacitors, your options are to install a $10-$15 Mexican-made Mars capacitor and then just accept that you need to keep a spare on hand to swap when it goes out every several years, or otherwise install a US-made Mars capacitor that costs 3x-4x as much and just hope it lasts 3x-4x as long.

Because of elderly parents, our age, and young grandkids (all in different houses) we purchased and have a 14000 BTU duel tube portable AC (110/120 volt) on site at our house for any emergency like a unit going down. This is the BEST $400.00 we could have spent. In the past two years we have had to pull it out and use it twice (once here and once at my sons house)…..

Something worth considering guys - After my son used this one last year he purchased his own single tube 14000 btu portable unit at Sam’s at their year end close out for $299.99 - and that time of year will be here real soon…..

Word of advice - Buy as large a BTU unit that is available that uses 110/120 volt as we learned from a friend who purchased a 8000 btu unit that he wished he had bought a larger unit when he had to use it over a weekend to cool a portion of his house…..If you are young and have a strong back - you can buy a window unit and save a little $$$ - because of the weight of window units, we decided to go the portable unit pathway - they are not as efficient, but they have wheels on them for rolling and no lifting….

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:

quote:

Originally posted by straightshooter01:
The thing that frosts my balls is the cheap Chinese capacitors that go out in two or three years. Capacitors used to be made in USA and would last 10 to 15 years. FFS someone make a decent $30 capacitor and stop this insanity.

Mars does still offer a line of US-made capacitors, which run ~$40. But they're only assembled in the US using "global materials", likely the same materials that go into their Mexican-made capacitor line. They basically offer two identical capacitor lines, one made in USA with a 14XXX model number, and another made in Mexico with a 12XXX model number. (For example, 14288 and 12288 are both 45/5 440 capacitors, just made in US vs. Mexico.)

So provided you're comfortable with installing your own capacitors, your options are to install a $10-$15 Mexican-made Mars capacitor and then just accept that you need to keep a spare on hand to swap when it goes out every several years, or otherwise install a US-made Mars capacitor that costs 3x-4x as much and just hope it lasts 3x-4x as long.

Interesting, I may look into those. For a person doing it themselves it may not be as clear cut, but for someone waiting two days and paying hundreds of dollars for a service call, it is a no brainer to pay the $40 even it only lasts twice as long.

It appears that they have a 60,000 hours operational life, which I guess is 7 to 10 years depending on area climate and associated use of system.