Author Topic: My AC went out last night  (Read 4168 times)

MooseOutFront

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My AC went out last night
« on: July 18, 2014, 09:17:46 AM »
Well, I notice that the indoor closet unit wasn't making noise but that my outdoor AC was running.  Uh oh.  Despair for a moment then go outside and see the ice on the line and on a couple parts of the outdoor unit.  Sh!t.  This happened once before after some new blown in insulation clogged my filter so I go and check the filter... nope.  It's clean.  Despair some more.  Finish putting kids to bed. 

Then I settled in with my laptop, couple deep breaths and started googling without knowing the right key words to even start.  I eventually ended up at the below youtube video.  It's dark and crummy, but the part where he starts the motor with his hand to see if it is indeed the capacitor that's broke was nails.  I was able to reproduce this exactly.  Called a hvac supply company this morning that said they don't usually sell to the end user direct but they would this time, paid them $10.83, got home and fired up my AC in time to be at work by 9:00 today.  I have a newborn at home, so my ability to delay here as I "figured it out" was minimal.  So happy this all worked out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONhbk2YCDHA&list=PL6C92B654455BC1D7&index=97

I'm considering turning the dead capacitor into a makeshift trophy that I award myself for incidents of serviceman avoidance badassity.



« Last Edit: July 18, 2014, 09:19:21 AM by MooseOutFront »

CommonCents

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2014, 09:24:03 AM »
Badass...but is it more badass that I haven't turned on AC yet this summer?  :)

MooseOutFront

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2014, 09:29:27 AM »
Badass...but is it more badass that I haven't turned on AC yet this summer?  :)
Haha!  Also there is the fact that I DROVE the 8.3 miles to the hvac supply place to pick up the part.  The driving did honestly annoy me a bit.  Always room for improvement.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2014, 09:55:48 AM by MooseOutFront »

Vorpal

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2014, 09:54:20 AM »
Badass...but is it more badass that I haven't turned on AC yet this summer?  :)

Only if you live somewhere as hot or hotter+more humid than Texas ;)

EDIT: Looks like you live in Boston. You guys have only barely cracked 90 degrees a few times so far this summer. Still, kudos for keeping the AC off. Pretty badass since you likely have high humidity there on the water. I vote "equivalent badassity."
« Last Edit: July 18, 2014, 10:00:38 AM by Winston »

DirtBoy

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2014, 10:03:19 AM »
The capacitor died on my unit two years ago, in the middle of summer, on Friday night.  I could not buy a new one from any of the HVAC places in the area.  I was able to acquire one from an electric motor repair place which was a godsend.  I did end up using one of those cheap window mount units to keep one room cool until the motor repair place opened on Monday. 

Cheddar Stacker

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2014, 01:53:59 PM »
Nice work Moose. The best part is that you made it to work by 9:00 and posted this at 9:17. Obviously you are very proud of this minor victory, and I would be too.

Definitely keep the old part as a trophy. You earned it.

MooseOutFront

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2014, 02:10:58 PM »
Ha!  Maybe I should have sat on the story a while and played it cool.  It's just the doom that overtook me when I saw the AC problem was significant.  Been in the house for 9 years and the 2 biggies, roof and AC, have neither one hit me yet.  Thought this was the big one.

CommonCents

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2014, 03:38:22 PM »
Badass...but is it more badass that I haven't turned on AC yet this summer?  :)

Only if you live somewhere as hot or hotter+more humid than Texas ;)

EDIT: Looks like you live in Boston. You guys have only barely cracked 90 degrees a few times so far this summer. Still, kudos for keeping the AC off. Pretty badass since you likely have high humidity there on the water. I vote "equivalent badassity."

:)

Yeah, only a few over 90, but a bunch more close.   I just counted, and it's 14 days over 85, and let me tell you, it was particularly damn humid before Hurricane Arthur hit.

In any event, fix-it-yourself or leave it off are all better than a whooping repair bill.  And fix-it-yourself has a bit more knowledge now than me.  I spent my time today learning how to remove mold/mildew from grout and caulk, lessons to be applied this weekend...

gimp

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2014, 06:28:13 PM »
That's a fine trophy. And when you're tired of it, you can recycle it for scrap metal. Hell, if you're adventurous, you might fix it yourself - chances are it's a coiled parallel plate capacitor, which means you can safely crack it open without anything leaking.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #9 on: July 19, 2014, 04:55:35 PM »
I think my AC still works. Dunno, haven't turned it on since last year.

Nice fix though :) HVAC tech buddy of mine loves fixing caps, because it's a quick, high-margin type of service call.

ampersand

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Re: My AC went out last night
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2014, 10:51:46 PM »
Wow; I'm impressed, I had my capacitor go out last Saturday. And since I know the repairman the charge was $100 instead of $150... So if that helps you realize just how awesome a $10 fix is


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