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Started By
Message
Frick AC capacitors.
Posted on 7/27/25 at 8:34 pm
Posted on 7/27/25 at 8:34 pm
Fan side of my 1 year old Jard went out. Grabbed my green Chinese spare and no good. Compressor side testing bad with multimeter. Rigged the commons together and have one going to compressor and one to the fan for the night. Ordered an Amrad. Hopefully it lasts a bit longer. Guess I will need to keep 2 spares.
This post was edited on 7/27/25 at 8:39 pm
5
Posted on 7/27/25 at 9:04 pm to LEASTBAY
Capacitors are one of the simplest circuit components around. Don't hate the cap.
Posted on 7/27/25 at 9:48 pm to LemmyLives
quote:
Capacitors are one of the simplest circuit components around. Don't hate the cap.
Simple yet complex. I started learning and building guitar amps a couple years ago. Crazy how they are used in an amplifier circuit.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 5:47 am to LEASTBAY
Capacitors hate heat.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 7:05 am to Koolazzkat
Right. It's been hot as shite. Afternoon sun also hits my unit.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 9:59 am to LEASTBAY
quote:
Guess I will need to keep 2 spares.
At least.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 10:54 am to LEASTBAY
The last two I got cheap from Amazon were scratched and beat up so I did a return request and then they just let me keep them. Free caps and they usually last three years or so.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 11:26 am to Dallaswho
Seems like my compressor is likely going bad which is giving me issues.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 12:48 pm to LEASTBAY
If you have a good clamp meter with in-rush current capability then you can do some pretty straightforward diagnostics to find out. Went down a YouTube HVAC troubleshooting rabbithole a while back and wrote down a number of pretty easy things that can be tried. Even printed off a diagram of testing the health if a capacitor while the system is running if you have two clamp meters or one with power measurement.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 1:05 pm to Clames
I used chatgpt. It helped me test the compressor windings which seems bad. The only way I can get the compressor to kick on is with an 80uF capacitor instead of a 45uF. System is 15 years old. Last quote I got was $26k to replace. It's a 5 ton carrier infinity and it has been pretty good but these prices are steep. Someone coming in a little while to see what the options are. I'm not to keen on replacing the compressor on a 15 year old system. Not sure it's a good idea.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 1:19 pm to LEASTBAY
Get a spare relay, too
Posted on 7/28/25 at 2:13 pm to LEASTBAY
Yeah, I got lucky when I replaced both AC systems on my house for about $8500, 3-ton condensers and evaporators, one last Spring and the other a few months ago. The 20- and 30-year old Trane condensers were fine, in both cases the evaporator coils corroded.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 2:51 pm to Koolazzkat
quote:
Capacitors hate heat.
Also voltage surges. One can install a simple surge protector on the disconnect box at the condensing unit. Simple & inexpensive project for a DYIer.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 3:23 pm to LEASTBAY
quote:
The only way I can get the compressor to kick on is with an 80uF capacitor instead of a 45uF. System is 15 years old.
Installing hard start capacitor will often buy you time in keeping that unit-compressor running for a bit longer. Many HVAC techs will try that as a last resort on an old system before condemning it. If you can install a capacitor you can DYI install a hard start - AmRad makes a couple good ones. Very simple to install.
LINK
But as I’m sure you know, you are close to the end, or may be there, of the functional life of that unit - 13-15 years is average life of a HVAC in the Deep South.
Posted on 7/28/25 at 4:53 pm to CrawDude
Got quotes on a few. Looks like a might be getting a multi stage Trane 17 or something.
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