Any home A/C guys on here?

[hxbernal]

I keep a few handy. Let me know if any of these match your capacitor.
I'm in the White Rock Lake area near I30

Titan HD - Mfd: 55/5 - Volts: 440
GE - Mfd: 55/5 - Volts: 370

[Rafa]

I vote for bad cap too. Hope that's all you have to replace. I had to replace cap and the fan motor on mine couple weeks ago. Not a very hard job to do. Pull the breaker and note how it is wired before taking anything out.

[TeeShock]

I watched my friends dad die from being electrocuted when I was 7 or 8 and that is the reason for the warning.

This is really hard to believe since you already had your eagle scout by then. Are you sure you didn't save his life and a bus full of kids at the same time?

[Chas_svo]

This is really hard to believe since you already had your eagle scout by then. Are you sure you didn't save his life and a bus full of kids at the same time?

He would have, but his cape was at the cleaners.

[JC316]

I will take a look at the capacitor, but the damned unit is over 20 years old. The piece in the attic is just about rusted to the ground. Still, might work in a pinch.

[JC316]

Wasn't the capacitor, rather the wire going TO the capacitor. Burned in two. Still need an a/c guy to quote something, but at least it's working now. Thanks for the advice guys.

[Rreemo]

Ironically I had to replace mine on Sunday as well. Damned junky Lennox had an oddball 60+6 on it, and my buddy that is an AC guy had just about everything but one of those on his truck, but he did have a single 60 and a single 6....so I just made a jumper for the common and replaced 1 with 2.

As an FYI, if you are ever messing with one of these, they are very simple to diagnose and replace. As David said above, 9 times out of 10 you can tell that the capacitor is bad just by looking at it...bulging on the top where the connectors are is a sure sign that it is done. However, you can also check them very simply with a DVOM. Most of the newer units within the last ~10 or so years will have a single cap that covers both the compressor and the condenser fan....they'll have 3 terminals - common (will be the wire going to your contact switch, fan, and herm (goes to compressor). Set your DVOM to ohms and check for continuity between the common and fan terminals, and also the common and herm terminals. If you are open between either one your cap is bad.

The older units tend to have 2 separate caps...one for the compressor and one for the fan, and those will only have 2 terminals on them, which you'll just check for continuity across the 2, on each cap.

Another tip I learned years ago...after you kill power to the unit it's a good idea to use a screw driver or something metal with an insulated handle to short across the terminals on the capacitor before you start grabbing ahold of the wires to unplug them....this will discharge any remaining juice that might be stored up in the cap itself, and prevent you from getting zapped.

[svauto-erotic855]

This is really hard to believe since you already had your eagle scout by then. Are you sure you didn't save his life and a bus full of kids at the same time?

Our neighbor was a fireman and a medic and heard him screaming and killed the power and started CPR. He was able to get his heart started several times but it would not stay going and he died. His son and wife saw it happen too.

[Denny]

Wasn't the capacitor, rather the wire going TO the capacitor. Burned in two. Still need an a/c guy to quote something, but at least it's working now. Thanks for the advice guys.

That could have been caused by a bad capacitor.

[Denny]

Our neighbor was a fireman and a medic and heard him screaming and killed the power and started CPR. He was able to get his heart started several times but it would not stay going and he died. His son and wife saw it happen too.

How did he scream while getting electrocuted?

[JC316]

That could have been caused by a bad capacitor.

Probably, cause it just died again. Ran all day and now nothing.

I say the fan motor

Fan motor is fine.

[Denny]

Probably, cause it just died again. Ran all day and now nothing.



Fan motor is fine.

That wire is getting too much juice through it. Try replacing the capacitor and damaged wire. It would be odd that a wire just go bad on its own.

[svauto-erotic855]

How did he scream while getting electrocuted?

Beats me. It may have been his wife screaming, it is hard to remember fine details form something when I was so little.

[bobs94formula]

JC if the cap is bad go to Locke Supply in Terrell. I had to replace the cap on my unit a couple of years ago and it was like $11.

[A+]

I'm seriously considering getting hvac certified. I've been running into a lot of people needing service.