Reply With QuoteI know my pool pump capacitor will act up before it fails totally. Electric motor getting noisy is the first sign.
Capacitors on Home A/C unit
What do you kids know about A/C capacitors? I've had them pop the top in the past but do they slowly fail?
The A/C here at the house seems like it has to work to get the compressor up to speed. But everything is functioning as normal.
Do capacitors slowly fail?? If you have a drop in Capacitance wouldn't it affect the ramp up of the A/C compressor??
I know my pool pump capacitor will act up before it fails totally. Electric motor getting noisy is the first sign.
It is hard to describe but it sounds like the A/C compressor is working a bit longer to get up to speed. But after it gets up to speed it sounds normal and the house is cooling as it should.
I may also just be paranoid.
I plan to give the outdoor unit it's biannual cleaning this weekend. Wondering out loud if I should toss in a new Capacitor and Contactor.....
I don't have a capacitance meter that reads high enough to test the Capacitor.....
I have had 2 capacitors go bad (house has 2 AC units). Both looked like coke cans left in the freezer, and there was no intermittent issues. They worked until they didn't.
The compressor is slow, or do you mean the condenser fan? I had the condenser fan go on me once and it was slow starting, then would take a hand start to get it going. I found one locally on a Saturday that I got for about $150 w/ a new capacitor and it took all of 15 minutes to install.
I've had the Capacitors do the frozen coke can trick. I've also lost condenser fans and the contractor over the years.
The compressor is what sounds like it is starting slow to me fan seems normal(ish).
I've had cap's go bad and did not swell up at all.
^ Lies!Originally Posted by sammm
Given Caps are cheap and will go out eventually anyway, I would go ahead and get a new one and see if it helps. If it is the compressor, I think you need to pay a pro to come out as it would involve disconnecting the refrigerant lines. A $30 cap replacement gamble seems worth it to possibly avoid stupid service call fees.
^Good call. Cheap enough to swap the cap and see if it acts any differently. If it's not, you have a spare for next time.
How to change the capacitor? Just pull it out and push the new one in?
Gabriel
^Yep. Turn off the breaker first, then jump the 2 terminals with a screwdriver or something to totally discharge it. Then unplug the leads, and pop a new one in.
Yea don't forget the part where you strip down the A/C unit so you can get to the electrical panel.
I wished I had a way to measure the Capacitor but I don't... I'll give the outdoor unit a clean up first thing in the AM and see if can grab the specs of the prints or the cap itself. I think it is a 55/5 cap. May just replace both the capacitor and contactor.
Yes they can slowly fail. You can test it with a meter. I just replaced one on my downstairs unit yesterday, took 10 mins.
I would pull the outside fuses for the unit before proceeding. Make sure you get the right capacitor for your unit, they are labeled in MFD, should be something like 35-5 and if you have a 440 volt currently don't downgrade to a 370 volt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8YPHLxzzCA&t=288s
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I woke up at the crack of Dawn on Saturday and cleaned out the outside unit. It was a touch dirtier than I figured it would be but it cleaned up nicely. (I try to clean it out 2 times a year)
Got a couple pictures of the Capacitor and the Contactor and pulled the original documentation out of the unit.
Figured out it has the wrong Amperage Contactor in it 30A should be a 40A and no telling how old the Capacitor is so I plan to Amazon up the parts to refresh everything.
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