Ironic timing as I was dealing with my own central AC failure yesterday afternoon. Of course it fails on a Sunday when I have company over and I have a 7lb leg of lamb on the grill.
Once I realized what the problem was I contacted my regular guy but he doesnt have any time until this coming Friday. Did a little more research online but wasn't 100% convinced I could/should do it myself. All the symptoms pointed to a bad run capacitor since I could get the condenser fan spinning using a paint stirrer stick. But it wasn't blowing cold air inside anyway.
By 7:30PM last night the house was up to over 80F and I had no choice but to run to Lowes and buy 4 window units so everyone could sleep.
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This morning I made about 6-7 calls to various places and 2 of the companies called me back, with the suggestion that it's not that hard or dangerous to replace it myself. The one guy that
@HiFiGuy recommended basically walked me through the steps and even told me where to go buy the parts locally. That was all the confidence and youtube knowledge i needed to head outside.
Cut the power inside the garage panel and I pulled the outdoor breaker near the AC unit just to be sure (like I was told to). Took the service cover off and took pics of the wiring and how everything was labeled. removed the old capacitor and realized what a mess it was inside too which may also be why it was not blowing so cold the last few months. off to the supply store I went only 30 minutes round trip.
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At the supply store the guy behind the counter (Universal Supply, Wharton) was super helpful and took it out of the box so we could compare and he talked me through checking the connections like the other service guy did. I had documented my notes in my phone so was 100% confident even tho they looked different I could wire it back up correctly.
Got home and did a little custom adapting the mounting plate with some plumbing washers since the new capacitor didnt quite fit the same. Wired it back up and I mist have repeated the colors and connections to myself out loud like 5 times cause I didnt want to screw it up. turned all the electric back on to try it out before I started cleaning up and the compressor kicked right on and cold AC was blowing indoors. sweet. from the time I got home to turning it on took about 15 minutes.
At the supply store I bought two cans of condenser cleaner and probably spent most of the time cleaning the condenser fins and then I drilled a hole in the flat bottom part of the bottom of the cover to help drain all the water - surprised I didnt find any existing drain that was clogged.
When I took the fan off I did find a little fried toad under there. poor guy must have got stuck in there and got roasted.
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So despite the fact I spent 600+ bucks on the window units last night, I think I just saved a few hundred bucks more for an emergency repair call since the parts and cleaner was only $85. Thanks to everyone who responded with suggestions on service companies in the other thread.
Guess I will be hanging onto these 4 window units anyway, since when I finally get around to having a generator outlet installed, the one thing it would not be able to do is run the central air.