Is A/C capacitor supposed to look like this?

On May 4, 7:35=A0am, "Stormin Mormon"

I'll e-mail the cash to you.

Thanks. Just printed it out.

Replaced both the fan cap and compressor cap and it's runnin' like a champ now. The guy at the parts place put a meter on them and said the fan cap was on its way out and the compressor cap was kaput. The shape on the compressor cap is different - this one is oval, the old one was cylindrical about like an old car coil. However the ratings are the same and it appears to work.

Apparently it doesn't matter which side the connectors get attached to? I.e. there's not a "pos" and "neg"? It seems to be running fine.

One thing that makes me curious - I noticed that even with both the breaker for the A/C compressor on the main panel and the exterior breaker at the compressor turned off, when I turned on the air handler, the compressor relay switch still activated. I thought if the breakers are off, it interrupted the circuit to the compressor and nothing should get to any part of the unit?

Thanks again.

Yeah, but he will send in by Mormon mail and it will cost another $50. Those mules are real slow too.

I will email the capacitor right away.

$5 won't even buy a decent cup of Starbucks. Union rates indicate a minimum of $120.00

And a wind blowing over a block of ice.

Lets just say that the Contractors Association got a wind of that and 92 contractors blackballed the vendor. Who would you rather have as a customer? 92 Contractors that each purchase from $50k to $500K and more per year or some dipstick that purchases a $15 dollar item once every 10 years. Also many Vendors require Contractors to guarantee so much $$$$ business per year to cover price fluxuations and amount of on site inventory. Can you imagine the ;awsuit if that contract was usurp by a mook off the street. The on street customers are ours and not the vendors. If you want the prices and availability..Put 8 years into becoming a contractor. You forgot Contractors excise tax by the way. You can't pay that to the state each month without a license and you are now well into the quasi-felony stage. You chumps that squeak when you walk are fun to poke with sharp sticks.

Johnstones in Sioux Falls, SD, Appleton, Wisconsin, Fargo ND, and Sioux City Iowa all have large commercial signs on the front entrance that says Licensed and wholesale only. I assume those signs are nationwide and are enforced. There is also a minimum purchase price and only to account holders. Maybe your sister might be laying it out to a counterman that can get it for you?

Thats the countdown to self destruct. No Joke....

Dammit...Stop that. We aren't done playing with him yet.

There are excellent 2 year training programs at your local VoTech school that will get you accepted as an apprentice at graduation. I so hope you have good liability, health and fire insurance until then.

Try calling building Services at City Hall for a list of companies that have survived a lot of city and federal Job inspections. They certainly are not going to point you to a hack...If any should exist. I would suppose that your first question would be who can I get that will work at minimum wage or do you know any illegals that will do this?

Looks like that is near Chicago.. Heavy Union country. Be interesting to know who is superceding the service companies over there.

That's the kind of ignorance that gets people hurt. "but I thought...."

As the other poster said, the contactor is powered by the 24V from the air handler inside your house. So even if you turned off the 240V, you would still here the relay click.

Congrats on fixing the unit yourself despite the sarcastic remarks some of these idiots made.

Well, what doesn't kill us makes us more knowledgeable. I did know enough to turn off all breakers including the one to the air handler before monkeying with the outside unit so I wasn't in any danger.

Next I need to clean the internal coils. Just looked at 'em, they're nasty. Obviously with as much suction as I'm getting plenty of air is getting through but they definitely need cleaning.

I'm a professional idiot. Sarcastic comments are included in my job description.

Will you be using a belt sander to clean the inside coils? That's what professional idiots use. 60 grit open kote red garnet is good.

Good for you trying to learn about the equipment that runs your home. Here's a link to a site with a lot of information about how your HVAC system works and repair procedures.

The 24 volts AC is coming from the furnace which is on a separate circuit. From the furnace, the control voltage goes to the thermostat then back to the furnace where control voltage is sent to the condensing unit outside. It's not magic, it's all done with wires. 8-)

TDD