Posted: 7/10/2009 5:17:01 PM EDT
|
Hit wife up for Run capacitor on blower and electro magnetic contactor on condenser
Good preventative maintenance? Or Sucker ? House three years old |
|
I say yes. A run cap is either good or bad. His cost under $16 If your AH "Blower "was running then it was good. As for the cont that is the same. I would only replace it if it had bad contacts "welded or loose" or the coil had failed. His Cost under $14 and when on sale around $8. I hate when AC company's rip people off they give the trade a bad name. You are lucky they didn't sell her any Ref or coil cleaner.
I have a Journeyman's lic in FL in HVACR and most of the techs you get that do PM's are unlicensed helpers / installers. I went to school for 4 years and have a state lic as well and you will find that a lot of the AC company's don't want to pay for the Lic so you end up with helpers. When I was in the trade all I did was service work on commercial accounts because they have more complicated equipment and the company can charge more. We even did their Refrigeration so a helper would be over his head. Next time you need to ask for your old parts so they can be checked. We always offered our customers their old parts and would explain every repair. It's the right thing to do. I left the trade about 15 years ago but I still do work for a friend who has a company and needs help from time to time because it is a great way to make extra $ that the wife doesn't know about 
|
|
If he changed them just to change them then NO it's not something to be done for a preventive maint. If the contactor contacts were pitted badly enough then YES . The run cap either works or it doesn't , if there was something funky about it like being bulged or whatever then I could see suggesting a new one.
Without seeing the parts it's hard to say if he had your best interest at heart or his. |
|
So 10 minutes ago I walked into my detached shop and it is 86 degrees in there and the stat is set for 76 ....ruh roh .
digital stat has display and the air handler is running , so it isn't the transformer , could be the stat but is isn't . Could be frozen with a dirty filter ...nope. I walk around back to my 16 yo condenser , fan is running but compressor is not. At this point it is either the compressor is toast or the capacitor is bad....OR it could be the corrosion on the terminal of the compressor that caused the wire to get hot melt and fall off. BINGO .. Long story short ....had I not known what to look for some scumbag might be selling a new condenser to me right now.I know it's hard to know who to trust with stuff like this but this could have cost me a couple thou to the right parts changer. I walked back in the shop grabbed a sta-con (wire connector) and cut the bad end off the wire hooked it back up and away we go . Be careful who you call out to look at your A/C , many residential companies are really hurting due to the lack of home construction and some of them will be less than honest and sell you whatever they can. |
| Good preventive maintenance. Turn your power off on the condenser and flush all the grass from mower and weed eater, that is drawn into it. Also pour a little bit of bleach to kill the algie that is foming in the pan and condensation lines so they will not plugg up. And as always keep buying the good air filters not the angel hair type that build up on the filtert then start catching the dirt. By the time you see the dirt collecting alot has already gone thru the evaporator coil and starting to collect on it. Don't be cheap on using good filters and relacing when you see them dirty. I still do a/c for a living but work for a contractor in goverment. I hate to see people ripped off like paying 90 dollars for the first pound of freon, or 150.00 for a capacitor change. If ya need help, PM me. |