measure twice 40x, touch once!

after all, one can never be too safe when working with the danger pixies.

Always wash the coils twice a year! Spring and Fall!

A lot of broken appliances are due to bad capacitors. Sometimes they are easy to spot because they bulge. I was given a large broken television, found a bulged one and had it replaced. Worked for the past 8 years

The last time I had someone look at the AC they suggested a "capacitor saver" for something absurd like $300. Seems like maybe not a great deal after all. Glad I told them no.

I imagine that some are interchangable but it would depend on the unit. Some might have different capacitors based on how big the unit is, how old, etc.

Thats just from my limited knowledge of electrical and YouTube watching skills. Your mileage may vary.

Depends on the size outdoor unit you have, and whether the capacitor runs your fan and condenser or one for each. They will look something like 370/75uf which stands for 370 volts and 45 millifarad and is the rating.

Your outdoor unit should have a wiring diagram in it if you go outside and take off the panel to look, or you can google the model. They’re about $30 apiece and I’d make sure you know how to wire them before your current one bites the dust because when they blow they get messy because they have oil inside. Then buy a couple to have on hand because you don’t want to wait days to have AC while it ships.

Watch a couple videos though, these are capacitors and high voltages. It’s really easy to do (it’s literally like 4 bolts and maybe 3 wires) but there’s just a couple things you want to be sure and do to be safe.

Just FYI, these should not be failing every 2 years - there is something else wrong causing them to fail.

Yeah, I ended up talking to a tech at a company that makes capacitors and he said that if that happens it might be the coiling and/or compressor involved. These are supposed to last 5 years before failing. I didn't really understand what he was saying, so I guess I'm off to YouTube to look at other repairs

Every time my A/C goes out it's those damn graboids!

Usually they bulge and if you know what it's supposed to look like, it's quite apparent that it's dead.

The cap is what's used to provide the power necessary for the initial start, so, it that doesn't happen, it's the quick and easy thing to check (I keep a set of the ones mine takes on a shelf ... 30 for a set of 2 and 10 minutes of time to replace or a small fortune for an HVAC guy to replace)

Your inside furnace fan might still run, but, on mine at least, the outside unit fan doesn't run if the cap is dead

If you have multimeter, even a cheap one will do, you can test them. there are you tube videos that can show you how to test them even with a cheap meter that doesn't have a capacitance test setting, just ohms.

the symptom is either the fan won't run, or the compressor won't run.

these are typically dual eated capacitors. eg 25/5. the 25 powers the compressor, and the 5 would power the fan. both, or one of those can fail resulting in nothing running, or the system straining to turn over

Running I believe