AC capacitors: symptoms, testing, and replacement

We just want to match our our colors up to where they go. So, this was actually my fan. So, I want to go to my fan. Another helpful hint is usually manufacturers, this isn't always true, but manufacturers will put their fan, they will only have two lugs to be able to connect to. So, that's a quick reference of where that one goes. So, that goes right there. And then usually your herm will only have three lugs. So, we know that my herm goes right there. And then your C wire will actually go to this four lug terminal. So, that's a nice way to not even have to look at it, but I always do say make sure you're getting them connected right.

So you're in your house and all of a sudden you notice the air coming out of your vents is, like, room temp and it's still really hot outside, and so you're going, "Oh, no." So you walk outside to your condenser and you look at the fan, and the fan's not spinning. Your condenser's humming but nothing's working, and you're going, "Oh my goodness, this is gonna have to be a whole new replacement. My compressor's down." Hey, hey, calm down. Calm down. Calm down. A lot of times what it is, is this last heat of the, of the summer is just the last thing that kills your capacitor. So this little thing right here is responsible for getting that, getting that thing up and running. Guys, it's like a 200 to $300 fix. It's super easy. You don't need a whole new system. Give us a call. We'll get one of these on, get you up and going, and, uh, so that way you can finish out the summer strong. So get this sucker replaced. Have a great one.

So, run capacitors are probably the most common recommended repair that we offer on spring maintenances. You know, if we go out there and we see that your run capacitor is 10% or more out of specification per the capacitor manufacturer, we will recommend that as a repair during the maintenance. And again, that's to prevent it from failing on the hottest day of the year. Run capacitors fail because of heat. There's a lot of things that go into that. Number one is just the ambient temperature. You know, whenever it's hot outside, you have a metal box that's sitting directly in the sun, it's going to get some heat in it. That's one reason. Heat from components that are not operating properly, your compressor, your fan motor, you know, things of that nature. That could cause your capacitor to overheat and then go out. Your >> [music and singing] >> woes.

This is a capacitor, actually a dual capacitor. So, these are common parts that go out usually because of heat. Uh, definitely have them checked once a year to make sure that they're in manufacturer spec. If you do need to replace this, you're looking at about 198. And that includes parts and labor. So, that's all I got to say about this part. [Music]

Capacitors are always going to be up there as far as the most common issue that takes out a unit. Unfortunately, I think it's become a reality in the last 15 years since I've been doing this is the capacitors don't have the shelf life that they used to. And that's nothing to do with the HVAC techs or the tradesmen, but very very common issue we run into. [Music]

hey it's keith with yaron sun's heaton air and just wanted to take a minute to talk to you about run capacitors the main function of a capacitor is to store energy a motor will then utilize that energy to power a second winding allowing it to run more efficient over time the capacitor can weaken losing capacitance can cause the motor to run inefficient and could even possibly damage it with regular maintenance we can help prevent those untimely repairs so give us a call the main function of the pastor is store energy that's a wrap where's my fruit tray fruit tray [Music]

capacitor, like I've talked about before, is basically a battery. It's going to give just a >> [laughter] >> little kick in the pants, make sure that your air conditioner has enough juice to start properly. And here's the problem, is that means that it retains heat. Whenever it retains heat, there's chemicals and alkalines and all sorts of chemistry going on inside of there that eventually, whenever it gets too hot, it starts to expand and swell up like a little balloon. I don't know if you've ever seen an aluminum balloon before, but it's kind of impressive. That's what your capacitor probably looks like right now. And here's the reality, we are in the deep heart of summer. I know everybody likes to think once school is here, it's almost fall, we're almost to the bur months. But guess what? Reality check, you live in Oklahoma and it's going to be 90 plus degrees until October. Welcome. So, your air conditioner still has a lot of run time before you get to say, "Hey, we're done." So, that capacitor is sitting there, it's getting hot, it's expelling energy, it's getting hot, it's expelling energy, and it's just doing that over and over. It's like what we hear about with electric cars, you know, it's like the battery degradation, things like that. The capacitor degrades over time.

Uh, this customer in Blanchard called about a loud noise coming from their outdoor AC unit and we found a a dusty blower wheel, cleared the drain lines and washed the condenser. The capacitor was out of range, so we replaced it under warranty. They signed up as a member to stay on top of maintenance year round, which is awesome and great work by our technician, Nick. [Music]

the next one is a uh a wire burn off of a capacitor is it normal uh no but it's a common problem uh you know with capacitor wires burning off you know and when the wire gets hot like that it could be as something as simple as a uh a loose connection on the Spade terminal you know so whether it be from the factory or whether it been another service tech that maybe had replaced the capacitor you know you make that Spade that Spade terminal you make that connection and if you don't get a good crimp on there you know then the the uh the heat from the amp draw Going Through the Wire will heat that up and and then it'll burn the wire back uh like that until eventually it burns off uh you know should it happen probably not but two a lot of times on a problem like this you know you may have something like a a dirty condenser coil you know from Cottonwood leaves seeds flying around or just dirt and debris uh stacking up against your condenser coil which will make your compressor over amp

this is a run capacitor a flux capacitor no run capacitor this is actually used to help your fan run and your motor run it actually causes a phase shift of the motor to where we can have a more efficient motor typically these can last anywhere from one to five years these can cost anywhere from 150 and up and that's what I tell people about this part

I always suggest an Americanmade capacitor mostly because in America most of the capacitors that are made are made out of synthetic oil which has a higher heat tolerance. If you get a China made one they are usually using bean oil and that's where we see a lot of fails. Now sadly manufacturers and all of them do it. They don't use Americanmade ones. Costs a little bit more yada yada yada. But when you have a 10-year parts on it, at least the capacitor on the parts wise is going to be covered. So even if it is a Chinaade one, it'll still be covered. That being said, Yarro and Suns uses only Americanmade capacitors. Luckily, the manufacturers, they'll give us Americanmade capacitors usually whenever we replace them. [Music]

And a capacitor is the like number one reason outside of a filter why a system breaks down in the middle of summer time. Because a capacitor basically, for all intents and purposes, what it is, homeowner speak, it's a battery, essentially. What it's going to do is it's going to save up enough energy and give your compressor just this nice little like like a kick in the pants, just a jolt of energy to get that compressor started. Because sometimes, much like me, not sponsored, you need some caffeine to get going. That capacitor is going to be the thing that gets your compressor going. And it has a rating as far as like how much microfarad, how much caffeine is it going to give to your compressor. And sometimes over time, as caffeine does to people, it starts to work a little less effectively. But we need to make sure that the capacitor is operating at the proper capacitance, the proper microfarad rating for that system in order to give your compressor and the fan motor the juice that it needs to get going. And make sure that's your system runs nice, cool, and comfortable all summer long.

Reasons you would want to replace a capacitor is because it's weak or not working at all. A common thing to find on a capacitor is actually it blows up because it's got too much heat in it. Um that's one reason. Whenever you're going to see them fail, what you're going to find actually on the unit is there's a possibility your fan cannot run or your compressor cannot run. Definitely those are signs that that capacitor could be bad, but it's also a sign that other things could be going wrong. If it you know, your fan's bad can actually cause that compressor go out. So it's definitely something that is an easy fix for home owners, but just because you replace the capacitor doesn't mean that's the only thing that you would find on that unit. And that's why we highly recommend that you have a professional diagnose your whole system. That way there's no other issues with that unit.

how much does it cost to replace your capacitor in 2024 well let's talk about it capacitors typically cost between two and $400 the last anywhere between 2 and 10 years and that right there is a gnarly failed capacitor sometimes you know they'll have burn up Terminals and bloating but sometimes they just fail and there's really nothing that we can tell on the outside that really tells us that it failed or why it failed and so why they fail though is you know overheat over amping brown outs electrical issues basically any other reason that you can imagine electrical component failing is why they would fail as well upgrading your capacitor we believe in a product called the turbo 200 it is a capacitor that comes standard with a 5-year warranty it's best in class so in conclusion capacitors really are the motor starter the kick in the pants to get the system running and are the lifeblood of making sure that your system runs properly

a turbo 200 is a type of capacitor it's kind of a on the better end of capacitors um they last way longer than a regular one they also have a good warranty on them as well and we just have seen a lot more Improvement especially when using these of not having to come back in 5 years to replace capacitor outs

You're looking at 198 to replace it. This is a dual run capacitor. Obviously, we call it a dual run capacitor cuz it's going to do for your fan and your compressor. We don't have to worry about having two separate ones. Every one of these is sized for the motors that they're going to be powering. And so, you can see actually on it, you have a 45 and a 7.5. That's very important that we match those because that's going to give the right displacement we need for that motor. Anytime you have us come out, whether it be us replacing it cuz it's out of warranty or in warranty, we're replacing it with a US-made faster. So, we like that it costs a little bit more, but it's worth it in the long run. Looking at replacing a dual capacitor, you're looking at 198 to replace it. Young Rose.

what you really want to do anytime you change out a capacitor is you want to check some things so any kind of compressor if a capacitor is going out there's a good chance that that compressor or that fan has a underlining problem internally so things like that could actually cause it to overload which would kill a switch inside and so one thing you do is go out there and check make sure if that compressor is hot um that would be a good indication of why that capacitor went out just because you replace capacitor doesn't mean that's the only problem and that's one reasons why as a professional we want to check those things to make sure you don't just replace a capacitor and go on down the road because you can run into that problem so we've been in the Home Comfort game since 88 here in OKC share this with a friend who's in need of some serious homecomfort help

so I'm assuming that this capacitor is probably no longer functioning this is just another capacitor to where it's where it's gotten hot and the top of the capacitor is about to blow up this is where the capacitor got hot on the inside and just internally kind of exploded and so that's what popped the top of that uh that capacitor up like that sometimes we can go out there and we'll see a capacitor like this with the top popped off like that and it's still operating but I would probably go ahead and change it out and uh uh save some uh problems going down the road so but this is this is pretty common as well too I would assume it's bad it may still be functioning but yes it's a it's a faulty part and needs to be replaced

This is one of the most common parts that fail in the summertime. A good 60 to 70% of my calls this summer are just going to be this part. So, let's get it swapped out and get them up and cooling. All right, so I'm getting this capacitor swapped out here. You can see it's all bloated. One of the terminals is actually burnt up as well. All the oil has leaked out of it. I don't even have to test this thing. It is 100% no good. This terminal here is all burnt up. More than likely it's due to a loose wire connection. So, we need to crimp that down and make sure that it's nice and tight when we put the new one in. So, when I heard that the condenser was just humming, I was pretty happy just cuz I know that I can get this customer up and cooling today.

this is a run capacitor we're starting to see less and less of these these this what we consider a single run capacitor this will be for your blower motor it's a very crucial part for those blower motors usually when we put in a run cap we put in an americanmade one and a lot of the reasons the American made ones last longer is the oil that they use in them American run caps are typically use a synthetic oil to whereas China or overseas caps use a bean oil or vegetable oil that's going to heat up more most of the time when you find a problem with these it's because it got too hot and you'll notice it because it'll start bubbling up at the top age on them is going to vary like this you know you can find them where it's about a a year that they've lasted which is always a bummer but it does happen usually if you're looking at something like that you probably have a different problem than just the Run cap price for this run cap is going to be $185