****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
My A/C has been going out for a while, but when it finally died a few weeks ago, I thought that I would take a look at it and see if I could fix it myself before hiring an A/C technician. When I went on the roof of my condo to look at the condenser, it became pretty obvious pretty quickly what the issue was. The condenser fan was not spinning.Apparently when that happens it is because either the fan motor or the capacitor connected to the motor is broken. So I noted the A/C model number, looked up the OEM part numbers for that model, ordered both parts, and waited a week for them to arrive.Since the capacitor was the far cheaper of the two, and I could return the motor, I tried that first. Upon testing the existing capacitor with a multi-meter, I noticed that it was wide open and that it was quite likely the problem. So I replaced the capacitor which was as simple as removing three wire connectors, the mounting bracket and then replacing the capacitor, reconnecting the wires and re-tightening the mounting bracket. I should also add that I had to remove and replace the compartment cover on the condenser and turned on/off the circuit breaker as appropriate. Once installed I fired up the air conditioner and it worked. So I'll be returning the motor after all and overall the project took maybe 15 minutes to complete. So it turned out to be a fix that I did myself for maybe $20 dollars that I could have paid an A/C technician $100's of dollars for.In terms of the capacitor itself it's a hair longer than the original but not enough to cause any issues and it is rated for 60,000 of use hours I believe. So if you were to run your air conditioner for 24 hours a day, seven days a week (which is unlikely), it should last for almost 7 years before it wears out. The original didn't last that long even without constant use, so I assume when they say "upgraded" in the part title that is what they are referring to.As a parting thought, I think I should also mention that I've been told that if you accidentally discharge a capacitor, you can kill yourself. I've never done it myself, so I can't say I've personally verified this, but I've heard it from multiple people so I believe it's true. So in addition to turning off the circuit breaker to the A/C while working on it you probably want to use tools with rubber handles and avoid touching the terminals on the capacitor itself if possible. After all the last thing that you want to do is to try to save yourself a few bucks on repair bills and kill yourself in the process. It kind of defeats the point behind the whole exercise.
