Problems with air conditioners, etc

I have to respectfully disagree with some members of alt.hvac who seem
to imply that any A/C problem requires a "specialist", and that chumps
like those who frequent rec.crafts.metalworking have no business even
looking at A/C problems.

Just one case in point. A year ago my A/C sometimes would not
start. (most of the time it would, but it kept getting worse)

A symptom was that in those cases, it would start if I gently kicked
the outside unit.

After asking on newsgroups, and receiving responses from alt.hvac
members about the need for "experts", and other responses from
alt.home.repair boiling down to "open up the damn thing and use your
multimeter", I opted for the latter.

Opened it up and quickly discovered that, drumroll, the quick
disconnect that connected a 24V line to the contactor, simply broke
from too much vibration and being made cheaply. It still kept contact
most of the time, enough to operate the coil, and when it did not, the
"kick" would bring it back into contact.

Another quick disconnect crimped on, and guess what, the A/C unit is
operating quite trouble free since then.

If I simply called some "service company", I can imagine that the less
scrupulous ones would try to sell me a lot of crap I did not need. The
most optimistic scenario would be that after taking a day off work,
and paying $75 for a service call, a tech would replace that same
quick disconnect for free. Whether that optimistic scenario would be
realized, is not clear.

So, while, no doubt, sometimes learned experts are necessary, they are
not always necessary, and should not be called without some
preliminary investigation.

i

Posted by Eric in North TX on July 17, 2006, 12:28 pm

I agree, I kept my old unit running replacing wires and capacitors &
even fans and blowers for 10 years before replacing the whole thing.
I've found that unless you can find an open connection it is likely a
capacitor & often a bad capacitor will fry a wire which will also need
to be replaced. Caps are a good first try, and much cheaper than a
house call. The main thing is that after you run through it with the
multimeter, turn off the power before poking around and still you
should treat it like it is hot.

Posted by Never_Enough_Tools on July 17, 2006, 12:45 pm

> I agree, I kept my old unit running replacing wires and capacitors &

> even fans and blowers for 10 years before replacing the whole thing.

> I've found that unless you can find an open connection it is likely a

> capacitor & often a bad capacitor will fry a wire which will also need

> to be replaced. Caps are a good first try, and much cheaper than a

> house call. The main thing is that after you run through it with the

> multimeter, turn off the power before poking around and still you

> should treat it like it is hot.

Count me in too....My AC stopped working once and in a moment of weakness I
let the wife call a service company out of the newspaper. The guy came over,
poked around inside and out, then declared the compressor dead and started
to sell me a whole new unit.

I told him I'd think about it, then did some poking around of my own.
Re-opened up the panel on the outside unit, looked inside for about 30
seconds and found the problem.

A very unlucky mouse had found his way on top of the start cap and in the
process of frying himself also burnt one wire off its terminal. A couple
minutes of stripping and crimping a new terminal and its been golden
since.....

I really wanted to deliver the smoked mouse carcass to that service company,
I gotta tell ya......That's the last time I'll ever call anyone without at
least LOOKING myself !!!

No guts, No glory, Right?

And of course I did all this with the power OFF....I may have moments of
stupidity but I'm not dumb ;)

Jeff

Posted by Ignoramus18860 on July 17, 2006, 12:56 pm

wrote:

>> I agree, I kept my old unit running replacing wires and capacitors &

>> even fans and blowers for 10 years before replacing the whole thing.

>> I've found that unless you can find an open connection it is likely a

>> capacitor & often a bad capacitor will fry a wire which will also need

>> to be replaced. Caps are a good first try, and much cheaper than a

>> house call. The main thing is that after you run through it with the

>> multimeter, turn off the power before poking around and still you

>> should treat it like it is hot.

> Count me in too....My AC stopped working once and in a moment of weakness I

> let the wife call a service company out of the newspaper. The guy came over,

> poked around inside and out, then declared the compressor dead and started

> to sell me a whole new unit.

> I told him I'd think about it, then did some poking around of my own.

> Re-opened up the panel on the outside unit, looked inside for about 30

> seconds and found the problem.

> A very unlucky mouse had found his way on top of the start cap and in the

> process of frying himself also burnt one wire off its terminal. A couple

> minutes of stripping and crimping a new terminal and its been golden

> since.....

The story is typical of these assholes. (I mean service persons, not
mice).

I had a lightning fry my A/C once too. See pictures of an exploded oak
tree at

http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/lightning/

I did some "poking around" with a multimeter and found out that the
speed controller board was bad, but the main control board was likely
good.

Called a tech. Told him to carefully check what is wrong.

He came in, called me at work, and said "I think that we should
replace all electronics".

I asked what is the basis of his conclusion. He mumbled some
nonsense.

I did not hire him. Asked another company to look and told him that I
did some dicking around and that I think that the speed controller
board is bad.

He looked, agreed with me, replaced in on warranty, charged me for
labor and that was it.

So, there is no shortage of "unscrupulous" people in that business.

i

Posted by RoyJ on July 17, 2006, 4:25 pm

That story shows that there is a difference between unscrupulous and
incompetant. It's much easier to jsut rpelace "all the electronics" than
it is to train SMART people how to minimize the costs.

Ignoramus18860 wrote:
wrote:

>>>I agree, I kept my old unit running replacing wires and capacitors &

>>>even fans and blowers for 10 years before replacing the whole thing.

>>>I've found that unless you can find an open connection it is likely a

>>>capacitor & often a bad capacitor will fry a wire which will also need

>>>to be replaced. Caps are a good first try, and much cheaper than a

>>>house call. The main thing is that after you run through it with the

>>>multimeter, turn off the power before poking around and still you

>>>should treat it like it is hot.

>>>

>>Count me in too....My AC stopped working once and in a moment of weakness I

>>let the wife call a service company out of the newspaper. The guy came over,

>>poked around inside and out, then declared the compressor dead and started

>>to sell me a whole new unit.

>>I told him I'd think about it, then did some poking around of my own.

>>Re-opened up the panel on the outside unit, looked inside for about 30

>>seconds and found the problem.

>>A very unlucky mouse had found his way on top of the start cap and in the

>>process of frying himself also burnt one wire off its terminal. A couple

>>minutes of stripping and crimping a new terminal and its been golden

>>since.....

> The story is typical of these assholes. (I mean service persons, not

> mice).

> I had a lightning fry my A/C once too. See pictures of an exploded oak

> tree at

> http://igor.chudov.com/tmp/lightning/

> I did some "poking around" with a multimeter and found out that the

> speed controller board was bad, but the main control board was likely

> good.

> Called a tech. Told him to carefully check what is wrong.

> He came in, called me at work, and said "I think that we should

> replace all electronics".

> I asked what is the basis of his conclusion. He mumbled some

> nonsense.

> I did not hire him. Asked another company to look and told him that I

> did some dicking around and that I think that the speed controller

> board is bad.

> He looked, agreed with me, replaced in on warranty, charged me for

> labor and that was it.

> So, there is no shortage of "unscrupulous" people in that business.

> i

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