Quick and Cheap Air Conditioner Diagnosis and Repair

The last thing you want to hear in the middle of the summer in Florida is that the house is getting hot but sure enough when the temperature is 6 degrees higher than the thermostat, its not going to be pleasant.  A quick inspection shows the fan on the compressor outside is not operating when it should.  This was all I was willing to do in the middle of the night.  Emergency AC was set up for the evening but the following early morning this would need to be dealt with.  If you don't work with high voltage current applications,, enjoy this video for its edutainment value.

     Im not a licensed AC repair man, but I know enough to help movie myself into one of the more desirable categories of AC service calls:

1. Have no Idea - End up spending 10,000 for a new AC unit
2. Have a good idea - End up spending $450 on a service call and parts
3. Fix it myself - 30$

   I like option 3,  and there is a good chance that it is in fact option 3.  all I need is a long cable tie.  As shown, listening to the tell-tale buzz and , using it to start the fan and overriding that portion of the failed cap, it was pretty much determined to be a 30 dollar failure by doing to myself.   That is if you are familiar with electricity, because this will kill you dead..... that might be worth 450$.   Think about it.

   Further observations after the repairs show everything to be running perfect, problem solved.  So even if I wasn't comfortable swapping the cap, I might have been comfortable determining it was the culprit!