terradactylexpress said:

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All of 4 hours of electricity on that tank

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Was breaking her in. I need an excuse to get the natural gas hookup and plug installed.

Random question, but when street intersection signals lose power does the programming have to be reset?

The light at Ella and Wakefield seems to give Wakefield green far more often and for longer than normal….

If it is like other PLCs, often you can have live logic that you edited but if you didn't write it to memory, it will revert last saved on power loss.

That being said, I have never programmed a traffic light.

htxag09 said:

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Random question, but when street intersection signals lose power does the programming have to be reset?

The light at Ella and Wakefield seems to give Wakefield green far more often and for longer than normal….

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Usually nothing needs to be reprogrammed after powering backup.

If a minor street is suddenly getting way more time than usual its usually because of a pedestrian push button or or vehicle detector is "stuck" and telling the controller it needs more time to serve the demand on the side street.

Power surged this afternoon and now my AC isn't blowing cold. F-ing Centerpoint

Did it blow up that capacitor deal on your outside unit? I had a buddy in AC tell me if that's the problem you could turn the AC on and shove the blades with a long screw driver to get them going and then just let it cool for a while and turn it off. He told me this after he had fixed it and we lived in 95 degree heat with no AC for three days so I never tried it. If that's is the problem it's also a relatively cheap fix.

Sounds like the compressor isn't coming on, so maybe a capacitor? The fans outside and inside come on but not the compressor.

AC guy is on the way.

Tor real, if any of you do not have a spare capacitor for each ac unit, one for outside unit and one for the unit in the attic, go order them. Very simple to swap them out. Nothing magical about an ac. Open them up, the capacitor is round and a little smaller than a beer can. Take a pic of the label and go order the same thing from amazon. Really stupid and lazy to not.

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Likely capacitor...

$50-100 on Amazon; 5 min fix. Literally plug and play.

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But the ac company will charge $400+

htxag09 said:

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SpreadsheetAg said:

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Likely capacitor...

$50-100 on Amazon; 5 min fix. Literally plug and play.

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But the ac company will charge $400+

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More

We turned the unit off once we realized it wasn't blowing cold. When the AC guy got here, it fired right up. Sounds like we're in business.

Jack Klompus said:

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We turned the unit off once we realized it wasn't blowing cold. When the AC guy got here, it fired right up. Sounds like we're in business.

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Similar thing happened to me after the may derecho. Waited like 30 minutes and outside unit wasn't kicking on. Grabbed my spare capacitor to install it and when I got to the unit it started.

If you get a surge or flash like that, always turn the unit off. Wait a while and turn it back on. There is a possibility of polarity being reversed and the fan spinning backward. There is a part you can install that shuts the unit off automatically that prevents this from happening. I've had them on every unit in every house. Never an issue after.

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Likely capacitor...

$50-100 on Amazon; 5 min fix. Literally plug and play.

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The FLUX Capacitor?

SpreadsheetAg said:

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Likely capacitor...

$50-100 on Amazon; 5 min fix. Literally plug and play.

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If they cost that much now then inflation is worse than I thought

htxag09 said:

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SpreadsheetAg said:

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Likely capacitor...

$50-100 on Amazon; 5 min fix. Literally plug and play.

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But the ac company will charge $400+

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Que?

While I still know it's too much, my A/C company charged $175 in 2022 to replace mine.

This is what happened to mine. We had our bi-annual service already scheduled for this week and we're going to get that device put on ours. Luckily we were home and caught it before the compressor burned up.

htxag09 said:

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Jack Klompus said:

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We turned the unit off once we realized it wasn't blowing cold. When the AC guy got here, it fired right up. Sounds like we're in business.

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Similar thing happened to me after the may derecho. Waited like 30 minutes and outside unit wasn't kicking on. Grabbed my spare capacitor to install it and when I got to the unit it started.

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Had our AC guy tell me that if it stops blowing cold after a power surge, turn the system off, wait 10 minutes, and turn it back on. Worked for us the one time we dealt with it as well and saved a service visit.

Also check the voltage at your thermostat. My MILs AC stopped blowing cold this week. Turned it off for a while, then it came back on fine. Worked for a day or 2 and did it again. AC service Co came out and said her thermostat was bad and was only getting 4 volts when it should have been at 24. New thermostat and everything works great (on her almost 30 year old system)

This has worked for me before as well

CDUB98 said:

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htxag09 said:

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SpreadsheetAg said:

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Likely capacitor...

$50-100 on Amazon; 5 min fix. Literally plug and play.

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But the ac company will charge $400+

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Que?

While I still know it's too much, my A/C company charged $175 in 2022 to replace mine.

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Bradbury Bros charged my brother in law $350 recently. It's nuts. Capacitors are less than $20 on Amazon with next-day delivery. Should always have one on hand it is literally a 10 minute job.

Yes, but how can a random person diagnose the problem as the capacitor?

Even if you pay an $85 diagnostic fee for a company to come out then replace yourself, you're still saving a ton. It's a pretty common point of failure in otherwise sturdy systems so not hard to start with that for troubleshooting.

CDUB98 said:

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Yes, but how can a random person diagnose the problem as the capacitor?

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Funny enough, I had to replace a capacitor at a rent house this morning. Unit was installed about 10 years ago, and I can't remember replacing a capacitor previously, so this one lasted 10 years.

Check out the bad one pictured below. It has a bulge at the top, which is common when they go bad. Another way to tell is that they sometimes leak oil from the top also. If you see either of those, it's probably a bad capacitor. And worst case, you spend $30 on a replacement and it's not that. One of our friends just had an HVAC company replace hers and it cost $400.

Replace with an American made one with the same MFD rating (the one below is 40+5) and is motor run. If you bring your old capacitor to a supply house, they can help you get the correct replacement. Take a picture of the wiring setup before you remove it for reference.

Finally, you can buy a replacement online for cheaper than a local supply shop, and have it ready for future need.

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Dual-Motor-Run-Capacitors-19701000

[url=https://www.supplyhouse.com/Dual-Motor-Run-Capacitors-19701000][/url]

Found the nerd.

But seriously that's the real way to tell if it's the capacitor.

Many ac supply houses don't sell to the public. Just amazon it.

Milwaukees Best Light said:

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Many ac supply houses don't sell to the public. Just amazon it.

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Every supply house in Houston I've been to will sell me capacitors. Get Titan HD (US made), not Titan Pro (China made).

Ace carries them as well

Bassturds down by me won't sell anything. Had to have my ac guy order it for me, then they gave me crap when I picked it up.

I've bought from Johnson Supply (two locations), Johnstone Supply (two locations), and Central AC Supply (8610 Telephone). Obviously they won't sell refrigerant or major equipment, but I've bough capacitors, contactors, fan motors, coil cleaner, etc. Maybe just call before to see if they sell to the public.