A/C Capacitor Going Out

1,289 Views | 5 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by Bonfire97
MousepadMarauder
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AG
One of our units has had a capacitor go out about 3 times in the first 3 years we have lived in our house. It was a new build so the unit is only 3 years old as well. The A/C repair company puts a new one in and says it is under warranty so we aren't out any money but I am concerned there are bigger problems. Any thoughts on why a capacitor keeps going out? Thanks in advance!
FatZilla
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MousepadMarauder said:

One of our units has had a capacitor go out about 3 times in the first 3 years we have lived in our house. It was a new build so the unit is only 3 years old as well. The A/C repair company puts a new one in and says it is under warranty so we aren't out any money but I am concerned there are bigger problems. Any thoughts on why a capacitor keeps going out? Thanks in advance!


Sounds like its getting to much juice sent its way or its being shorted somehow. If the entire unit is under warranty, i would be requesting a whole new unit instead of cheap bandaid fixes until your warranty runs out. Something is clearly wrong with the unit.
akaggie05
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Ask them to use a 440V capacitor instead of a 370. The 440V units are more resilient to momentary spikes and dielectric breakdown due to heat, etc.
AgTDub
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Interested in this answer as well. We've been in our house 2.5 years. House has 2 units, one original (22 yrs old) though the capacitor was dated 2013 and one only about 4 years old. 2 weeks ago both capacitors went out in each condenser about 4 days apart. Coincidence?
AgAcGuy12
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Unit is likely starting very hard causing the capacitor to weaken prematurely in addition to the poor quality of capacitors available these days. I only use Global made in America but they are way more costly than the imports. They sometimes fail early too but not nearly as frequently.

I'd have your ac guy check your starting components (start capacitor and relay) if you have them. If it's a scroll compressor (very likely) the manufactuer (Copeland) says a crankcase heater is needed to eliminate hard starts. Adding a hard start kit is the last thing they like to do.
The biggest what if is the refrigerant charge. Is the unit over charged or under charged and does the refrigerant equalize after shut down. Ive seen units that don't equalize fully after shut down and when the compressor goes to start it really draws some power to get going.
Lastly, is your ac guy actually testing the microfarads of the capacitor or is he just assuming it's bad? Many techs never even check the cap, they just replace it. Ask him to show you what the cap is reading with the meter. It should be plus or minus 5% of the rating.

Good luck.
1208HawkTree
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Do you happen to have two differently sized units? If so, make sure they are connected to the correct circuit. I had the same issue and we finally figured out that the larger one was connected to the lower amp circuit breaker and smaller one to larger amp breaker. Thankfully the AC guy was able to just flip the connections at the units vs having to swap out breakers etc.
Bonfire97
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I would check the wiring. I had a similar problem a few years ago. I went to tracing all the wiring and found someone thought it would be a good idea to branch off one of the 120V legs servicing the unit to run the septic pump. That's a big no-no. When I ran a separate circuit to the septic pump, the capacitor eating went away.
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