"Eric in North TX" wrote in message
oups.com...

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