On Sun, 25 Jul 2010 18:47:57 -0400, willshak
wrote:

Oren wrote the following:
Saturday, my HVAC went belly-up.

The outside compressor would not start in the evening. Even the Fan
mode would not run by itself. Turn the entire unit off after checking
breaker, for ice and dripping from the condensate lines. I left it off
all night until early sunrise. Turned it on and the condenser came
on, the attic blower came on and in just a few minutes it failed
again. Won't start now.

Single story, 1800 sf home, Mojave Desert.. 110° F this week, HOT!

Would this be a start capacitor on the condenser/compressor?

I have a _Comfort Representative_ coming in a few hours. I may replace
the entire unit, compressor and furnace/air blower. Go from 10 SEER to
what ever?

I'm comfortable replacing the capacitor and have the tools and will be
cautious, power off, etc. I don't have a VOM but can get one.

Does this act like a start capacitor? The unit is 13 years of age.


I had a similar situation a few weeks ago. It turned out that the
thermostat was bad. I though that it was dead batteries, but it did the
same with new batteries. Start and then stop. I think that it had
something to do with the contacts between the unit and the base. A new
thermostat fixed the problem.

Good point, I did change batteries last night, and reset the T-stat
(digital) to default, but at daylight the HVAC fired up and died
right away. The T-stat is acting (working) as it has for years. I
won't rule it out though. It does seem to work.

Glad I have a pool right now it is 109° F.

Thanks.