36.5°c for people who use sane units ;)
this post was submitted on 26 Jun 2025
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Mildly Infuriating
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Those aren't supposed to be round on top.
What is that?
It's a large capacitor. They are used in those big outdoor AC units to kick start the ~~fan~~ compressor. Being outdoors and subject to large temperature changes and vibrations for years they inevitably fail.
https://static.homeguide.com/assets/images/content/homeguide-technician-replacing-ac-capacitor.jpg
They are to help start the compressor, not the fan. Anything with a compressor will have one, like your fridge.
Ah, you're right. Got it mixed up with furnace fans which have smaller caps.
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I'm assuming that it's some sort of component from the air conditioner, but damned if I know what it is. Looks like power plugs on it, and someone else mentioned "caps", so maybe a capacitor, though I wasn't aware that there was some kind of plug standard for large removable capacitors.
kagis
Yeah, this capacitor looks similar.
EDIT: Apparently air conditioners can use large capacitors:
https://www.amazon.com/Capacitor-Conditioner-Multi-Purpose-Capacitor-5-Warranty/dp/B092ZQ3Y3N
Capacitor for Air Conditioner 5 uf MFD 370 or 440 Volt VAC, Multi-Purpose Round Capacitor for AC Motor Run or Fan Motor Start or Condenser Straight
EDIT2: Oh, I bet I know what it's for, given the "Fan Motor Start" and what I assume is a misspelled "Condenser Start" text on the Amazon listing. Some hardware will draw a lot of juice when starting up. Laser printers are prone to this, for example. The references above are to mechanical things, moving components, and maybe one need extra power to overcome static friction, to get the parts in motion initially; once moving, they face (lesser) kinetic friction. One option is to just draw a ton of power from the line, but then that increases the peak power demands of a device. Another option, gentler on whatever circuit or external power source is providing the power, is to charge a capacitor for a bit and that'll let you create a big surge of available power for a moment without having to have higher peak demands on the external power source. Adds to device cost, but limits its peak draw.
Not quite- these motor capacitors provide a phase shift for a second set of windings. Without it, the motor will just hum and not rotate.
You are describing bulk or filter capacitors that go from supply to common on a DC circuit, parallel to the load. These motor caps are on AC and in series with the load.
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At last it's an inexpensive and easy fix. Just buy another capacitor with the same specs and swap them out. Better yet, buy two! Keep one as a backup.
Don't buy an electrolytic capacitor as back up and store then over a long time. They will degrade and will be bad when you finally need them.
MKP/MKT capacitors are an exception since they don't degrade the same.
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Yeah, I bought one to make sure that was the only problem. It just came back up so, now I'll pull the furnace apart and find what size it uses for the blower keep them both on hand.
They can blow on their own but chances are you have a junk contactor or a fan that draws too much amperage.
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As much as that sucks, you clearly already know the fix and are working on it. Grats to you for having the skills bro. Please work safe, 2 phase electricity doesn't play around.
Your upstairs must be literally boiling.
Or damn near freezing
After replacing the capacitor I set the thermostat to zero Kelvin
Only a Sith deals in absolute zeros!
It's not a fix an HVAC tech would tell you how to do.
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What am I looking at?
Motor capacitor for an A/C compressor. A $15 part that a service company is going to charge $400 for a guy missing most of his teeth to replace in 2 minutes.
When I used to fix cars for a dealership we would sometimes have the service advisor ask us to do work for free. "Come on, it'll just take you ten minutes!"
I'd tell them that they can do it themselves if it only takes ten minutes. "But I don't know how to do that!"
You're not just paying for the part, you're paying for the knowledge, time, and tools of the technician.
And to be completely honest, if you call an HVAC repair company, they're likely to do a whole PM cycle on it. Flush the condensate line and pan, clean the coils and the heat exchanger, replace the contactor if you have one, take the temperature differential to make sure the unit is operating reasonably well, replace the blower belt it's not direct drive. I PM the unit myself every spring and fall. I probably should have had eyes on that cap though.
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Yep, if your condenser unit outside just won't turn on it's always a good idea to check this capacitor. I think it was just last year that I replaced the one in my unit installed in 2015. I went through a few capacitors with the ancient system before that!
Everyone should get awnings instead of bruteforcing the heat away. The insulation in your walls works both ways: it doesn't let heat out in the winter and inside in the summer. However, the sun's radiation passes through windows without much holding it back (without awnings or external curtains) and directly heats your home from the inside. So your house is basically a greenhouse when there's nothing covering your windows.
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Good luck? I would just go to a convenience store and spend my there if this happened to me... also like 38c(~100f) right now here
Yea, always keep spares of caps
And be grateful it's not something so much more expensive to fix!
Im sure OP knows what they are doing here but for those that don't, be careful with capacitors. Especially larger ones like these and bigger as they can hold quite a charge for some time after being unplugged. I personally watched someone shock the shit out of themselves with this exact type of AC capacitors. They were showing someone corrosion on the terminals, bridged the connection and ended up putting his arm through a wall from the jolt.
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Until you can fix it, open the windows, curtains and blinds at night and shut them during the day.
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