Oh, sweet A/C...please never leave me again

[Adam]

Ahhhh, the sweet caress of cool air. I had forgotten how good it felt until it went away.

About 2 or 3pm yesterday, my home A/C compressor stopped running. Never a good thing to have stuff break down, but there are better and worse times for things. A day with a high temperature of 105°F was not one of the better times. Turns outs, it's a bit toasty here in Tucson. So, I began to troubleshoot the issue as internal temperatures rose to about 88°F. Not horrible, but I can say with certainty that the pooch was not digging it at all. After a little bit, the leading candidate was the run capacitor in the condensor unit outside. But, being Saturday after 6pm, I had no idea where to buy one of those - and I really didn't want to pay for an emergency repair trip from an A/C technician on a Saturday night ($$$$). No worries, though, as I'd just find someplace the next day because the overnight low was supposed to be 73°F...or so I thought. I get up at 5am, and it's the same temperature inside as it is outside - 86°F! The pooch was clearly hurting. 86°F isn't on the edge of death, but the sun comes up at about 5:30am and I knew that the house would be well over 90°F right now if I didn't do something soon.

It was time to implement my back-up plan. I grab my tools and head down the block to a house that is in foreclosure and hasn't had tenants in months. So, I borrowed that capacitor. It was the wrong rating, but I was desperate. I can't fully describe the relief that I felt when the compressor and fan kicked on after I installed it. With the wrong rating, though, the compressor kept cycling and wouldn't keep the air cool for very long. Long story shorter - I managed to find a place this morning with a capacitor of the correct rating and it's installed. Compressor is running right and the air is staying cool.

Whew! Me and the pooch are much more comfortable now. She even went outside and layed down in the sun for a while (like she normally does, before coming back inside to lay down on the cool tile) - clearly wasn't too traumatized from the previous 18 hours of heat.

Adam

 

[croseiv]

Glad you could fix it yourself! A couple of Summers back I had to repalce my A/C. Of course it died during the hotest part of the Summer with temps running 105-106 F in the south.

 

[Adam]

Of course it died during the hotest part of the Summer with temps running 105-106 F in the south.

Uggg. That must have been miserable! Hopefully you were able to get a window A/C unit or something to get by until the new system got installed.

 

[jostenmeat]

Well done, Adam. That must've been a bit stressful. I've been to Tucson at least a couple of times, and damn it gets hot there. I remember a hilarious billboard sign (that you've probabaly seen) as part of a campaign to reduce road rage, but with humor. The billboard sign read:


Is this hot enough for you?

-God

 

[Rickster71]

Hi Adam, are all the stories I hear about Arizona having "Dry Heat" true?
i.e. "It was 105 today...but it's a dry heat"

 

[jostenmeat]

Rickster, your avatar and question reminds me when my car died in AZ not far from Phoenix when driving from the east coast. That totally sucked.

105 is so nothing for AZ. I think my ex-girlfriend from Flagstaff had a t-shirt that read something like, "I survived 132 F", or something like that. It was over 130 though.

At least we don't live in Dubai or something. 120 being the norm, but with very high humidity. That's just wrong.

 

[Matt34]

Ahhhh, the sweet caress of cool air. I had forgotten how good it felt until it went away.

About 2 or 3pm yesterday, my home A/C compressor stopped running. Never a good thing to have stuff break down, but there are better and worse times for things. A day with a high temperature of 105°F was not one of the better times. Turns outs, it's a bit toasty here in Tucson. So, I began to troubleshoot the issue as internal temperatures rose to about 88°F. Not horrible, but I can say with certainty that the pooch was not digging it at all. After a little bit, the leading candidate was the run capacitor in the condensor unit outside. But, being Saturday after 6pm, I had no idea where to buy one of those - and I really didn't want to pay for an emergency repair trip from an A/C technician on a Saturday night ($$$$). No worries, though, as I'd just find someplace the next day because the overnight low was supposed to be 73°F...or so I thought. I get up at 5am, and it's the same temperature inside as it is outside - 86°F! The pooch was clearly hurting. 86°F isn't on the edge of death, but the sun comes up at about 5:30am and I knew that the house would be well over 90°F right now if I didn't do something soon.

It was time to implement my back-up plan. I grab my tools and head down the block to a house that is in foreclosure and hasn't had tenants in months. So, I borrowed that capacitor. It was the wrong rating, but I was desperate. I can't fully describe the relief that I felt when the compressor and fan kicked on after I installed it. With the wrong rating, though, the compressor kept cycling and wouldn't keep the air cool for very long. Long story shorter - I managed to find a place this morning with a capacitor of the correct rating and it's installed. Compressor is running right and the air is staying cool.

Whew! Me and the pooch are much more comfortable now. She even went outside and layed down in the sun for a while (like she normally does, before coming back inside to lay down on the cool tile) - clearly wasn't too traumatized from the previous 18 hours of heat.

Adam

My wife called the other day and said we are having A/C problems again. We've had problems ever since we bought the house. It would work for awhile then it would flip the circut breaker. We've had two different techs look at it and said everything was find. The last tech tighten the wires connected to the break saying they were a bit loose but here lately it is causing the breaker to flip again.

I think we just need an additional unit as we supposably have the biggest residental a/c unit sold but our 2200sq/ft house is just too much for it when it gets really hot.

 

[Adam]

Hi Adam, are all the stories I hear about Arizona having "Dry Heat" true?
i.e. "It was 105 today...but it's a dry heat"

Most of the time, yep. At least here in Tucson. During the monsoon season it can get humid out here, but normally it's pretty dry. Getting dehydrated is easy if you're outside and it's breezy because you don't realize how much water you've lost...because you're not sweating! It just evaporates so fast. For me, the biggest thing about there being so little humidity is that there isn't much moisture in the air to mitigate the sunlight. The first thing that I noticed when I came out here is that the sun feels much hotter when you're in it compared to Illinois, but the shade feels much cooler.

I've been here going on 12 years now. It felt hot the first summer, but then you just get used to it. Summer here is hot, but the rest of the year is great.

 

[Adam]

think my ex-girlfriend from Flagstaff had a t-shirt that read something like, "I survived 132 F", or something like that.

You sure that it didn't say, "I survived 32 F"? Flagstaff is pretty cool compared to southern Arizona, and 32 F is freaking frigid to most people here.

 

[penpitt]

We bought a brand new AC unit last year for our house. It was a 20 year old,2.5 ton unit and when temps got above 108, the coolest it would keep the house was 81/82. The new unit is a 3.5 ton unit that actually keeps the house at a nice 76 degrees. Our electric bills also went down about $80/month as well because it doesn't run 24/7 like the old one

 

[Matt34]

It was 116 F here today, still have another 15-20 degrees to go before we top out.

 

[Matt34]

We bought a brand new AC unit last year for our house. It was a 20 year old,2.5 ton unit and when temps got above 108, the coolest it would keep the house was 81/82. The new unit is a 3.5 ton unit that actually keeps the house at a nice 76 degrees. Our electric bills also went down about $80/month as well because it doesn't run 24/7 like the old one

Ours is a 5 ton and can't keep the house cooler than 80 during the hottest days.

 

[Adam]

It was 116 F here today, still have another 15-20 degrees to go before we top out.

Woah. Now, THAT is hot.

 

[Adam]

The new unit is a 3.5 ton unit that actually keeps the house at a nice 76 degrees.

Ours is a 5 ton and can't keep the house cooler than 80 during the hottest days.

penpitt, glad that the new unit is keeping you cool and is also cheaper. I'm looking into getting a new system, but I know that it's going to be expensive. BTW, how big is your home? Is it like Matt's at around 2200 ft^2?

 

[Adam]

Ours is a 5 ton and can't keep the house cooler than 80 during the hottest days.

Have you had an assessment made about what size you would need? Do you think that it's because of poor insulation or windows? Just curious.

 

[jostenmeat]

You sure that it didn't say, "I survived 32 F"? Flagstaff is pretty cool compared to southern Arizona, and 32 F is freaking frigid to most people here.

LOL, no. She must've been in another town then at the time. Yeah, it does get cold in the winter. Just beautiful too.

Fields of snow and cacti. Pretty amazing in the moonlight. Never seen anything like it before or after.

 

[penpitt]

penpitt, glad that the new unit is keeping you cool and is also cheaper. I'm looking into getting a new system, but I know that it's going to be expensive. BTW, how big is your home? Is it like Matt's at around 2200 ft^2?

Nope our house is a little one around 1300 sq.ft.

 

[speakerman39]

Adam, I am glad both you and the pooch are just chilling out now. My air has been working fine so far, but my darn thermostat has been acting kinda weird. However, my electric bill was only $75 this month so it really is hard to complain about that. Anyways, glad you were able to get it going my friend. Now I know who to call when my air goes down...........LOL!!!!!

Cheers,

Phil

 

[Adam]

Now I know who to call when my air goes down...

Yeah, the internet! It's great what you can find out there. I was able to diagnose the symptoms, find the likely culprit, and even find step-by-step instructions (with photos) of how to replace the capacitor. Great stuff.

Now, if only I could have such success over the phone. I called the local A/C supply store and got a quote for the cap of $22. After I drove 25 minutes to the store, I found out two things: (1) the cap that they carried was a different shape and wouldn't fit my mounting hardware, and (2) it was actually $38. The first was because of me not asking enough questions, and the second was because of a miscommunication. Oh, well. The cap is installed, and it's nice and cool in here, so no worries.

 

[TLS Guy]

My wife called the other day and said we are having A/C problems again. We've had problems ever since we bought the house. It would work for awhile then it would flip the circut breaker. We've had two different techs look at it and said everything was find. The last tech tighten the wires connected to the break saying they were a bit loose but here lately it is causing the breaker to flip again.

I think we just need an additional unit as we supposably have the biggest residental a/c unit sold but our 2200sq/ft house is just too much for it when it gets really hot.

Your breaker is not taking the turn on current. Have your electrician install a delayed break, breaker, yes they do make them. I had to put one in my studio, as the breaker to the amps driving the left and right mains would trip a standard breaker on turn on.