Garage1217
GET OFF MY LAWN
Guys, I get so sick of hearing every year "My ac went out and I lost everything!" Don't kill your fish, maintain your stinking AC. It is not hard to do. Lots of online guides. Just PAY ATTENTION TO THE GUIDES ON HOW TO DO THINGS SAFELY!!!! This post is just general information and not intended to be a guide in any way. If you have not worked with AC or home electrical, contact a licensed professional! Again I do not want any of you killing yourself so contact a professional if you are even a little weary! I think we have a good AC tech on our local forum that can help you out as well. garage1217 is not responsible for your death, electrocution, or the burnt smell your loved ones will have to deal with if you get fried. BE SAFE.
Before you start anything, you need to...
- Shut off power in your circuit breaker box to the air handler and condenser. Generally attached to the house next to the outside condenser will be a disconnect. Pull that for additional protection. And if you're really smart, do all of the above and kill power to the whole house by flipping the main breaker. Always check to make sure there is no power to any ac unit by testing with a multimeter.
Crap that generally dies on most AC units and general maintenance...
- Motor capacitor on the condenser. This little gem has a habit of crapping out at the worst possible moment leaving you broiling in the summer heat, cooking your tank and all of its inhabitants. Costs to have an AC company come out in a rush emergency... Anywhere from $200 for a good company to $600+ for a rip off joint. Actual cost of the capacitor? $25-$65. Installation time for a ground based condenser is around 20 minutes. I would change this guy every 4-5 years. I have gotten 7 years out of mine, however upon inspection today, she is leaking which is a sign she is ready to be replaced.
- Contactor. This is basically a big relay that turns on the condenser to put it quickly. The contact points can get pitted and stick over time leaving the condenser assembly running which can seriously damage other components. Ac companies again can charge $200-$600 in an emergency to replace this little gadget. Honest ones charge around $200ish. Cost again for most basic units is around $20-$65. This guy takes a tad longer to replace at around 30 minutes if you are taking your sweet time. I would replace this every time you do a condenser capacitor or 4-5 years just for piece of mind.
- Capacitor in the air handler, usually located in the attic. Just like the outside condenser, the motor in the air handler in the attic has a capacitor. This is the big ugly box with all the duct work coming off of it. Inside the service panel or attached to the motor, you will find a capacitor that, just like the condenser capacitor, needs to be replaced every 4-5 years. This cap was also leaking on mine, a lot worse than my condenser capacitor and may have failed on me this year. This is another one of those $200-$600 jobs if it is an emergency call. Cost is $15 -$65 in general.
General Maintenance....
- Clean your condenser coils (outside unit)!!! Ac companies try to get you when they come over for one of those "free inspections" They will hit you up for a coil cleaning service and charge $100-$300 to do this. I have even heard of one company wanting to charge $499 for a freaking coil cleaning!!!! DIY it runs you about $10-$15 per condenser. Go to home depot and in the air filter section, they sell a decent foaming coil cleaner in a can. A writeup on how to clean it is located here...
http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/articleairconditioner.html
- Clean your evaporator coils! These are what cool the air and are generally located in the big ugly box in the attic. You can generally access them via another bolted on panel on the big box. The side will unbolt and you pull the whole thing off to get to the coils. This one is more of a pain to clean as you do not have the luxury of a garden hose in the attic which is a dumb idea in general. Steps to clean it are located at the bottom of this site. brush it clean to loosen the crap, and vac it out really good with a shop vac. Then, it will take just a single can of coil cleaner (that is made for the evap coils, again found at home depot ) which is the same stuff I use on the outside" condenser coils. I am lucky to have a 80G air compressor so I take an air line up with me, then use cardboard to block the ducts from all the dirt and blow the coils out clean before I use coil cleaner on it. I then button the thing up and run the AC or awhile as the condensation will wash the cleaner from the coils. Coils that are not cleaned will cause you AC to run very inefficiently, costing you a fortune. Can lead to excess wear and tear as everything is running all the time to keep up.
http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/articleairconditioner.html
- Last, Change your freaking air filters on a regular basis! I change mine every 30 days / at the first of every month. AC guys will always tell you to buy the cheapest filters possible. IMO this is to get you to pay for a evap cleaning and duct cleaning every 6 months to a year lol! A good filter(s) will keep massive building from happening on the evap coils. I usually buy 3M allergy filters or the generic allergy filters. They pull a ton of crap out of the air and help keep the evap coils clean. Also, you will not have those nasty balls of dust, lint or whatever hanging out of your airvents around the house. And dust in general is lessened in the house. Worth every penny to me. But with these types of filters, a 30 day replacement maximum is mandatory. If you have stanky nasty air from lots of pets, people or smokers, every 20 days may be required.
Anyways, those are the most common things I see or hear that crap out and ruin you day and wallet. And the most common things you need to maintain. Maybe some real experts can chime in.
Total cost shipped and for parts for my general spring AC maintenance (all original parts and part numbers too!) Again most parts only need to be changed every 4-5 years.
$30.40 shipped for the condenser capacitor
$14.99 shipped for the air handler motor capacitor
$21.99 shipped for the contactor
$4.99 + tax for the coil cleaner x 3 from home depot $14.97 total
$cannot remember the cost on the filters as I bought them in bulk a year ago. Came out to like $6 a filter from memory so say $12 for the change.
Total maintenance at the 4-5 year mark... $94.35. This COULD be over $600-$OUCH if a tech had to come out one visit at a time. And I have the piece of mind that my ac is now a pretty safe bet this year and it was well worth it as a general safeguard for my tank. Crap can happen... motors go out, fuses blow (don't get my started on an ac techs price to replace a 20 cent fuse) or worse, but those items are far more rare than the above.
A good resource for DIY ac repair is located here...
Condenser capacitor:
http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/capacitor.php
Contactor replacement:
http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/contactor.php
Condensor coil cleaning:
http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/condensercleaning.php
General AC component layout:
:beer:
Before you start anything, you need to...
- Shut off power in your circuit breaker box to the air handler and condenser. Generally attached to the house next to the outside condenser will be a disconnect. Pull that for additional protection. And if you're really smart, do all of the above and kill power to the whole house by flipping the main breaker. Always check to make sure there is no power to any ac unit by testing with a multimeter.
Crap that generally dies on most AC units and general maintenance...
- Motor capacitor on the condenser. This little gem has a habit of crapping out at the worst possible moment leaving you broiling in the summer heat, cooking your tank and all of its inhabitants. Costs to have an AC company come out in a rush emergency... Anywhere from $200 for a good company to $600+ for a rip off joint. Actual cost of the capacitor? $25-$65. Installation time for a ground based condenser is around 20 minutes. I would change this guy every 4-5 years. I have gotten 7 years out of mine, however upon inspection today, she is leaking which is a sign she is ready to be replaced.
- Contactor. This is basically a big relay that turns on the condenser to put it quickly. The contact points can get pitted and stick over time leaving the condenser assembly running which can seriously damage other components. Ac companies again can charge $200-$600 in an emergency to replace this little gadget. Honest ones charge around $200ish. Cost again for most basic units is around $20-$65. This guy takes a tad longer to replace at around 30 minutes if you are taking your sweet time. I would replace this every time you do a condenser capacitor or 4-5 years just for piece of mind.
- Capacitor in the air handler, usually located in the attic. Just like the outside condenser, the motor in the air handler in the attic has a capacitor. This is the big ugly box with all the duct work coming off of it. Inside the service panel or attached to the motor, you will find a capacitor that, just like the condenser capacitor, needs to be replaced every 4-5 years. This cap was also leaking on mine, a lot worse than my condenser capacitor and may have failed on me this year. This is another one of those $200-$600 jobs if it is an emergency call. Cost is $15 -$65 in general.
General Maintenance....
- Clean your condenser coils (outside unit)!!! Ac companies try to get you when they come over for one of those "free inspections" They will hit you up for a coil cleaning service and charge $100-$300 to do this. I have even heard of one company wanting to charge $499 for a freaking coil cleaning!!!! DIY it runs you about $10-$15 per condenser. Go to home depot and in the air filter section, they sell a decent foaming coil cleaner in a can. A writeup on how to clean it is located here...
http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/articleairconditioner.html
- Clean your evaporator coils! These are what cool the air and are generally located in the big ugly box in the attic. You can generally access them via another bolted on panel on the big box. The side will unbolt and you pull the whole thing off to get to the coils. This one is more of a pain to clean as you do not have the luxury of a garden hose in the attic which is a dumb idea in general. Steps to clean it are located at the bottom of this site. brush it clean to loosen the crap, and vac it out really good with a shop vac. Then, it will take just a single can of coil cleaner (that is made for the evap coils, again found at home depot ) which is the same stuff I use on the outside" condenser coils. I am lucky to have a 80G air compressor so I take an air line up with me, then use cardboard to block the ducts from all the dirt and blow the coils out clean before I use coil cleaner on it. I then button the thing up and run the AC or awhile as the condensation will wash the cleaner from the coils. Coils that are not cleaned will cause you AC to run very inefficiently, costing you a fortune. Can lead to excess wear and tear as everything is running all the time to keep up.
http://www.mobilehomerepair.com/articleairconditioner.html
- Last, Change your freaking air filters on a regular basis! I change mine every 30 days / at the first of every month. AC guys will always tell you to buy the cheapest filters possible. IMO this is to get you to pay for a evap cleaning and duct cleaning every 6 months to a year lol! A good filter(s) will keep massive building from happening on the evap coils. I usually buy 3M allergy filters or the generic allergy filters. They pull a ton of crap out of the air and help keep the evap coils clean. Also, you will not have those nasty balls of dust, lint or whatever hanging out of your airvents around the house. And dust in general is lessened in the house. Worth every penny to me. But with these types of filters, a 30 day replacement maximum is mandatory. If you have stanky nasty air from lots of pets, people or smokers, every 20 days may be required.
Anyways, those are the most common things I see or hear that crap out and ruin you day and wallet. And the most common things you need to maintain. Maybe some real experts can chime in.
Total cost shipped and for parts for my general spring AC maintenance (all original parts and part numbers too!) Again most parts only need to be changed every 4-5 years.
$30.40 shipped for the condenser capacitor
$14.99 shipped for the air handler motor capacitor
$21.99 shipped for the contactor
$4.99 + tax for the coil cleaner x 3 from home depot $14.97 total
$cannot remember the cost on the filters as I bought them in bulk a year ago. Came out to like $6 a filter from memory so say $12 for the change.
Total maintenance at the 4-5 year mark... $94.35. This COULD be over $600-$OUCH if a tech had to come out one visit at a time. And I have the piece of mind that my ac is now a pretty safe bet this year and it was well worth it as a general safeguard for my tank. Crap can happen... motors go out, fuses blow (don't get my started on an ac techs price to replace a 20 cent fuse) or worse, but those items are far more rare than the above.
A good resource for DIY ac repair is located here...
Condenser capacitor:
http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/capacitor.php
Contactor replacement:
http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/contactor.php
Condensor coil cleaning:
http://diyhvacrepair.com/RepairScripts/condensercleaning.php
General AC component layout:
:beer:
Last edited:
....putting the air handler in the attic
and if i'm picking stuff up ..ya know some gas money
