312. Capacitors for HVAC
28 Jan 2026 · 3 min
Derek Cole explains how HVAC capacitors fail: they swell, lose capacitance, and get damaged by power surges and lightning. Watch for these signs during routine maintenance to catch problems early.
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Foreign. I'm Derek Cole, host of the Derek Cole Podcast and we believe in taking the time to explain how things work for your air at home or your business. And we also believe you deserve clean air in that home. And that is why we founded the Healthy Home Challenge. It's a five day online video series with daily emails, worksheets and even quick action steps you can take to protect you, your family and your co workers. If you haven't joined us yet, you can sign up. It's free to free five day access. You can go to Simmons One Hour Comm. You'll see a link to learn more about indoor air. You've probably known for a while that you need better indoor air at home or at work. After all, we spend 90% of our time indoors these days. Your breakthrough awaits at Simmons One Hour Comm. Now let's get into today's episode. Please listen closely and maybe even take some notes so you can remember these insights of home comfort and energy savings. And share this episode with three of your friends because we all need to share better ways to be more comfortable at home. Be sure to tag me or DM me on Instagram Derek Mcole so I can say hi. Thanks again for listening. And let's begin.
After you get years and years of wear and tear and them running with a motor, you will typically see them start, lose their value and fail. They can fail in multiple ways. They can swell and bust or they can just lose their power and not start or let the system run like it needs to. They also can fail if that motor is running during a lightning strike or a power surge. That incoming voltage can throw these capacitors off and need to be replaced.
Is there a good way to prevent these from going out or can you?
Well, there's really not a way that you can actually prevent them, but you can help catch that problem before it turns into an issue to where you don't have air conditioning. Routine maintenance. If you have regular routine maintenance, your system checked right like it needs to be, you can catch these when they start to lose their value. You do not want to see this value go below about 5% of what it's designed to do before you start changing them out.
Okay, I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Derek Cole Podcast. Tell some people about this episode. It's on each of us really, to spread the better ways to to be healthier and more comfortable in our homes and workspaces. I'm asking you to be the dealer of positive and life changing messages in your circle of influence. Take a screenshot right now and share the screenshot and the link to this episode with three of your friends today. Share on social media Use the hashtag Healthy Home. That's Healthy Home. We are always giving away shout outs prizes to our community. If you would like to help me personally then please rate and review on Apple Podcasts. Give us some stars. Leave a review because that stuff actually does help and I read all the comments. So my last thought for today Please remember you deserve better air at home and greater comfort at home. Don't settle for being uncomfortable for your heating air every single month. We are so thankful for having you here in our community and be sure to go deeper with us at simmons1hour.com.
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