Derek Cole and HVAC technician William Skipper explain how capacitors power AC motors and what causes them to fail. Capacitors degrade over years and can be damaged by power surges, but routine maintenance can catch declining capacitance before it drops below 5% of rated value, preventing cooling loss.
Hey, on this episode of The Comfort Experts, we talk about capacitors.
Owning a home has many elements that have to be looked after. One of the most important elements is comfort, and your heating and air conditioning is priority. That's why we stop at nothing to provide on-time service and expertise for all of your heating and cooling needs. We are The Comfort Experts. We have the solution for all of your trickiest heating and air conditioning needs. That's why we brought you our show, The Comfort Experts. Every week we bring you tips and tricks to improve your home and bring you peace of mind with our quality service tips for home heating and air conditioning maintenance.
Hey, this is Derrick Coleman with William Skipper, and welcome to the Comfort Experts. And today we're talking about something very important for your system. It is the capacitor. But William, the common question is, what is the capacitor and why do I need it?
Well, Derrick, what we've got today is two of your typical capacitors you'll see in your residential HVAC system. 2 run capacitors. One is a single run capacitor, which you would see on your motors. They are designed to operate while the motor is running. What it does is it creates a magnetic field and allows that motor to run at a good speed, at the speed it is designed to do, to make it as efficient as it can. You've got a dual capacitor as well, and a dual capacitor is simply 2 capacitors built into one. And they did this to kind of save room in a unit. That way you could have a capacitor for your compressor as well as your motor. It does the same thing as your single capacitor does, just operates two different devices. These capacitors are really not designed to fail, but they do over an extended period of time. After you get years and years of wear and tear and them running with the motor, you will typically see them start losing 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. So routine maintenance is key in catching that problem before it happens.
So for more information, go to 1HourAirCarolinas.com, and that's everything you ever wanted to know about capacitors.
Today's episode was brought to you by the Comfort Experts. See us for all your heating and air conditioning needs. For more information, information, visit 1houraircarolinas.com. That's 1houraircarolinas.com.
How to Prevent Mold and Odor in Your Air Conditioning System with UV Light #shorts
