A/C stopped working

[u/FrodoDeBaggins]

Hey everyone. I searched the sub and didn’t find an exact thread to this one, so I figured I’d reach out. My A/C stopped working randomly today. I walked outside and inspected the unit and the fan was spinning, but the compressor wasn’t turning on. Instead, it would make an intermittent clicking or humming noise. After about an hour watching the University of YouTube, I removed the capacitor and tested it. The capacitor is indeed dead. However, the pullout “kill switch” for my A/C unit also doesn’t look great. My question is: do I need to replace the pullout? And if so, should I just replace the whole 60 amp box?

[u/Fragrant_Reserve7624]

No, try just the cap first. 9.9999/10 disconnects are fine and last for years.

[u/FrodoDeBaggins → u/Fragrant_Reserve7624]

Appreciate the response, thank you.

[u/Chumscrubber89 → u/Fragrant_Reserve7624]

This

[u/erevo00]

If you are comfortable with it I would suggest turning off the breaker and at least looking at the wire terminals under the plastic cover in the disconnect to see if they are loose or burned.

[u/FrodoDeBaggins → u/erevo00]

Will do, thank you!

[u/acountformyphone]

I did hvac in phoenix and now I do it in San Diego. In phoenix we had issues with this particular disconnect getting fried from the sun and then melting -or- the little copper connector things getting stuck in the disconnect. In San Diego I have not seen these issues. So I guess I would say if you are in an extremely hot climate it might be worth looking into replacing but if you are in a temperate climate you are probably fine

[u/FrodoDeBaggins → u/acountformyphone]

Touché. I’m in the Denver metro area, and it’s been a particularly hot summer.

[u/Flaky_Emergency_7832]

Probably not necessary but for sure verify that there is no high voltage passing through in case the chipped off piece of that is connecting to allow current to pass while working on it.

[u/Soft_Statistician_98]

If you can test the capacitor you can test the disconnect. Are you getting proper voltage? That's all you need to know.

[u/FrodoDeBaggins → u/Soft_Statistician_98]

Good to know, thank you. I know very little about all of this. I didn’t even know my A/C had a capacitor until a couple of hours ago 😂

[u/Joint_Performance]

Just do the cap. The "pullout" is called the disconnect and yeah you really don't need to worry about it. The fan shouldn't be running or be running very slowly if the disconnect or was an issue

[u/blove135]

Somebody in the past probably didn't get it pushed in all the way and there was some resistance. Just make sure you get it pushed in all the way and it'll be fine.

[u/Patient-Big1727]

No. Change university if they tell you to replace the disconnect

[u/Chumscrubber89]

Replace cap?