High Caliber HVAC

Similar to light bulbs capacitors have a certain life expectancy under normal operating conditions. However, it's common for capacitors to operate under unusually stressful conditions. Operating your system under these conditions for extended periods of time will cause this component to fail prematurely. The good news is that there are easy procedures that a homeowner can perform in order to relieve excessive stress on this component. Keeping the outdoor and indoor coils clean as well as changing your indoor air filter frequently will help to preserve the life of your capacitor, and help to keep your system running efficiently (which will help keep your energy bill low.) It also protects other components in your indoor air handler unit and outside condensing unit.

The efficiency of these finned tube type heating elements largely depends on the condition of the aluminum fins that are wrapped around the copper tubing. Dust buildup acts as a heat insulator and prevents much of the heat from radiating out into the living space. Warps and bends in these fins also adversely affects their ability to radiate heat. Minor warps and bends can easily be "combed" out, but when you have major damage to these fins a complete replacement of the heating element is required.

When troubleshooting your system we always take a step-by-step logical approach through a process of elimination. We never use guesswork! Using the proper tools and troubleshooting techniques we test and confirm until we find your problem. In this case, we started at the outdoor condensing unit and worked our way in to the thermostat, and finally out to the furnace and evaporator coil where we found a manual reset safety switch that had been tripped, disrupting electrical power to the indoor unit.