Residential AC Parts source that sells to the public in San Diego?

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D-n-Tyke

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So since we are in this nice cool spell right now (not) my house AC decided to take a sheet. I have it narrowed down to either the cap or the condenser fan motor, doing the final troubleshooting this morning in the light. Problem I have now is I can't find anyplace that will sell to the public. Anyone know of a place in San Diego, preferable East County, that sells to the public? Appreciate any recommendations.

 
D-n-Tyke said:
So since we are in this nice cool spell right now (not) my house AC decided to take a sheet. I have it narrowed down to either the cap or the condenser fan motor, doing the final troubleshooting this morning in the light. Problem I have now is I can't find anyplace that will sell to the public. Anyone know of a place in San Diego, preferable East County, that sells to the public? Appreciate any recommendations.
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i think express pipe (formally teal pipe and supply) - will sell to the public....in Santee - https://www.expresspipe.com/

 
Thanks for the rec. Do they sell HVAC stuff? Looking at their website looks like a plumbing supply house.

 
I had a cap go out in our rental house, according to a friend that is a very common problem with AC units. I found a replacement at a local electronics supplier, they are not HVAC specific, just make sure the specs match and it will work, and probably cheaper than a HVAC dealer. That AC is still going strong several yrs later.

 
Grainger should have it. I've bought HVAC stuff there before, but not a starting cap. As big as they are, they should have it, I think those caps are pretty cheap.

 
90% of the time it’s the capacitor. Call around and see if you can buy one. 

 
Welp Fan tests good. So looks like the cap is the issue. Lucky for me, temporarily, who ever change the cap last time put a "universal" cap in it and it has Qty2 5 MFD post on it. So I switched the fan lead from the original 5MFD post to the other and now my fan, and by extension my AC, is working again. I am still going to change out the cap as I figure if one portion of it failed the others aren't far behind.

I will check Grainger on Monday. Of course they are closed on the weekends when things actually break.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

 
If its your fan motor you can disconnect it and just strap a box fan to the top of the unit to move the air while you wait for a fan motor to ship out.  I have done this twice now over the years.  Works like a champ.

 
D-n-Tyke said:
Welp Fan tests good. So looks like the cap is the issue. Lucky for me, temporarily, who ever change the cap last time put a "universal" cap in it and it has Qty2 5 MFD post on it. So I switched the fan lead from the original 5MFD post to the other and now my fan, and by extension my AC, is working again. I am still going to change out the cap as I figure if one portion of it failed the others aren't far behind.

I will check Grainger on Monday. Of course they are closed on the weekends when things actually break.

Thanks for all the suggestions.
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Disconnect the fan motor and strap a box fan from walmart up on top.  

 
Or you could have just called me jack ass! Now that I’ve called you out on here, I will just call you myself.

 
D-n-Tyke said:
So since we are in this nice cool spell right now (not) my house AC decided to take a sheet. I have it narrowed down to either the cap or the condenser fan motor, doing the final troubleshooting this morning in the light. Problem I have now is I can't find anyplace that will sell to the public. Anyone know of a place in San Diego, preferable East County, that sells to the public? Appreciate any recommendations.
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You are more than welcome to use my account in kearney mesa to grab what you need. Or you can order caps on Amazon but they are about triple the price

 
Just to try and help anyone else on here with a similar issue, there are no HVAC stores in San Diego that will sell to general public that I know of. If you know someone in the industry, the parts houses are closed on the weekends until the heat wave hits, and even then they are only open on Saturdays til usually noon. Being in the industry we can have a parts house open up after hours but costs $100-$150 to have them open. So for cheap repairs like a start cap or condenser fan motor, it’s better to just put a box fan on top of the unit with the air blowing upwards, to draw the hot air out of the unit. This should get you by til normal working hours. The only place that I think may have electronics that will sell to the public is Willy’s Electronics. Hope this helps!

 
Thanks for all the advice everyone. Switching it over to the other 5MFD terminal is still working like a champ today. I will still change out the cap this week as I assume my current fix is just temporary. 

Never thought of the box fan idea. I will definitely keep that in my pocket for next time.

Big_Daddy_Jp said:
Or you could have just called me jack ass! Now that I’ve called you out on here, I will just call you myself.
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Why would I have called you. You work in refrigeration....  DOH! hahaha

 
That cap is actually 2 caps in one housing. The one you switched to might last a long time, it might not, there's no way to predict. If you can get another double cap like that, it's pretty slick. If that one fails, you can just use the other cap like you did this time without waiting for help or parts.

I also echo your sentiment - why call him? You now know as much as he does...    J/K!

:lol:

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
I also echo your sentiment - why call him? You now know as much as he does...    J/K!

:lol:
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Hahaha, no setiment, JP is my brother and I always get it mixed up and think he works in refrigeration. Especially when I am melting in my house and can't think straight.

 
D-n-Tyke said:
Hahaha, no setiment, JP is my brother and I always get it mixed up and think he works in refrigeration. Especially when I am melting in my house and can't think straight.
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I think I've mentioned min splits 100 times before, but if there was ever a time to install a min split, it's before electricity costs rise even more. My winter electric bill is going up about $20/month every year. With my 3 ton central air, my winter bill was $100/mo. and the summer bill was $400/mo. and the unit struggled all day and night to get down to 80*. Once I installed the 3 zone mini split, my summer bill only increased $67 in July and $80 in Aug. and Sep. and that was with the upstairs at about 76* and downstairs getting convection cooled to about 72*. The 18,000 BTU main unit cools the entire house effortlessly. The whole thing only cost $1,100 and you and "big daddy" could install it in a day.

Electricity prices are going up and my winter bill is $120, last summer's highest bills were $200. This summer's bills will hit $220, even though my bill is showing I'm using less electricity than last yr. Anyways, slashing my A/C bill from $300/mo. to $80/mo. and keeping the house cooler was the biggest savings for me. The ability to cool only the rooms I want to cool is also a big bonus, plus they're silent, my central air was pretty loud at the intake.   

 
Lord of the Dunes said:
I think I've mentioned min splits 100 times before, but if there was ever a time to install a min split, it's before electricity costs rise even more. My winter electric bill is going up about $20/month every year. With my 3 ton central air, my winter bill was $100/mo. and the summer bill was $400/mo. and the unit struggled all day and night to get down to 80*. Once I installed the 3 zone mini split, my summer bill only increased $67 in July and $80 in Aug. and Sep. and that was with the upstairs at about 76* and downstairs getting convection cooled to about 72*. The 18,000 BTU main unit cools the entire house effortlessly. The whole thing only cost $1,100 and you and "big daddy" could install it in a day.

Electricity prices are going up and my winter bill is $120, last summer's highest bills were $200. This summer's bills will hit $220, even though my bill is showing I'm using less electricity than last yr. Anyways, slashing my A/C bill from $300/mo. to $80/mo. and keeping the house cooler was the biggest savings for me. The ability to cool only the rooms I want to cool is also a big bonus, plus they're silent, my central air was pretty loud at the intake.   
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Mini splits have come a long way over the years. The house I just purchased has a 5 zone mini split system. I would never go back to central air! Like you said, I run the one in the living room while we are in there. An hour before we go to bed, I turn our bedroom unit on. Then shut the living room off when we go to bed. Super efficient and quiet. Some homes are built in such a way that you can’t run a multi zone unit because the line set can only be so long. Newer central air units have come along way also so sometimes you just have to settle. 

 
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