The General Chat Thread (2026)

When the HVAC installer decided on a brand for my house he picked Amana. They, Amana, should've just kept making microwaves in the '70s because their HVAC equipment is deplorable. After an extended run time, it's a heat pump, the fan relay starts to chatter. It's vaporizing the contacts, slowly self destructing, and discharging arc flash materials into the supply ductwork. 😡

They've got a $0.29 part driving a $720 motor on a $1200 circuit board that in all likelihood has to be ordered and is made in Taiwan... When it fried I'm crawling up there with a handful of $9 relays...

Here's a link to the hazards. #6 is going on here, until I fix it.
 
My husband just fixed our HVAC for $20 a part, we had to start by hand for a few days. But then he called me to show me how to do it when I’m on my own. He said I need to learn how to discharge it properly. I said to him, when I’m in my 90s, I’ll be glad to pay someone to fix it for me. I’m not going to be penny wise and pound foolish.
 
SoCalZone10 said:
My husband just fixed our HVAC for $20 a part, we had to start by hand for a few days. But then he called me to show me how to do it when I’m on my own. He said I need to learn how to discharge it properly. I said to him, when I’m in my 90s, I’ll be glad to pay someone to fix it for me. I’m not going to be penny wise and pound foolish.
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Fan motor capcitor? Residential needs a capacitor to induce a phase shift so it starts but if you give it a shove...

I've run across those and just wired them on for the resident until the part showed up. 👍

Edit: Always install the highest voltage one you can get, 440. 👌
 
Z-Cook said:
😯😯
Know what PPE is but didn't know for HVAC work 😶😶
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There's a lot of electricity to make all that work. It's all 460/3 phase with motor controllers, computers, and sensors. Sensors on 25 volts controlling 120 volts controlling 460 volts pushing 100's of amps...

I worked on the systems that you walked into or stated another way, they could exactly fit on the bed of a tractor trailer truck and weighed just short of enough for a helicopter to place them. 👍
 
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