Furnace Filter Interval

[zzyzzx]

This is the first year I had an issue....I came home one hot day in July and the house was warm...the outside unit wasn't working....I tried to get the installer to come to service it but he had retired....so I went on Youtube....bought a 'capacitor' and a 'contactor'...installed both....and everything was fine again...

You probably only needed just the capacitor OR the contactor, not both.

 

[Lubener]

Same here....I never get to see my evap coil since it's up in the attic and a duct runs from my ceiling to it.....my filter is changed from my hallway ceiling. I purchased a BOAIRE filter and wash and vacuum it every 3 months....It's a big filter (approx. 28"X 20" IIRC)...It has paid for itself easily in the 10 years since I had the system installed. (my system is a Heil which is a Carrier brand....a 14 SEER outside unit with a variable speed air handler which pushes it to 16 SEER (giving me the tax credit at the time)....it's very economical to operate.
This is the first year I had an issue....I came home one hot day in July and the house was warm...the outside unit wasn't working....I tried to get the installer to come to service it but he had retired....so I went on Youtube....bought a 'capacitor' and a 'contactor'...installed both....and everything was fine again...
PS: My unit is AC only...no furnace...

As preventive maintenance, I replaced the capacitor and contactor after 10 years. I didn't want to wait for a failure. I kept the old items as spares "just in case".

 

[Dave9]

More often than not, if the capacitor goes out it will have swollen. Sometimes that is only on the end cap, which should be flat, not domed (unless it's a rare type that is domed when new).

Often the original capacitor is higher quality than the cheap aftermarkets, so if replacing with a cheap cap you might want to get two of them to have a spare. Sometimes the cheapest only last a year...