So, yesterday I went to turn on the A/C (whole house - turned on from thermostat) and just heard a buzzing from the basement. Turned it back off and went down to take a look. Checked the fuse and then pulled the covers off the furnace to take a look at anything. Nothing seemed out of order and no weird smells (magic smoke released) or anything. Went back upstairs, turned it back on, it buzzed for a moment and then stopped before I could get back down to the basement to see what was going on. Went down to the basement again and nothing was happening - no noise, no smells, no nothing... Went back upstairs and turned the fan over to "on" from "automatic" and still got nothing.
I had other things that needed to be done, so I turned things off and left it. Today I had some time (well, not really, but this took precedence over the other things on the list) so I did some online reading to confirm my suspicion that the capacitor for the blower motor was the likely culprit. Looked everything over in the basement again. The capacitor didn't look obviously damaged. Turned off the power at the furnace, went upstairs, turned the a/c on, went back down to the basement, and while watching things flipped the power on... And everything worked as it should...
Stood there watching it for awhile. Nothing out of the ordinary. Finally went upstairs and worked on other things for awhile. After awhile I cycled it off, waited awhile, and cycled it on again - no issues. Did this a couple times - still no issues.
Considering that initially it buzzed, stopped buzzing, and absolutely nothing worked at all, I'm a bit confused. So if it is the capacitor I'm figuring I'm living on borrowed time and should replace it. However, before I go and do that is there anything else that could be the issue? I don't want to replace the capacitor and then find that it is something else. Particularly since I've been here for the long weekend but will be back to work tomorrow and don't want something going on with things while I'm not here. The whole system (furnace and a/c) was installed before I bought the house thirty years ago and hasn't had any issues other than routine maintenance and replacing the fan motor on the a/c condenser unit outside about twenty years ago.
While googling, I see recommendations to budget $150 to $450 to replace the capacitor - which I find ridiculous considering a capacitor is $10~$20.
I had other things that needed to be done, so I turned things off and left it. Today I had some time (well, not really, but this took precedence over the other things on the list) so I did some online reading to confirm my suspicion that the capacitor for the blower motor was the likely culprit. Looked everything over in the basement again. The capacitor didn't look obviously damaged. Turned off the power at the furnace, went upstairs, turned the a/c on, went back down to the basement, and while watching things flipped the power on... And everything worked as it should...
Stood there watching it for awhile. Nothing out of the ordinary. Finally went upstairs and worked on other things for awhile. After awhile I cycled it off, waited awhile, and cycled it on again - no issues. Did this a couple times - still no issues.
Considering that initially it buzzed, stopped buzzing, and absolutely nothing worked at all, I'm a bit confused. So if it is the capacitor I'm figuring I'm living on borrowed time and should replace it. However, before I go and do that is there anything else that could be the issue? I don't want to replace the capacitor and then find that it is something else. Particularly since I've been here for the long weekend but will be back to work tomorrow and don't want something going on with things while I'm not here. The whole system (furnace and a/c) was installed before I bought the house thirty years ago and hasn't had any issues other than routine maintenance and replacing the fan motor on the a/c condenser unit outside about twenty years ago.
While googling, I see recommendations to budget $150 to $450 to replace the capacitor - which I find ridiculous considering a capacitor is $10~$20.