How to safely discharge a HVAC start/run capacitor?

[Daver1963]

Actually, the safest way to discharge a capacitor the size of a beer can is to use a grounding stick like pictured below. It discharges it to ground.

 

[kenmac]

B-4 I started using a screwdriver, I would just touch the terminals to my tongue... Talk about a charge LOL.

 

[dmccarty]

Do you know the amount of emergency/back up heat that is in the unit ?...You say the house didn't heat up very quick..I just wonder if you only 5 or 10 KW heat strip installed..If you had 15 or even 20 kw ,the house should have headed fairly quickly..Of course, I don't know the size of your home either..+1 on the American made caps..they seem to last longer....Most HVAC companies around here won't install them due to less call backs

I don't know the size of the heat strips. I could feel the heat from the strips and it was at least 80 degrees exiting the vents. It may have been hotter but I was just checking to make sure there was heat being blown from the registers.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Buy your wife a couple of warm sweaters, that will cost a LOT less. Even in more mild weather, think of all the extra wood you are using. If she wants 80 degrees, she should be helping cut, split and stack the firewood ;-)

I told her something similar....

ONCE!

:shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

As it is she wears 2-3 layers of clothes and sits with a heating pad under a thick blanket. Lizard Lady really is only "warm" for about two weeks in August. :shocked::laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Right now the HVAC is, pun intended, on the back burner.

The kids have clogged their toilet and we can't get it unblocked. Its like they put concrete down the toilet. :shocked:

The plunger does not do scat. And we have a good plunger. :confused3: The toilet seems to have a lip so our snake will only go so far.

Course we have been snowed in since the toilet clogged and I need to get a different kind of snake.

Tried baking soda and vinegar idea which just foamed up an nice brown foam. :confused2: Put in soap last night to try today.

We won't use hot water or chemicals so I really need a new snake....

2015 has not been a good year but it could be worse.

Later,
Dan

 

[Industrial Toys]

Well Dan, at least you have water! My underground line is frozen almost a week now!


I actually always have wondered if discharging a capacitor by shorting it, can damage it. If it were on something I really cared about, I would probably use a resistor. The screwdriver would be reserved for situations where I assumed the cap to be discharged, but I just wanted to be sure before working on the circuit. Most properly designed circuits do have a bleeder resistor accross the caps.

 

[dmccarty]

Well Dan, at least you have water! My underground line is frozen almost a week now!


I actually always have wondered if discharging a capacitor by shorting it, can damage it. If it were on something I really cared about, I would probably use a resistor. The screwdriver would be reserved for situations where I assumed the cap to be discharged, but I just wanted to be sure before working on the circuit. Most properly designed circuits do have a bleeder resistor accross the caps.

Yep it could be worse.

Just got back from Lowes with a new plunger, one of those cheap accordion plastic ones and a new snake. Thankfully the new plunger worked! Woo Hoo! The other plunger we have is pretty danged good but it does not have the volume in the plunger and it does not cover the toilet drain as well as the new one. The cheap plastic one has a better handle that does not bruise your palm either. Thankfully, I did not need the new snake! :thumbsup:

Guess what I thought to look for, asked the kid to remind me to look for and what I forget to look for?

Yep, a new capacitor. :banghead::banghead::banghead: What a Maroon.....

Later,
Dan

 

[kenmac]

I don't believe Lowes has caps..
at least ,not in my area.

Well, If you had 20 KW,, you would really have some heat. That is, If they hadn't already turned off, and you were getting residual heat

I have had to pull the toilets up to get the S trap cleared.. U are lucky

 

[Loadstar]

Don't believe discharging a hvac cap by shorting will hurt it, as most were doomed when they left china. You do not usually find hvac caps sold on shelves in general public stores. Run caps look like the ones in my previous pictures and do not have resistors. Start capacitors are jacketed with black plastic and have a bleed resistor.

 

[dmccarty]

Update:

I ordered a new capacitor from Amazon quite some time ago and it arrived in two days. Unfortunately, we have been having day after day of rain and it took weeks before it stopped raining. Finally there was a day with no rain and I was home during the day to put in the new capacitor. I replaced the old one, which looks just fine, no bulges at all, with the new one. I did not discharge the old capacitor but was careful to not touch any terminals. With the new capacitor, the HVAC fan started right up. We are in that season where it will be cold enough in the morning to need some heat in the house but it is not worth starting a fire so the HVAC heat cycle is getting a workout.

Thanks,
Dan