A/C repair
 

Our A/C stopped yesterday morning and based upon the great
reviews of Chuck Farrell I called them. They told me that they
were backed up until next week and recommended
M & S Air Conditioning.

M & S showed up in the afternoon and had the problem fixed
in no time. Two great techs and price. We were so impressed
that we signed up for there P.M. service.

What was the problem and cost to fix it?

It was the capacitor that exploded, oil all over the place.

Don,t want to give exact price because every job different
would not be fair to company, but including the PM contract
was under $500.

What is "PM service". Is that a service contract just for the A/C? How long a contact for $500 bucks? Well, maybe deduct $125 for the capacitor minimum labor & part so probably around $375. What are you getting for that?

Sounds like a preventative maintenance agreement. I don't think these agreements are worth buying because almost nothing will prevent your AC from breaking down. It certainly would not have prevented a capacitor from failing. Also, when my AC unit fails, I like that I am not locked in to a specific contractor. I have heard that Chuck Farrell is a good contractor, but he wouldn't be good enough for me to wait a week for him to show up while I had no air conditioning.

We've always had a maintenance contract with Sun Kool. They respond immediately and have saved our (hot) bacon three times in the last 7 years. They clean out the mold and change the filter. This week our capacitor went out. The part was under warranty but not the labor. However, since they had just been out in May for their semi-annual inspection, we had a $50 labor credit. Our total cost was $14. Some things are worth the cost. The unit has to be cleaned and maintained anyway, and I'm happy to have the pros do it.

If you are frugal and a DIYer just buy a capacitor to have on hand. Buy a USA manufactured one ( $30-35 on Amazon). It is probably a 5/35 MFD. Or simply test the capacitance to see if it is close to failure (YouTube has how to videos). Also on YouTube you will find how to replace these. Or, if you really believe in PM, replace annually. That is what I do.

Nothing worse than being hit with a fully charged capacitor--definitly not a DIY for the average villager--espicially if you have a defrib implant or a pacemaker

All DIY projects are beyond the scope of nearly every Villager. Even something as simple as this.

It is funny as I was posting this I wondered how long it would take to get to get a warning of how extremely dangerous this is (it is not). Invariably, this comes from someone who has never done the task.
Only a few minutes, it seems

Apparently, Sun Cool doesn't believe in doing this. Read Post No. 6.

I'm a retired electrical contractor, I know how to discharge a capacitor-- an old trick in the navy was to put a charged capacitor in someones jump suit-- it was like getting a zap from a taser

If your point is PM service calls do not identify potential problems by checking for capacitance, I agree. If it is capacitors are not replaced annually during PM call, again I agree. If it is service contracts are not a good value, ditto.

If it is early replacement of a part prone to failure is illadvised, I do not.

Lots of legacy contractors, are too busy to be bothered with anything but new construction or complete replacements-IMHO, if your system is more than 10 yrs old plan on a new system soon--it will be cheaper in the long run

Yep, just got & installed OEM cap for A/H fan last week for $9 off Amz and 10 mins install. Replaced cap and contactor in compressor unit when we moved in 2yrs ago just for the fact they were 9yrs old and always keep 1 each of those 3 parts "in-stock." Not so much (well, yes so much) for saving $$$ but I couldn't survive 1hr without A/C. If the compressor goes that's beyond my reach but there aren't many other parts left other than 2 fans. and 2 controllers which are still under $50 on the web.

Here is a video on how to discharge capacitors. If you have made it this far in life I am confident that you can handle this task.
How To Safely Discharge Your Air Conditioner Run Capacitor - YouTube

If you are a DIYer you will likely agree that this is very simple.