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Old 07-23-2011, 12:26 PM
 
10 posts, read 12,095 times
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My central air stopped cooling. A Sears tech came, replaced a bad capacitor and the unit cools fine now.
My question, the capacitor itself is cheap (ca $20). The total labor was $205 - Is this reasonable? Seems to be a straight forward task just by watching. Also, the unit is 7-year old. Is an annual check up by professionals necessary?
Thanks.
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Old 07-23-2011, 01:38 PM
 
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From what I've been told installing a capaciter is about as easy as changing a battery. A pretty easy diy job. I may have paid for the service call and changed it myself.
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Old 07-23-2011, 02:02 PM
 
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Might be a little high. We just paid $85.00 for a service call by Reliable. Our upstairs until wasn't cooling. It turned out that the circuit breaker had been tripped, probably by a nearby lightening strike. But the technician was here for about 30 minutes, making sure everything else was ok, and cool air was flowing, so the price seemed reasonable.
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Old 07-23-2011, 02:11 PM
 
Location: MMU->ABE->ATL->ASH
9,317 posts, read 21,007,728 times
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I paid $139 last year for a Service call (why it was not cooling) & 1# of coolent pumped into the system. Service guy was here about 1hr
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Old 07-23-2011, 02:39 PM
 
Location: Ono Island, Orange Beach, AL
10,743 posts, read 13,390,202 times
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Look into an annual service plan. I've found that those really help reduce the service costs if you have them out more than once a year.
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Old 07-24-2011, 04:24 AM
 
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Thank you all!
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Old 07-24-2011, 06:44 AM
 
9,124 posts, read 36,385,838 times
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That's why you don't hire Sears, Home Depot, etc., to do work on your house. They hire local contractors to do the work, and then mark it up. If you had hired a local service company, you would have paid the lower rate and avoided the markup- you're paying for the "comfort" of hiring a national firm.
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Old 07-24-2011, 03:45 PM
 
10 posts, read 12,095 times
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I see. Indeed I didn't spend much time asking around. Thanks!
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Old 07-25-2011, 08:07 AM
 
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Are you sure your capacitor was only $20? Both times I bought a capacitor for my unit it ran about $60.
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Old 07-25-2011, 04:51 PM
 
397 posts, read 843,364 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hal2814 View Post
Are you sure your capacitor was only $20? Both times I bought a capacitor for my unit it ran about $60.
It seems to depend on which specific capacitor you need. The tend to range from as low as $10 and at the high end around $60. Google the specs on yours and you'll see.
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