AC contactor replacement in Phoenix.
The switch that turns the outdoor unit on and off. One of the cheaper real repairs on a system.
The contactor is the switch in the outdoor unit that the thermostat throws. It is the part that makes the clunk when the outdoor unit kicks on.
Every time it closes, the contacts arc a little. Over thousands of cycles they pit and stop making clean contact, and the unit will not start, starts some days and not others, or chatters. Welded shut, it fails the other way: the outdoor unit runs nonstop.
In Arizona there is a third way. Ants get into the cabinet, and enough of them hold the contacts apart. It is worth looking for before assuming the part simply aged out.
Where the fault is not obviously the contactor, it starts as a diagnostic, and you hear the repair price before anything is touched.
When to call.
- Outdoor unit will not start
- Starts some days and not others
- Chatters or buzzes instead of a clean clunk
- Runs nonstop even when the house is cold
- Ants packed into the electrical box
- Pitted or burnt contacts
What you get.
- Contactor checked under load before it is replaced
- Unit run and amp draw checked after
Common questions.
Why do ants get into it?
They are drawn to the field around the coil and get in through the bottom of the cabinet. Enough of them in the wrong place hold the contacts apart or short them. It is common enough here to look for first.
My outdoor unit will not shut off. Is that the contactor?
Often. A contactor welded shut cannot open, so the unit runs even when the thermostat is satisfied. Turn it off at the breaker and call.
Someone quoted me a lot more for a contactor.
It is one of the cheaper real repairs on a system. A figure with a comma in it for a contactor is worth a second set of eyes.
Worth reading first.
Nothing happens at all.
No air, no hum, nothing. Four of the five causes cost nothing to rule out.
Read itIt never shuts off.
On a 115 day this may be the system doing its job. The rest of the year it is a question worth asking.
Read itIt is making a noise it did not used to make.
Each sound maps to a different part. Knowing which is which saves you a diagnosis.
Read itWhere it's done.
North Phoenix
No trip fee.
Central Phoenix
No trip fee.
Paradise Valley
No trip fee.
Scottsdale
No trip fee.
Further out, same prices with a $150 job minimum. Service areas.
Other work on the list.
Drain and float switch
The most common reason a Valley system quietly stops: a plugged drain and the switch that shut it down.
See itCondenser fan motor
A universal outdoor fan motor with the matching capacitor, at one price. Tested first, because it often is not the motor.
See itThermostat install
Your thermostat, on the wiring already in the wall, set up and tested with the system.
See it