Reply to I saved $1,600 in 3 hours yesterday doing car repairs myself! AMA!

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I've been doing my own repairs for years, OP. I taught myself when I was a teenager. I'm a woman, have torn down and rebuilt a motor, replaced axles, bearings, head gaskets, intake gaskets, you name it, I've done it. I also do my own? motorcycle repairs. At the moment, I am teaching myself to repair heat pumps. Last night, I diagnosed the problem in ours, and have? to replace a capacitor. If you are able to read and comprehend, you can do anything. Congratulations on being self-sufficient! [/quote]

12:46 here - That's awesome.  A few years ago, our heat pump went out (in summer).  We called a service, who quoted us something ridiculous like $2k to fix the problem, or I think $8k for a whole new system.  I didn't want to get other quotes because that would take time, and it was 90+ degrees out.

I opened the system up, broke out my multimeter, and quickly diagnosed the problem as a capacitor (can't remember if it was the start capacitor or run capacitor.  I think I replaced both.)  Bought the part from a local supply house and was back up and running faster than the HVAC service would have gotten me, and for $40.  The system still runs great 4 years later.

You want to talk about rackets?  HVAC service companies make mechanics look like angels.  Imagine if every time your car needed new brakes or tires your mechanic told you he could fix it for $12,000 or you could just buy a whole new car from him?[/quote]

OMG yes. I have yet to meet a good HVAC repair man. They just do not do basic repairs anymore. They see that your system is more than 5 years old and they only will sell you new ones. They aren't that hard to fix either if you're handy. Problem is that you can't handle a lot of the parts and chemicals unless you've taken courses and are certified. DH took all the courses and fixed ours. It wasn't necessarily him being cheap either, he was just interested in learning about them. [/quote]

So its not really diy but you have to already be certified to diagnose the problem and fix it[/quote]

Not the PP, but the answer is not necessarily. There are many things that can be diagnosed, and fixed without opening the refrigerant system. A unit low on refrigerant usually has other signs, like ice building up on one of the coolant line. Given the recovery rules for refrigerant, it isn’t something every homeowner should be doing, IMO. The fines for doing it wrong are steep. [/quote]

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