Aquacal Heat Wave not cooling….

[tchrist14]

I have an Aquacal pool heater that runs and doesn't cool. It happend over a year ago and we had a repairman come out to fix it (it took him 10 mins). When the heater is turned on, the fan runs fine but something makes a loud noise like something is trying to turn on but then shuts off.(the fan continues running fine though) I suspect a capacitor?? I suspect the repairman replaced a cpcacitor over a year ago when the same thing was happening. A capacitor is an easy fix I can do myself but would it be the start capacitor (bigger one) or the run capacitor(smaller one) I need to change? Are the capacitors common to find in hardware/electrical stores or do I need to order them online? There is nothing else burnt, fried or disconnected from what I can see. Any help would be greatly appreciated as the wife is on me to fix this.

Thanks! Tim

[PoolDoc]

I think I'm not going to offer advice speculative electrical repairs on a $3,000 Heat Pump. If you don't *already* know how to test a capacitor, you're not ready to be doing DIY heat pump repairs. You could hurt yourself, or damage the heat pump.

. . . neither one is a good idea.

[tchrist14]

Understand completely. I do however know how to test a capacitor I just dont hane a multimeter to do it properly. I was simply looking for an inside perspective from someone that works on the Aquacal pump to see if this problem is common to capacitor's going bad or not. I also know it can be the relay, compressor etc. I was looking for insight on if I spend $34 to replace the capacitor will that fix this type of issue most of the time or do I need to spend $456 again to have a repairman come out to replace a capacitor or relay. I do respect your resistance to answering this in detail though.

Thanks.

[PoolDoc]

I do however know how to test a capacitor I just dont hane a multimeter to do it properly.

Fortunately, that's now an easy problem to solve: http://astore.amazon.com/poolbooks?node=24 . I've been using the MasTech meter shown for about 9 months now, and have been very pleased.

I'm going to be gradually expanding the PoolForum "A-store", since it gives me a way to respond more helpfully and directly to questions like these. I just added some books that are relevant, and well-rated on Amazon.

I also found this video, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2p8L-f8kyc