Originally Posted by ScandalRom

Many of these guys will try to sell you on a new system if they can. My central air broke recently, the thing is over 20 years old. Any technician would just recommend to replace it, or come up with an extensive list of repairs. I did a little poking around, found it was the run capacitor that failed and was keeping the condenser fan motor from starting. I popped in a replacement part for $18 and the thing is running as good as ever. I will keep it going until the compressor fails, then upgrade.