back at the beginning of summer it was about 90? out and almost 100? inside when my wife call me, she had called an AC tech out who said my condenser unit compressor had failed and the big selling garbage that the whole system had to be replaced, well I rushed home, and grabed some test equipment was went around back to it, as he had the covers off but didn't know I would get there that fast, I found it had tripped the breaker, and when I looked at the unit I thought what looked like a field mouse had made a nest in it, but turned out to be what was left of the starting cap for the fan motor, I went into my garage and located a replacement cap installed it reset the breaker, and it fired right up, came in the house right in front of this tech and felt the cold air comming out of the vent and made a point of saying all fixed, this guys jaw just dropped, as he also felt the cold air coming out of the vent, knowing he and been made he just said "well you don't need me I guess" and I said, no we don't and he left never asking for anything, wife now knows to call me first.:rant:
Anytime I see old AC units or equipment being tossed I strip out the parts like caps and contactors.