You depend on them to keep you cool in these dog days of summer, but are air-conditioning repairmen taking advantage, charging you for repairs you don’t need? TODAY National Investigative Correspondent Jeff Rossen and his team went undercover to find out. It's hot out, and we've all been there: Your air conditioning breaks, and it's an emergency. So you call the A/C company. We trust them to fix the problem at a fair price, but are they, really? We tested several of those companies on hidden camera, and experts say: Some are blowing hot air when they hand you the bill. We set up our hidden camera test right smack in the middle of a heat wave. We rented a house in New Jersey and had three certified A/C experts inspect our system from top to bottom. Their verdicts: Our system was "in very, very good shape," "perfect," and in "excellent shape, good working condition." Have an idea for Rossen Reports? Email us by clicking here! Then we brought in Bobby Ring, president of a top A/C company and senior vice chair of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America.

He set up what he said is a common and easy-to-fix problem: a simple broken wire that shuts the unit down. He said he would charge less than $200 to fix it. “So if a technician tells us, 'You need other work done to fix this problem?'" we asked. "They're either incompetent or dishonest," Ring replied. We wired the house with eight hidden cameras to capture every angle and had a mom pose as the homeowner. We had her call six companies to fix the A/C. As the contractors showed up, we were watching with our expert from a control room in the basement. Good news: The first contractor found our broken wire. But instead of fixing it, he wanted to charge us for an expensive part — something called a capacitor. Read more investigative journalism from Rossen Reports "He's either incompetent or he's trying to deceive her," Ring said. "There's nothing wrong with the capacitor, because we checked it." Yet this guy wanted to replace it anyway. So one of our experts showed him the real problem, fixing the broken wire and turning the machine on in seconds.

No broken capacitor there. His company didn't return our calls for comment. The next guy found and even fixed our broken wire quickly; the unit was working, the fan was turning. So why did he tell our mom that to fix it, he also needed to replace a pricey part? "Because it's leaking," he told her. It sounded serious, and so was his bill: $692. Rossen Reports: Mold contractors charging for unneeded work? When we revealed ourselves and confronted him, we asked: "Did you actually test the part that you replaced, before you replaced it?" "Actually, we were watching you on hidden camera, and you didn't." In fact, what he said was a leak, our experts say, was just harmless rust, and the part worked fine. In a statement, the company owner told us his employees follow a "...code of ethics...I stand behind my technician...(who)...presented the problem correctly and...made a recommendation based on visual concerns... If for some reason he did not follow our process, he will be dealt with accordingly."

But the next two appointments shocked even our expert. The first company tried to charge our mom several new parts. They weren't happy to see us, even pushing us and threatening a punch in the jaw.central ac unit wont start "The experts that we had check this unit say that the capacitor is fine, the contractors are fine, so why were you going to charge her $850?"ac and heater window units "To replace them," the contractor said. my ac unit won't stay on"I don't think they're fine." His company didn't return our calls for comment. We thought we'd seen it all, but the next guys told our mom she needed new parts — including one that didn't even exist in our unit. The price: an incredible $950. "Our experts say this is either dishonesty or incompetence," we said after revealing ourselves.

"How do you respond to that?"You are here: Home / Products / AC Filter Capacitors Catastrophic failure of conventional AC filter capacitors is a major problem for network power, alternative energy, and UPS applications. SBE has developed a next generation dry-film AC Filter Capacitor that combines the advantages of the Power Ring annular form factor with patented segmentation technology. Utilizing the same core attributes and tools that made the transportation applications successful, the SBE Power Ring Film Capacitor™ is now being designed into the next generation systems in the solar, wind, utility scale power conversion and other specialty power system markets with the same system benefits. SBE’s integrated solution eliminates unreliable conventional capacitors with pressure interrupters that often fail catastrophically with significant collateral damage. Enabled by the annular form factor Power Ring Film Capacitor™  and SBE patented segmentation technology, the AC Filter Capacitor allows you to:

Immediately reduce AC capacitor associated component and labor costs Eliminate failures which cause collateral damage AC filter capacitor reliability is acknowledged as a problem across the power conversion industry and system vendors have been forced to address the issue. The question remains as to what can be done at the fundamental capacitor design level to provide acceptable reliability without the need for de-rating. SBE’s AC filter capacitor (pdf) has been developed to address this very issue. The key targets for this design are defined as follows: There are a number of features of the SBE Power Ring capacitor which prevent the type of failures which are seen in typical film capacitors for this application. SBE’s patented end connection and segmentation technology allow for safe management of high stress and prevent “unzipping” failures which are often the beginning of catastrophic failure. In addition, SBE’s Power Ring capacitors are not sealed in a can, therefore overpressure cannot occur.

Finally, the large surface area and short thermal path to the end faces of the Power Ring are ideal for reducing temperature rise, therefore extending life or increasing cooling flexibility. Instead of managing a supply chain of several individual components (capacitors, bus structures, housing, terminals, etc…), SBE’s Power Ring Film Capacitor™ AC solution (pdf) ships as a fully integrated unit. This integrated unit enables simple installation, in the factory as well as in the field. Upgrading existing filter capacitor banks is very straightforward and simple. The SBE engineering team can help you optimize a bank design which can drop in to your existing space or allow you to create a leading edge, new design. A drop-in solution facilitates a simple path for field testing and system evaluation. This also allows for convenient implementation of second sourcing since the AC capacitor bank is not changed dimensionally – but cost and performance are improved. SBE is engaging designs in the industry globally.