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Short #77 - What Causes Capacitors to Fail
In this short podcast, Bryan talks through (once again) what REALLY causes capacitors to fail and what we can do about it.
High temperatures and overvoltage (NOT undervoltage) are what cause capacitors to fail. (There are also some poor manufacturing practices out there. Remember: they should be just foil and oil.) Capacitors create a phase shift to assist split-phase induction motors. Normally, a three-phase motor can start and run just fine because the sine waves are all angled. That is not the case for split-phase motors. Start capacitors help startup, which is difficult for the motor.
The…
The skinny
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