Spent $45 on a cheap thermal camera for my phone and it already saved me a fortune

My AC unit died last Sunday during that heat wave we had. The HVAC guy quoted me $400 just to come look at it. I remembered I had this little thermal camera attachment I bought off Amazon last month for $45, figured why not try it. Plugged it into my phone and instantly saw the capacitor was bulging and way hotter than anything else. Replaced the capacitor myself for $15 at the local supply house and the AC fired right back up. Anyone else have a cheap tool that paid for itself on the first use?

3 comments

3 Comments

susan8110d ago

Got a buddy who bought one of those $60 infrared thermometers at Harbor Freight. He used it to check his water heater and found the top was 120 degrees while the bottom was room temperature. Turned out the heating element was toast. Saved himself a service call and replaced it with a $20 part from Lowe's. He's been bragging about it ever since and even bought one for his dad. Now he walks around his house pointing it at everything like some kind of heat detective.

stellat4610d ago

lol "heat detective" how many things has he checked that ended up fine

alicer5310d ago

Wait, doesn't Harbor Freight sell those infrared thermometers for like $20 not $60? I grabbed one there last year on a coupon and it was way cheaper than that.