[gh02t]

I had a bad capacitor this past summer and ended up having to drive over an hour because the only place in town that would sell me a capacitor was Grainger on the opposite end of [moderately large town]. Everywhere else I called declined to sell me one for "safety reasons". Several did offer to send a tech out to do it for me...

[fshbbdssbbgdd]

When my AC broke on the weekend, I got a capacitor from Amazon that arrived next day.

[gh02t]

Unfortunately Amazon in my area at the time had been taking a week or more for any deliveries. It was really annoying.

[mmmlinux]

If they have techs they don't want to sell you parts, they want to sell you service. Granger sells parts. Would you call up restaurants trying to buy a raw potato?

[gh02t]

I actually mostly called up HVAC supply places but they wouldn't sell me a cap and offered to refer me to one of their "preferred" service providers. Maybe it's some backdoor colluding in my area, who knows, but yeah I was really surprised they wouldn't. I think I called 3-4 before someone told me Grainger sells 'em.

[bigfatkitten]

It's pretty common for outfits like that to be "trade only" and not do retail sales at all. Electrical wholesalers are often the same.

[sidewndr46]

This is why you call a supply house and not an HVAC company. As long as you aren't trying to buy refrigerant they really don't care.