Rescuing a café's rooftop AC mid-July
A Queen West café called us at 9 AM on a 32 °C Friday: their RTU had failed overnight. We diagnosed by lunch, sourced parts by 3 PM, restored cooling by 5 PM. They didn't lose a service window.
- Service
- Emergency rooftop unit repair
- Home type
- 1920s commercial building, ~2,200 sq ft
- Duration
- Same day · 8 hours
- Completed
- July 2025
The café opens at noon. They needed cool air by 11:45 — full stop. Heat warning in effect, kitchen running, and 60 customers expected for lunch service.
Diagnosis
Failed contactor — clear from the chatter and the heat marks on the housing. But the compressor wouldn't restart even after replacing the contactor. Locked-rotor protect had latched. Pulled the cap, measured µF: 36 µF on a 45 µF run cap. Contactor had been welding for a while; cap was failing in parallel.
Repair
- Replaced contactor with manufacturer-spec 30A unit
- Replaced run cap with new 45 µF dual-rated component
- Megger-tested compressor windings — within spec
- Cleaned condenser coil while we were up there (it was overdue)
- Logged refrigerant superheat / subcool — both within spec after restart
Result
Cooling restored at 4:55 PM. Owner was open for the dinner rush, didn't refund a single reservation. We left a written report with photos, readings, and a recommendation to enrol the unit in our quarterly maintenance plan.
“We've worked with two other HVAC firms before. Equinox is the first one that didn't make us feel like we were being upsold while our food was getting warm.”
— S., owner, Queen West café
$685
Quoted on site
$685
Final invoice
$520/yr (4 visits)
Plan enrolment
Highlights at a glance
- Time on roof
- 9:30 AM – 5:00 PM
- Diagnosis
- Failed contactor + locked rotor compressor protect
- Parts sourced
- Within 90 minutes
- Service downtime
- Zero — owner closed nothing
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