[masraum]

The AC has been running fine, no problems with keeping the house cool. Tonight I came home and it was warm. I noticed that the fan was on, but the air coming out wasn't cool. I then noticed that the outdoor unit wasn't running.

I checked the power to the unit and see 240V. If I turn the AC off, wait a bit and then turn it on, I get a loud buzz from the outdoor unit for a couple minutes, but it doesn't run (neither the compressor nor the fan on the compressor).

Based on some reading on the Internet, it sounds like it may be a bad capacitor. Is there a way to test that (safely) with a multimeter?

It seems like replacement should be pretty darn easy, but any tips on doing it safely?

Is this the sort of thing that you can pick up at HD or Lowes?

It's going to be a long night. I guess I'm really glad that it seems like it didn't quit until somewhere between 8:00 and 8:10 instead of earlier in the day. But then if it had died earlier, I may have had time to get home, get it diagnosed and get home before HD and Lowes closed. I wonder if any neighbors have a capacitor they aren't using?