Johnstone Supply

A few months ago I purchased an OEM contactor for my home air conditioning condenser unit as the contactor coil on the unit had obviously evidence of burning. I purchased a new contactor from this location installed the contactor and after a few months of it running I heard the condenser running whenever the interior fan was not running and I thought that was unusual so I checked on the unit. I disconnected the thermostat and turned off the circuit breaker that was feeding the circuit board yet the condenser fan kept running and I noticed that the compressor was not. I figured that the contactor had to be jammed in the on position which I thought was quite unusual so I banged on the unit and on the second attempt the condenser Switched Off leading me to believe that I was correct in my assumption. I ended up buying another contactor from Amazon as the one I was sold appeared to be cheaply made and I installed a well-known brand name in its place. When I opened the unit up to replace the contactor I noticed the wires leading to the contactor to support the operation of the the condenser were burned, the terminals in two places were completely burnt off. So I cleaned up all the damaged wires with Emery paper, installed new connectors and then put everything back together with the new contactor. The contactor I removed had the main contacts completely burned on one side and it appeared that that entire assembly had collapsed about a quarter inch towards the bottom of the contactor. I unscrewed the top of the contactor and when I looked inside I was shocked to find one of the manufacturing screws that are used to secure the top was inside the area above the main contacts (these screws were not related to anything to assemble THIS contactor, simply another (EXTRA) screw that apparently was unknowingly dropped into that area during Manufacturing). It was clear to me that the screw had worked its way down (the contactor is mounted vertically) shorted out the contacts after for apparently a period of time it had lodged itself causing the contactor to stay on even though there was no power going to the coil. This was a very serious manufacturing defect. You can see in the photograph where the screw eventually had heated up and melted the plastic allowing it to make contact with a second pole on the other side leaving what appeared to be melted plastic on one of the power terminals. it is clear that the head of the screw shorted down one side for a period of time thus causing only one side of the pole to be shorted. I spoke with someone in the store and they simply had no reaction to this whatsoever and did not support me in this matter citing changes in company policy. I have provided photographs the substantiate my claim and to validate this posting.

— JR

Johnstone in Birmingham are the best, all of the staff is extremely helpful with finding the parts I need. Great pricing and quick turn over time.

— Laurie Robinson

When trying find a place to get a replacement capacitor I came across this company. We drove all the way out to their store where we were met with a painted sign with their hours on it stating they were only open Monday through Friday. What a disappointment! If you have the ability to hang a store sign you should have changed your hours on Google.

— Alyx Hill