Originally Posted by
polyglot
It's a motor-start capacitor, which needs to handle significant surge currents. You CANNOT replace it with that tiny polyester capacitor linked above because it will explode.
Secondly, are you SURE it's 0.8uF? It looks much larger than that and I think 8uF is more likely but could be misjudging the scale of the photo. Can you post a picture of the identifying marks on the cap? Anyway, search for "0.8uF motor capacitor" on eBay; they'll be mostly 450V but that's a good thing and means it will have a longer life due to less stress on the dielectric. Expect to pay about $1-$2/uF and buy one that has a physical form factor that matches your old one so it's easy to mount.
Note that this capacitor handles mains power, and contains enough energy to hurt you. Be careful installing it and make sure there is no way that the leads can get near to contacting any other metal items like the chassis.
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