Air Conditioning - How to decharge the contactor?

Hi,
I've read that the contactor will sometimes hold a charge even with the power completely cut off. How do I remove this charge so I can safely replace the contactor?

Contactor will not hold a charge! Only a capacitor will.

Great... Game on!

The Contactor should not have any type of residual voltage unless there is feed back thru the Capacitor. Double check that your air handler is also depowered as the air handler sends the low voltage out to the contactor and you could burn up your transformer if you short the wires to ground. To be safe discharge the capacitor by utilizing a capacitor check meter (most people just short across the terminals with a insulated screwdriver but the capacitor could explode so I cannot recommend that) A Fluke 16 meter works great for this. You can purchase a resistor from radio shack to discharge safely also, just solder some extension wires on each leg of the resistor so you do not have to get to close to the terminals I cannot remember the resistor value needed but your friendly neighborhood radio shack guy can put you on the correct size. Regardless of what you are doing when working on any type of equipment that contains residual voltage or pressure you should be wearing your PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) at a minimum proper safety glasses.