Derek Cole answers whether to replace HVAC equipment all at once and whether hard-start kits help compressors. Matched coils and units should go together to avoid efficiency loss, but furnace-only or AC-only replacements work if systems are separate. Hard-start kits reduce startup strain and can extend compressor life, especially with long line-sets.
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On this episode, we have an earthquake in my office.
You ask your comfort and energy questions and they get answered. This is the Ask Derrick Cole Show.
Should I replace all of my heating and air equipment at the same time? I'm going to say it depends on what you have. If you have a split system with a split heat pump, some people will replace a air handler or a outdoor unit and not replace the indoor section or vice versa. I would never do that. Recommend doing that. With Today's standards of 14 SEER mean the minimum efficiency you can go. That new coil on the outside or inside is not going to match each other. So therefore you don't have a matching system. And without it matching, we're not really sure if it can, it can operate. We're just not sure if it's going to operate efficiently. So that's why on every matchup we do, we make sure it matches up with the ahri. Sorry, Ahri. The little thing you fill out in the form number. Yeah, we make sure it matches up. So that equipment, we know it is a 14 seer or a 15 seer, 16, whatever it is, make sure there's a match for it. Match beam, match being. What's that? Earthquake? A match. Black and white out this. Imagine being that the equipment has been tested by the manufacturer. It meets the specs of the energy company to be that kind of seer. So what was the question? No, sorry, flips all of my equipment at the same time. Okay, back to what I was saying. So that's a split heat pump. Now if it's a package unit, obviously you don't have a choice. Package unit is a package unit. You replace the whole thing. The other situation could be a furnace and an air conditioner. In that situation we have only replaced a furnace or only replaced an AC unit. Now when I say ac, I'm talking about outdoor unit and cooling coal inside the home or under or attic, wherever it's at. So that system is matching. And then when you replace a furnace, of course you don't have to worry about the AC side. So. And that's really the only situation I would recommend doing one or the other. If it's all connected, it all needs to be replaced. Sometimes we go into a house and seen a new outdoor unit. It could be an AC, a new outdoor AC unit and a 40 year old coil with the furnace. Okay, that is not a match. It's different line set capacities. Everything's different about it. So be careful when you do that. Yes, it is cheaper to replace one than both but like I've said before, H vac Heating and air is one of those things that you either pay for it now or pay for it later, but you're going to pay for it. Do I need a hard start for my system? A hard start for your system. Something we call here a compressor saver. If you go back to the old units of 30, 40 years ago and you see those carrier units that have lasted forever or trains that have lasted forever, you'll find one thing inside those units you will not find inside today's unit. That is a hard start. Funny, huh? You will actually open that unit. You'll see a what we call a compressor saver. But it's really a hard start kit in that system, and that is there to help with the compressor because the most power that unit pulls is at startup. So if you have a product that can start the unit at less power, help the compressor at the same time, obviously, you will have the unit last longer. So that's why we're big fans of hard starts, because it does that as well. As we've seen this quite a bit. If you have an upstairs application, which a lot of you have, and you have, of course, the units on the ground, split units on the ground at home, and then the air handlers up in the attic, 35, 40ft away.
Right.
So a hard start kit would be good because when all that oil from it stops, all the oil settles down next to the compressor and has to start back up and push all the way upstairs back to their handler again. That is causing a lot of strain on that compressor. Hard start helps that out. There's also, if you look in the install instructions, you're supposed to have oil traps to catch it, so it doesn't get that far. But that doesn't always happen. And depending on manufacturer, you can add a solenoid valve to it to help it or not. Again, depends on the manufacturer. But back to the original question. Yes, hard start. I recommend them for all equipment. When you can do it, it also extends the life of the compressor, which is the heart of the system. The heart of the system is the compressor. The veins and arteries are. That cop is the copper line going out. So all that needs all that works together. So to extend the life of that heart, you're helping your system out. So, yes. All right, so episode 71 of the Ask Derek Cole Show. Sorry for the entertainment in the middle, but we're going to keep that in just for your pleasure. We'll see you next time.
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