Derek Cole explains when to replace your whole HVAC system versus parts of it, stressing the importance of matching indoor and outdoor units by SEER rating and AHRI certification. He also covers hard-start kits, which reduce power demand at startup and protect the compressor, especially useful for long line-set runs to upstairs air handlers.
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. Hey everybody, this is Derrick Cole. Welcome to episode 71 of the Ask Derrick Cole Show, answering your home and energy questions. It's been a nice couple of days. Well, rain's coming in, so it's gonna be a nice flooding problem at home. Apparently I live in a swamp, so we got Lake Derek in front of my house and then we got Lake Cole behind the house. So we got two spots to dock and play in. So you can play in the water. Has nothing to do with this show, but what's the first question? 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 heat— a split heat pump, some people will replace an air handler or an 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, I 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 sear or a 15 sear, 16, whatever it is. Make sure there's a match for it. Match being— match being— was that earthquake? Imagine black and white out this. A match being that the equipment has been tested by the manufacturer, it meets the specs of the energy company to be that kind of sear. So what was the question? Should I redo this? No, it's all right. Should I replace all of my equipment at the same time? Okay, back to what I was saying. Uh, 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 coil 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, 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've gone to 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. It's 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, HVAC, heating and air, is one of those things that you either pay for 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 Trane 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 a 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 a— of course the unit's on the ground, split unit units on the ground at home, and then the air handler's up in the attic 35, 40 feet away, right? So a hard start kit would be good because when all that oil from the— it stops, all the oil settles down next to the compressor and has to start back up and push it all the way upstairs back to the air 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 Derrick 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. Bye-bye.
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