Derek Cole explains hard-start kits, devices that reduce the power surge when an HVAC compressor starts up. Older Carrier and Trane units had them built in; modern systems often don't. Adding one protects the compressor and extends its life, especially when the air handler sits far from the unit and oil settles in the refrigerant lines.
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, 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 that lasts 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 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 that oil settles down next to the compressor and has to start back up and push 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— 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.
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