During the summer, the average air conditioning system handles an enormous workload. Just like a car that racks up many miles over a road trip, an air conditioner can suffer from extreme stress on its components over the hot season. That’s why you need to keep an eye on the system to watch for indications that something is wrong with it. The sooner you call on HVAC repair experts to investigate the problem, the easier it’ll be to fix and the less likely the AC will suffer a catastrophic breakdown.
One common air conditioning malfunction is when the compressor begins to hard-start.
Hard-Starting Explained
The compressor does the most labor of any part in an air conditioner. It draws on a large amount of electricity to start the cooling cycle and place the chemical refrigerant under the pressure necessary to make it circulate through the system. But strain and age on the compressor can lead to it hard-starting, drawing on more energy than normal in order to initiate the cooling cycle. This has two major negative effects: it raises electrical bills, and it creates greater wear on the compressor that can lead to a complete breakdown and early replacement.
A number of signs will tell you that the compressor is hard-starting. The AC makes clicking noises when the compressor starts, the cooling cycle takes much longer to begin, or the compressor causes a circuit breaker to trip. Call our HVAC technicians when you notice any of these signs.
Fixing Hard-Starting Air Conditioners
The standard way that a technician repairs a compressor that’s hard-starting is by adding a hard-start kit. This is a device that consists of a relay and a start capacitor, and it adds additional amperage to the compressor to allow it to overcome the pressure difference at start-up. The cooling cycle will start faster and with much less stress, resulting in a compressor that lasts longer and doesn’t drain excessive amounts of power.
Red Rock Mechanical LLC has delivered great cooling to homes in Burlington, VT and the surrounding areas for more than 23 years.
