On Fri, 26 May 2006 11:35:05 GMT, Robert Gammon
wrote:

wrote:
I have an American Standard Allegiance 12 5 ton Air Conditioner. The
model number is 2A7A2060A1000AA and the date of manufacture is 01/2003.

I am trying to determine if it has a hardstart kit on it or not. Some
people have told me that all ACs newer than 5 years come pre-installed
with a hard start device.


Hard start kits are NEVER installed on a new AC. The purpose of such a
kit is to give extra energy to a compressor that is aging, has more
internal friction.

A service call by a reputable HVAC contractor will install such a
capacitor ONLY when it is needed, ie. an old unit that fails to start
sometimes, particularly when the unit is hot and you attempt a restart
within an hour after it shuts down.

Actually this is not correct. hard starts are installed on the better
models and especially heat pumps due to their high pressure starts in
winter.