On Friday, July 13, 2018 at 11:50:53 AM UTC-4, Ralph Mowery wrote:
In article ,
says...
Every time I have my air conditioner serviced the service guy
recommends installing what he calls a soft start to assist the
compressor in starting and extend its life. Is this really a worthwile
investment and if so what would be a reasonable price?

It depends on what he wants to charge you for it. What price did he quote you? o_O



It may help if the conditioner is on its last legs. If it was needed,
the factory should have installed it. I have seen some already
installed and the same company not install them on similar but different
units.

Yes, it depends on what they want to charge. A couple of years ago my
AC quit and the service man came out and in less than 20 minuits he had
found a bad capacitor and had it replaced. The capacitor can be bought
at a store for less than $ 20, but the companies going rate to install
it was about $ 300.

I can see them charging aoundd $ 50 for a capacitor and the $ 100
minimum service call, but not that extra $ 150.

The service man was very nice and knew what he was talking about and
told me a few things. About 3 years later the capacitor went out,but I
had bought one and a relay that may go bad for about $ 20 each.
Replaced the capacitor myself in about 10 minutes and all was well
again. Saved about $ 300.

I would add if it starts OK every time, I would leave it alone. I don't
see the process by which it would extend the life. But if it's occasionally
tripping the breaker when starting, then I'd put one in. I had that happening
on my central AC that was about 10 years old at the time. It solved it
and it continued running for another 15 years with no problems, was still
running when I replaced it. And actually they are referred to here as a
"hard start kit", but it's the same idea. It's a cap that helps get it
started.