{"id":1062,"date":"2019-08-19T11:00:31","date_gmt":"2019-08-19T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/?p=1062"},"modified":"2019-08-15T11:45:21","modified_gmt":"2019-08-15T15:45:21","slug":"hard-starting-air-conditioner-potential-causes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/air-conditioning-service\/hard-starting-air-conditioner-potential-causes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Potential Causes of a Hard-Starting Air Conditioner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1066\" src=\"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/The-Potential-Causes-of-a-Hard-Starting-Air-Conditioner-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"residential-ac-outdoor-unit\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/The-Potential-Causes-of-a-Hard-Starting-Air-Conditioner-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/The-Potential-Causes-of-a-Hard-Starting-Air-Conditioner-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/The-Potential-Causes-of-a-Hard-Starting-Air-Conditioner.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>There\u2019s one air conditioner problem we talk about fairly often, and that\u2019s because its presence means your air conditioner is in serious trouble. That\u2019s short-cycling, when your air conditioner cycles on and off rapidly instead of in regular intervals like it is supposed to. It wears down on your system faster that your air conditioner would normally accumulate wear and tear, and can even be an indication that your new system wasn\u2019t properly sized.<\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s a less common AC repair issue that\u2019s worth mentioning too, as it can also have detrimental consequences for your air conditioner, and that\u2019s hard-starting. Hard starting is when you hear your air conditioner struggles to come on but then sort of \u201cbooms\u201d when it finally does.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>The Compressor Is the Problem<\/h2>\n<p>Your air conditioner\u2019s compressor is essentially the heart of the system\u2014the pump that enables the refrigerant to circulate through the system and apply energy to that refrigerant. It is the most expensive component of the air conditioner to replace\u2014and its failure typically signals it\u2019s time to replace the entire air conditioner. The hard-starting problem is actually an indication of compressor issues\u2014more specifically, it\u2019s a sign your compressor is burning out.<\/p>\n<p>The best way to prevent this, of course, is with annual preventive maintenance (or biannual if you\u2019re using a year-round heat pump system). Without our technicians regularly checking your air conditioner and its compressor, the following issues can cause the compressor to hard-start and eventually burnout:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Loss of Lubrication: <\/strong>If the compressor\u2019s moving parts aren\u2019t properly lubricated, the system can seize up and burnout. Lubricating moving components is an important part of your overall air conditioning tune-up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Bad Oil:<\/strong> Just like with your vehicle, if the oil in your compressor becomes too viscous, it will eventually ruin the motor and cause a failure.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Acid and Moisture: <\/strong>During maintenance, our techs do checks on things like moisture and acid in the compressor to see if these things are causing issues. Humidity increases the chance of moisture damage, and acid build-up is common in AC systems.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Failed Fan: <\/strong>A broken or malfunctioning outdoor fan is a problem for any air conditioner in general, but it can also lead to a burned-out compressor, as the fan won\u2019t be able to vent heat out as the compressor runs. This can lead to the compressor overheating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s important to remember that even if you don\u2019t hear your compressor hard-starting but suspect a problem for a different reason, the best thing you can do is call in a pro right away, rather than waiting to see if the issue goes away. Neglecting or ignoring repair needs may only give them time to get worse and turn into a major emergency later on down the road.<\/p>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t already scheduled your spring tune-up, don\u2019t worry, it\u2019s not too late! Even though it\u2019s already summer, it\u2019s more important that you have the system tuned up on a regular basis than it is the time of year you have the service done. Give us a call to schedule your next maintenance session today!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>AllTech Services, Inc. is a value-based business, with customers being our top priority. <a href=\"\/contact\/send-message\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Contact us<\/a> today for reliable <a href=\"\/service-areas\/manassas-va\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">air conditioning service in Manassas, VA<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hard-starting wears down on your system faster that your air conditioner would normally accumulate wear and tear.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[218,207],"class_list":["post-1062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-air-conditioning-service","tag-air-conditioning-service","tag-manassas"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1062"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1068,"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1062\/revisions\/1068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alltechservicesinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}