How much should a soft starter kit installed cost from a HVAC tech?

Next question - do we think these soft starters extend the life of the unit long enough to pay for themselves?

Question two - If I get one installed, and I end up getting a new unit a few years from now, are these soft starters something that can be removed and installed on a comparable unit?

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Next question - do we think these soft starters extend the life of the unit long enough to pay for themselves?

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No.

I have spoken to several owners and techs about this. They said they do not believe it makes a measurable difference. One of them said the same thing can be achieved what I think he called a relay switch (I could be wrong on the name) for about $50.

Good info, thanks baws

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Next question - do we think these soft starters extend the life of the unit long enough to pay for themselves?

Question two - If I get one installed, and I end up getting a new unit a few years from now, are these soft starters something that can be removed and installed on a comparable unit?

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I have one on my 20 year old R22 unit with about 20k starts on it. It's super quiet at startup and definitely doesn't jolt the compressor like before. I would say it would extend the life of the compressor but it won't protect all the fittings for the refrigerant or anything so that may crap out before the compressor.

To your second question, yes. The MicroAir has a 5-start learning process that can be reset via bluetooth. So after you hook it up to your new unit just reset it and it will learn and optimize for your new compressor.

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my understanding is that hard starters are for older equipment that needs a little "kick" to get the compressor running while soft starts help when the equipment is powered by something that may not be able to reliably/safely supply the instantaneous current load normally demanded from the source when the compressor starts up (i.e. powering your system from a backup generator, etc)

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This is a decent summary.

A hard start kit is a starting capacitor that stays in the circuit for about 0.25 seconds and pulls itself out. It gives the compressor a lot more starting torque when it fires it up and gets it up to full speed sooner. Your compressor will still see full locked-rotor amps but for a much shorter duration.

The soft starter just goes the extra mile and not only increases starting torque on the motor but slowly ramps up to reduce the locked rotor amps the compressor sees.

Both should extend the life of your compressor in theory because it's not stressing or heating the coils in the compressor as much. I've used both and they are quite good.

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have spoken to several owners and techs about this. They said they do not believe it makes a measurable difference. One of them said the same thing can be achieved what I think he called a relay switch (I could be wrong on the name) for about $50.

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I've also spoken to techs who had no understanding that there was a difference between a hard and soft start. Had no concept of true starting load amps vs what his multimeter could read. I have an engineering degree and have taken my share of electrical classes enough to hold a conversation. Was very surprising how they knew so much and so little at the same time.

Thanks!

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DVinBR

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Good info and correct - my soft starters are in enclosures next to my compressors.

Have you compared the Hyper Engineering to the Micro Air to see how their LRA reduction compares? I imagine they're both pretty close in performance but wonder if one is clearly ahead of the other.