You’ve probably experienced a car that has trouble getting started on a chilly winter day. The engine grinds, but it takes a few times before it turns over. This is an example of “hard starting.” It can happen to any type of machinery that uses motors, no matter if it’s powered by natural gas, petroleum, or electricity.
Hard starting is a problem you might encounter with your air conditioning system. Although a hard-starting AC can continue to work at providing cool air to a house, it’s not good for the system, it drains excess power, and it can eventually deal a fatal blow to the air conditioner. A hard-starting AC will make noises at startup and have trouble at how fast it can cool down the house.
The change of seasons is coming up, and I’m sure everyone here in Chicagoland is looking forward to warmer weather. We still have a few more weeks of temperatures in the 40s and possible cold snaps, but this is the time of year to prepare a home for the seasonal shift.
A home heater that breaks down in winter for the last time is bad news. You want to have an old heating system replaced ahead of time to conform to your schedule, not the heater’s! So if your furnace, boiler, heat pump, or other system is already looking like it won’t make it through to spring, we recommend you start considering what type of heater should be installed to replace it.
One of the important jobs to have done before fall is over and the serious cold weather starts in is to