Starting Power For 15,000 Btu Furrion Chill AC & Does it Have Start Capacitor

Updated 09/24/2024 | Published 06/25/2021

Question:

I have purchase a couple of these from you and have have them installed. I have a couple of questions. 1. Do these units have a hard start capacitor on them? I thought that they did from the videos that i watched. 2. They list the running amps as 15.8. Do you know how many amps it takes to start the unit. I have a Westinghouse Igen4500 that i am trying to run both units with and it is unable to start the 2nd unit. Thank you,

asked by: Luke V

Expert Reply:

The 15,000 Btu Furrion Chill HE AC like the part # FR23PV does indeed have a start capacitor. In regard to the starting power needed, I reached out to Furrion, who told me the 15,000 Btu Chill AC's require 30 amps and 2,500 starting watts.

So that explains why the second one won't start, as it looks like your current generator is rated for less than that wattage. What you can use for two of them that does have the necessary starting power is the A-iPower 5,000-Watt Portable Generator - 4,000 Running Watts - Gas - Manual Start # 289-AP5000.

I've added a link below to a video review for you to check out as well if you'd like to take a look.

expert reply by: Kyle S

Steve

9/24/2024

The answer given did not completely address the question Hard start is a additional capacitor (not the standard start cap) The hard start will reduce the starting amps It shifts the phase angle between the current and voltage that reduces the the apparent power. It works under a different principal than the soft start. You can add a hard start kit but sometimes RV units do have hard start kits installed. Hard starts are less expensive than a soft start but don’t always give as good of a result as the soft start. But often the hard start is all is needed to reduce the burden on the generator but it may not accomplish what you need in 2 ac units