AC Accessories & Upgrades — Installed at a Discount on a Service Visit

These are the add-ons that make an existing system last longer, run quieter, draw less startup current, or fail less expensively. None of them are required. All of them are cheaper installed while a tech is already at your house than as their own trip — so every item here is discounted when it goes on a tune-up, repair or install visit.

Micro-Air EasyStart Flex soft start — $1,095 installed

A soft starter ramps the compressor up instead of slamming it on. The startup current drops by roughly 65–75% — Micro-Air's published figure — which matters in four situations Arizona homeowners actually hit:

• Generator or battery backup. A standard 3-ton condenser needs a very large generator to start. A soft start is what makes a properly sized smaller one able to start it at all — how small depends on your tonnage and the unit's locked-rotor amps, so we size it with you rather than quote you a number off a brochure.
• Solar and inverter systems. The startup surge is what trips most home inverters.
• Dimming lights. That flicker every time the AC kicks on is the surge, and it's hard on everything else on the panel.
• Compressor life. Less mechanical and electrical shock on every start. A compressor starts tens of thousands of times over its life.

The EasyStart Flex is the home and light-commercial model, rated for residential systems up to six tons, with Bluetooth setup and real-time fault detection. $1,095 flat, installed and commissioned — the device, the wiring, and the setup pass where we tune it to your actual compressor. Not a hard start kit: a hard start capacitor gives the compressor a harder kick. A soft start does the opposite.

Air Scrubber by ActivePure — $1,195–$1,295 installed

A duct-mounted air treatment unit that installs in the supply plenum with its own dedicated transformer, so it runs with the system instead of plugging into a room outlet like a portable purifier. One unit covers the whole house through ductwork you already have.

People call us about this for three reasons, and they're the reasons worth buying it for:

• Dust. Valley houses run the air handler eight months a year, and the dust load here is its own category.
• Odors. Cooking, pets, smoke, a house that's been closed up all summer.
• A household member with allergy or asthma complaints who wants more filtration than a 1-inch filter gives.

$1,195 to $1,295 installed, including the dedicated transformer and the duct work to mount it. Where you land in that range depends on your equipment and how far the transformer has to run — your tech gives you the exact number before anything goes in.

What we won't claim

The manufacturer's literature for this category makes specific claims about what the technology does to germs and other microorganisms, often with percentages attached. We don't repeat those numbers, because the testing behind them is laboratory testing, and your house is not a laboratory. The Federal Trade Commission has taken action against sellers of air cleaning products over exactly these claims.

So here's the honest version: this is a filtration and air-treatment upgrade. If dust and odors are your complaint, it's a real improvement and our customers who buy it are glad they did. If someone is selling you one as a medical device or as protection from a specific illness, walk away — from them, and from us if we ever do it.

If what you actually need is better filtration for less money, say so. A properly sized media filter cabinet costs a fraction of this and solves most dust complaints. We'll tell you which one fits your house.

Other upgrades, discounted on a service visit

• Surge protection — a whole-unit surge protector at the condenser and the air handler. Monsoon lightning and utility switching kill boards and inverter-driven equipment; a replacement control board costs several times what the protector does.
• Hard start kits — for an older single-stage compressor that's getting sluggish on startup but isn't ready for replacement. Cheaper than a soft start, less capable.
• Soft start kits — see above.
• Smart thermostat upgrades (ecobee) — scheduling, remote access, and runtime data. On a heat pump, the thermostat controls the auxiliary heat strips, so a correct setup is a real power bill item in winter, not a gadget.
• Float switches — a secondary drain pan float that shuts the system off before condensate water reaches your ceiling. The cheapest insurance in this list.
• Return and supply grille upgrades — undersized returns are the most common cause of a system that "never keeps up." Bigger return area, better filter fit, quieter airflow.
• Ductwork repairs and upgrades, off-season — sealing disconnects and leaks in the attic. Priced lower in the off-season because we're not pulling a tech off emergency calls to do it.
• Filter ordering and delivery by the case — the right size and MERV for your system, shipped, so the filter actually gets changed.

Prices on the items above depend on your equipment and what's in the attic. Your tech gives you the number before anything gets installed, and the discounted rate applies when it's done on a visit you've already got scheduled.

Ask about these while we're there

The reason this page exists is that most of it gets skipped. A tech diagnoses the failure, fixes it, and leaves — and the float switch that would have saved a ceiling never gets mentioned. If you've got a visit coming up, say which of these you want quoted and the tech will look at it the same trip.