One other interesting thing to think about. Since a single stage system cycles 100% On and 100% Off, this cycling, over time wears down the mechanical components like the compressor. So no matter how well you maintain your system, the compressor, fan motor, etc, will wear out at faster rate than if the unit had a soft start or was a variable speed system because of this 100% cycling. As your unit gets "older" say 10-15 or even 20 years, although the system is still running and cooling because of the wear and tear of the 100% On and Off cycling it will not be running as efficient as when it was in it's early years. The compressor, fan motors will all be drawing more power as they age and wear out. The result is, although it's still doing it's job, it's costing you more money in energy to run than if you replaced it with a new unit at a reasonable time vs waiting for the unit to die. How much money? Someone would have to look up some studies but it's probably significant. This is also why systems get louder as the get older.
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