AC/Heating maintenance (sales, house, buy)

[settledindfw]

Last night I found that the AC unit pipe in the attic is frozen so I turned off system. This morning I found that the unit outside kept running even though the unit in the attic is off so I removed the fuse to completely shut off. I called American Home warranty and now waiting for someone to call me to setup an appointment. I then googled and found that I maybe low in freon and possibly have leak. I also learned from google that AC unit requires some sort of yearly maintenance. Does anyone have their systems maintained yearly? I never heard of this.

[Rakin]

Yes, you should have a HVAC person out at least once a year especially with older systems. Do you change your filters every 30-90 days ? Rinse the dirt out ot your outside compressers (throw the breaker 1st) ? Pour bleach down your secondary drain line 2 times a year ?

There is a lot of upkeep on an AC system. You might google this also for some good tips.

[Spree]

With our home warranty, we have to get the AC maintained in the spring and the heater maintained in the fall. Our warranty company calls someone to come out and do the maintenance. Of course, they found that our coils (?) had to be rinsed by some sort of acid wash on one of the outside compressors. We had to do that to keep our warranty valid.

[cdelena]

A properly installed AC system needs little maintenance. If the compressor unit is in a place that is dirty it should be cleaned with a hose every year or so. The air filters inside should be replaced or cleaned regularly.

And that is it. An AC system is not designed to lose freon or need any other service.

[settledindfw]

Home is built 1994 we purchased summer last year. AC unit is 10 SEER Rheem. Is unit too old and needs replacement soon? I change filters every 3 months. That's it. Never washed or messed with outside compressor or attic unit. I don't know if previous owners maintained properly. Our prior home was new we lived in for 5 years and not once we had it serviced and maintained. I don't know anyone who have their AC professionally maintained.

I read somewhere about a complaint that their home warranty did not cover their AC unit because coils were dirty and never serviced. I have a feeling I'm going to receive same response. Anyone have experience with home warranty fixing AC unit?

[aeh]

I have just been looking at home warranties and at least some of them will come out and service them once a year at no charge. We have ours serviced once a year since they are older (meaning 17 yrs old) but I don't think they normally require very much maintenance but you might want to do the $60 servicing to keep them in good shape.

[settledindfw]

AC techs came today and told my story. The second I said compressor outside kept running they immediately said 'contactor'. We checked and they are right. I'm impressed. Contactor, which is a switch that turns off/on compressor, was burnt so compressor kept running causing pipe to freeze. What caused it to burn is unknown, but the coils being dirty and not maintained is a possibility. I'm just glad it was covered under warranty. I saw the coils and saw how filthy it is. It's obvious air flow is restricted, causing it to work harder. They claim I will save about $100 a month electric bill just by having the coils cleaned so for $79 each I had them clean two compressors. I know this is not a good deal, but I wanted to get this over with. Now I need to start looking for home warrenties and annual service.

[Rakin]

Don't buy a home warranty. Extended warranties or HW's or the worst investment you can make.

Put the money in savings, do yearly maintenance on your equiptment and in a few years you'll have enough to pay for a brand new system. If your AC is more than 6-7 years old you'd be wise to upgrade to a newer 14 -16 SEER unit that will pay for itself in 2 years in cost savings.

[Spree]

Thanks for the update, settledindfw. I'm glad it was an easy fix and didn't cost you an arm and a leg. My warranty company sent out their service provider for maintanance of our AC units. My upstairs unit needed the coils washed to the tune of $125. You got a bargain at $79. Now I'm wondering if I got ripped off. I was told I needed to so that I wouldn't void the warranty.

Now that same upstairs unit is not cooling, just pushing warm air. It's old, I don't know if it's original to the house (built in '85) but it does need to be replaced, if not now, eventually. Someone is coming by tomorrow, courtesy of our home warranty company, I'm curious to see what they say and what will be covered. Trane is having a nice rebate through the end of the month, and this weekend is a no sales tax weekend so despite it being covered or not through our home warranty, we might be shopping for a new AC unit. Our downstairs unit is brand new (seer 16) of about a year ago so we're good to go on that one.

BTW, my husband's company purchased the home warranty for us as part of our relocation package. It's given us a chance to see how it works w/out forking over the money.

[Rakin]

I've always figured the people who contract with the warranty companies discount their charges quite a bit. The service people I've seen are mediocre at best. The good contracts don't usually discount their fees for these companies.

A Home Warranty is a protector and standard when you buy an existing home. I personally would not renew it after the 1st year.