[WestieJeff]

True but it'll be one year or whatever the manufacturer's warranty is. My Bryant unit has a 10 year manufacturer parts warranty, but I believe the manufacturer's labor warranty was only 1 year unless you bought the extended warranty from the manufacturer.

In my case the 10 year labor warranty is strictly backed by One Hour.

I notice most of the new Goodman units have a lifetime compressor parts warranty.

Originally Posted by jlawrence01

I doubt if that is accurate. All major manufacturers that I am aware of offer warranties on their products.

[Coco6163]

Originally Posted by myown927

Update: Just had a visit from Sun Country for a second (fourth, really) opinion and estimate. Wow, what a difference! Young tech but knowledgeable, humble, pleasant. Didn't try to sell anything I didn't need. Very matter-of-fact.

Confirmed my condenser was running high and that it may go out BUT all else was fine so it may run high for another 2 years that way. Just means higher bills---not the ideal scenario but at least I can save and wait until off-season. Price he quoted was totally reasonable and with a 10 yr on parts and labor. I will go through them for a new AC unit when that inevitable time arises.

I can't believe all the bull I was fed by the other 2 companies. I also checked with an electrician friend of mine and another AC guy he recommended (Wrich) and both said there's no urgency. Forget One Hour Air & Elite.

Thanks to all for the Sun Country rec!

Glad it worked out. My experience has been that they are as good or better after the sale as they are before.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by myown927

Carrier dealer online in our area is Sears. Why Carrier, may I ask? For the brand? One tech from an AC company told me to not go for brand as they are all made by the same manufacturer: Copeland. True? Bull?

Choosing an A/C contractor based on what they install is probably one of the worst ways to choose. I'd rather have a Goodman installed by a skilled tech rather than Carrier's best equipment installed by an incompetent tech.

Copeland builds the scroll compressors used in many A/C condensing units. They aren't the only manufacturer though, Danfoss is another, and I believe Trane (and by extension American Standard, I assume) build their own.

I've heard there are just a few manufacturers of blower motors too.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda

To reiterate: spend a few bucks for a subscription to Angie's List so you can check out any company you are thinking of doing business with.

One thing I've noticed about HVAC ratings on Angie's list is that most people don't know if they overpaid. I'm putting a new furnace and adding A/C to my house in the Bay Area, and I got a couple quotes from two companies that have absolute top-notch reviews on Angie's List (both have multiple "Super Service Awards").

Well, even though both have solid "A" ratings on price, that didn't stop one of them from coming in at over 50% higher (several thousand dollars) than the other, for essentially the same equipment. I have an idea of what a fair price for the work is, and one of the quotes was right where I expected, and the other put several thousand extra dollars of profit into the owner's pockets.

So even with companies with stellar reviews, you still need to get multiple quotes, otherwise you could get ripped off badly and not know it.

[MadManofBethesda]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

So even with companies with stellar reviews, you still need to get multiple quotes, otherwise you could get ripped off badly and not know it.

Excellent point. Always get multiple quotes.

[jet757f]

Just wanted to give a reference for Paul Solan at Comfort Masters.

Our A/C went out on 9/8/12. I didn't have any idea who I could call or trust or if I could even get someone to come out right away. I read some of the threads on this forum and after calling a few Paul was able to come out within the hour. He gave me an estimate to fix the air condtioning unit. SInce the unit was the original one with the house (15yrs old or more) I asked him if I could just get the whole unit replaced. I was surprised that he was able to get a new 5-ton Rheem and replace it the same day.

This forum is a lot better than Angie's List for finding contractors.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by jet757f

Our A/C went out on 9/8/12. I didn't have any idea who I could call or trust or if I could even get someone to come out right away. I read some of the threads on this forum and after calling a few Paul was able to come out within the hour. He gave me an estimate to fix the air condtioning unit. SInce the unit was the original one with the house (15yrs old or more) I asked him if I could just get the whole unit replaced. I was surprised that he was able to get a new 5-ton Rheem and replace it the same day.

I'm pretty sure there are no homes in the Lakes with packaged systems, so I'm assuming you've got a split system.

Unless they installed a new evaporator coil and new lineset, you've now got a mismatched system, with old mineral oil left in your lines now contaminating the POE oil from the new system. The mismatch means you're only achieving a fraction of the efficiency of your new condenser, and the contaminated oil means trouble down the road.

I would guess that 95% or more of HVAC contractors would just have dropped a new condenser in place, hooked it up to the old lines and coil, charged it, and left. It's a lot easier than doing the job the right way, and most homeowners just want the job done as cheaply as possible, and don't want to hear about all the extra costs of doing the job correctly.

If you do have a split system, and did not have the lineset and evaporator coil replaced at the same time, then your post is not an endorsement for Comfort Masters. Instead, it makes them sound like the vast majority of contractors that do sloppy work as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

[comfort1]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

I'm pretty sure there are no homes in the Lakes with packaged systems, so I'm assuming you've got a split system.

Unless they installed a new evaporator coil and new lineset, you've now got a mismatched system, with old mineral oil left in your lines now contaminating the POE oil from the new system. The mismatch means you're only achieving a fraction of the efficiency of your new condenser, and the contaminated oil means trouble down the road.

I would guess that 95% or more of HVAC contractors would just have dropped a new condenser in place, hooked it up to the old lines and coil, charged it, and left. It's a lot easier than doing the job the right way, and most homeowners just want the job done as cheaply as possible, and don't want to hear about all the extra costs of doing the job correctly.

If you do have a split system, and did not have the lineset and evaporator coil replaced at the same time, then your post is not an endorsement for Comfort Masters. Instead, it makes them sound like the vast majority of contractors that do sloppy work as quickly and as cheaply as possible.

Actually the unit installed was a dry unit. This refrigerant line set and coil were thoroughly flushed with dry nitrogen, the metering device at the coil was replaced to the manufacturers specifications, a liquid line drier installed, system was leak checked using high pressure nitrogen and the system was thoroughly evacuated. The system was then charged with R-22 by weighing the charge in per manufacturer. No short cuts were taken, We never do sloppy work and we take the time to make sure the installation is perfect.

[MediocreButArrogant]

Originally Posted by comfort1

Actually the unit installed was a dry unit. This refrigerant line set and coil were thoroughly flushed with dry nitrogen, the metering device at the coil was replaced to the manufacturers specifications, a liquid line drier installed, system was leak checked using high pressure nitrogen and the system was thoroughly evacuated. The system was then charged with R-22 by weighing the charge in per manufacturer. No short cuts were taken, We never do sloppy work and we take the time to make sure the installation is perfect.

For those not familiar with the law, after 2009 manufacturers had to stop selling new systems that used R22 as a refrigerant, as it depletes the ozone. Current systems use R410A as a refrigerant. However, there is a loophole in the law that allows selling of R22 condensers as long as they ship from the factory w/o any R22 in them, i.e. "a dry charged" condenser.

So you're admitting to connecting a new, 14+ SEER condenser to a 20+ year old evaporator coil? Did you explain to the customer that his system will never achieve 14 SEER efficiency with a mismatched coil?

Read what HVAC contractors think of selling dry charged R22 units post R22-ban:

Just install new R22 nitrogen charged condenser

The customer got a lower initial cost by not switching over to R-410A and not replacing his coil, but he's going to be screwed in the long run because of the R22 phaseout (it's only going to get more expensive) and the fact that his system is not running as efficiently as it could were the coil and condenser matched.

I don't fault what you for what you did - I did write that most customers just want their problem fixed for the lowest cost and don't think about TCO, so you gave them what they asked for. But for the small minority who are willing to spend a little more up front for lower TCO, I thought they deserved all the facts.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by MediocreButArrogant

For those not familiar with the law, after 2009 manufacturers had to stop selling new systems that used R22 as a refrigerant, as it depletes the ozone. Current systems use R410A as a refrigerant. However, there is a loophole in the law that allows selling of R22 condensers as long as they ship from the factory w/o any R22 in them, i.e. "a dry charged" condenser.

So you're admitting to connecting a new, 14+ SEER condenser to a 20+ year old evaporator coil? Did you explain to the customer that his system will never achieve 14 SEER efficiency with a mismatched coil?

Read what HVAC contractors think of selling dry charged R22 units post R22-ban:

Just install new R22 nitrogen charged condenser

The customer got a lower initial cost by not switching over to R-410A and not replacing his coil, but he's going to be screwed in the long run because of the R22 phaseout (it's only going to get more expensive) and the fact that his system is not running as efficiently as it could were the coil and condenser matched.

I don't fault what you for what you did - I did write that most customers just want their problem fixed for the lowest cost and don't think about TCO, so you gave them what they asked for. But for the small minority who are willing to spend a little more up front for lower TCO, I thought they deserved all the facts.

This is of course an interesting argument in the AC trades. Convert to R410A versus dry R22.

Do you have any actual good analysis of the alternatives? The 14 Seer stuff is of course just nonsense. The dry units are not rated and are probably around 13 SEER if perfectly matched. However they will be a lot better than 10 SEER even if not perfectly matched. And I gather the cost is around half.

the full conversion to R410A is apparently very expensive. There are however some that still says you need not convert the line set.

There are also some interesting differences in the warranty of the parts. one year for a compressor replacement, 5 years for a Dry R22 system and 10 year for a full R410A redo.

I can't find any authoritative numbers but would be glad to see some if you have them.