Hvac (Franklin: new house, camp, refund)

[El Passeaux]

I moved in a year ago May and now the house wont cool below 80 even at night. It was a brand new house so there was a full warranty for the first year. There is a 2 year warranty on parts. If it needs frion or something like that, does it make sense I would have to pay for labor if it is part of the warranty? They want 89.00 just to show up and charge labor. Also if it turns out to be low on frion, is it my understanding there should be a leak somewhere because its a closed system from the ac unit outside to the station in the attic?

[septimus]

Is your AC unit outside at ground level? There have been a lot of reports of kids huffing freon out of AC units in Franklin.

A friend was low on freon. The service guy basically filled her up, put a lock on her unit and said if she's low again after the lock then there is a leak but otherwise it is probably kids huffing.

[CountryGirl2b=]

You'd think a Warranty would cover Labor but it only covers labor for a set amount of time. Does seem odd that a brand new unit gave up after only one year. Try contacting the company directly, Google " name of unit (York, Trane) and Warranty" and see what you can find out. Call the 800 number. I'd pay the service guys but then go see if you can get a refund depending on the problem.

Interesting about the freon . . . . I do remember trying to smoke a banana peel in Girl Scout camp (literally impossible but what did I know???)

Good luck!

Oh, can you go back to your builder?????

**UPDATE*** Not that this is the problem in your case but Jeff Rossen just did a report on AC repair companies. They had six repair companies come look at an AC unit that needed just $200 worth of work (most of that for the service call itself) and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM overcharged. From $400 to almost #1000.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/480803.../#.T_wvy3BzCUc

[DonCorleone]

I had an issue with our a/c too while it was under warranty. Initially they thought it was something with the freon level, which is not covered. There was a lot of nitpicking between us and the builder over it but eventually the technician determined it was a faulty part, nothing to do with the freon level. That WAS covered under the warranty and I didn't have to pay a dime.

My advice would be to make sure to use the warranty-approved HVAC company, have them come out and look (and cough up the money for labor if you have to) and if the root cause is under warranty, then you shouldn't have to pay for anything. But if it's not...well, that stinks but at least you have a cool house.

[El Passeaux]

Thanks for the replies. We dont even push it to the limit. We usually dont have it on most of the day because its acceptable cool in the house (we face south) and have it at 75 at night.