Advice on A\C companies needed, please!

[MGotcha]

Originally Posted by Sco

I had a great experience with Howard Air recently. I will never use anyone else.

I used Howard a few years back and they were great.
Not the cheapest, but they did everything very well (new split with equipment relocation involved) and took care of a few post install issues without any problems.

[Danno3314]

Originally Posted by Cognito

Hi all,

I have condo in Scottsdale and I need to replace my AC unit. It's a small condo but the unit needs to be placed on the roof (3-4 floors up) and we are getting a quote of $2650. Seems pricey to me. (But, perhaps it's a fair price?) Since we want to shop the price I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good place to try. We are in WI so we aren't familar with the businesses out there and would really appreciate any input!

Thank you!

That doesn't sound that bad. The SEER (pretty sure that's what it's called) rating is important though....make sure you're not saving some money on a unit that has a SEER rating that's lower than what you really should be getting. You'll end up giving that money back and then some to APS every month.

One thing I will say about who to call when it comes to getting repair work done.....Arizona Refrigeration....that's who you should call. I've lived here 22 years and I've been down this road enough times to know who to trust. A lot of these outfits Moderator cut: inappropriate have technicians that work on commission and they try and tell you need things that you really don't need to replace. I almost got burnt, my 90 year old parents and two different friends, all of us with the same situation....technician tells you, the freon is fine but, you got other problems and it's going to cost you $1,000-1,500 to fix with the parts. Tell them no thanks (you'll still have to pay $100 for the service call). Called up Arizona Refrigeration, they come out...put a couple pounds of freon in the system....$100-150 at the most and you're house ice cold....no problems...system wasn't leaking....haven't had to call since. Ask them about what the other technician wanted to replace and they'll tell you, "yes, it's not new but, it's running fine, you don't need to replace that." They don't have any incentive to rip you off....they don't work off commission for new parts.

[Nallan]

Originally Posted by Cognito

Hi all,

I have condo in Scottsdale and I need to replace my AC unit. It's a small condo but the unit needs to be placed on the roof (3-4 floors up) and we are getting a quote of $2650. Seems pricey to me. (But, perhaps it's a fair price?) Since we want to shop the price I was wondering if anyone could recommend a good place to try. We are in WI so we aren't familar with the businesses out there and would really appreciate any input!

Thank you!

June 22 2012
We are also looking to replace AC unit on roof of 2nd floor condo....our quote was over $8000.00
Sounds like a big difference...we are going to continue looking!

[S. Chris Webb]

June 22 2012
We are also looking to replace AC unit on roof of 2nd floor condo....our quote was over $8000.00
Sounds like a big difference...we are going to continue looking!

Holy Cow!

A/C Smart Cooling and Heating has used A/C units (refurbished) - I believe $1500 for roof mounts installed.

If you'd rather go for new, I highly recommend Anthony James Air Conditioning & Heating - we have used them dozens of times and have always found them to be honest, ethical, responsive, and fair.

Good luck!

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by Nallan

June 22 2012
We are also looking to replace AC unit on roof of 2nd floor condo....our quote was over $8000.00
Sounds like a big difference...we are going to continue looking!

The fact that it's on a 2nd story roof shouldn't affect the price much at all. A/C guys only pay the crane guy about $100 to lift one off & replace it.

[Zippyman]

Originally Posted by Danno3314

That doesn't sound that bad. The SEER (pretty sure that's what it's called) rating is important though....make sure you're not saving some money on a unit that has a SEER rating that's lower than what you really should be getting. You'll end up giving that money back and then some to APS every month.

One thing I will say about who to call when it comes to getting repair work done.....Arizona Refrigeration....that's who you should call. I've lived here 22 years and I've been down this road enough times to know who to trust. A lot of these outfits Moderator cut: inappropriate have technicians that work on commission and they try and tell you need things that you really don't need to replace. I almost got burnt, my 90 year old parents and two different friends, all of us with the same situation....technician tells you, the freon is fine but, you got other problems and it's going to cost you $1,000-1,500 to fix with the parts. Tell them no thanks (you'll still have to pay $100 for the service call). Called up Arizona Refrigeration, they come out...put a couple pounds of freon in the system....$100-150 at the most and you're house ice cold....no problems...system wasn't leaking....haven't had to call since. Ask them about what the other technician wanted to replace and they'll tell you, "yes, it's not new but, it's running fine, you don't need to replace that." They don't have any incentive to rip you off....they don't work off commission for new parts.

If they "put a couple pounds of freon in" your system *is* leaking. A typical residential heat pump might only hold 3-5 pounds of freon. It's very common for a system
To leak down at the service ports - my A/C guy changes the valve cores every few years & always makes sure the caps get replaced.

If you're paying $100+ for a service call, it's a good idea to at least look the capacitors over for signs of swelling/leaking & check the contactor for signs of pitting. Those are inexpensive & quick to change parts that have a limited lifespan in the desert. Replacing those parts might turn a $100 service call into a $250 call, but not much more than that, and certainly not $1500.