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They book the service call on the premise of making a quick inexpensive repair but....
a lot of the companies today do not want to get involved in a repair, no matter how simple it seems to be,
misdiagnosis or poorly trained techs (who are primarily trained as installers) taking longer than expected to complete repair and the company having to bill based on the original estimate
most companies have switched to an "automatic replacement business model", where regardless of the simplicity of the possible problem, or the parts cost (they usually don't have the part in stock) they push for the new unit sale instead of attempting to repair it. Especially if the unit is older than 10 years
It's just quicker, easier and more profitable to swap the unit out
It's not easy for these big companies to stay profitable spending half a day making a $700 repair when most of that is parts cost
I suspect lots of $800-1500 repairs get converted to an $8,000 sale
kinda like replacing your car engine when the alternator goes out
Last edited by azsportpilot; 07-29-2023 at 02:36 PM..
As long as your old system does not leak R12, keep it indefinitely. You will pay somewhat more for electricity, but it's hard to justify replacing a system that works based on energy efficiency alone. But when it does leak R12, the price is astronomical if you can find it at all.
Zoned systems provide redundancy. The manufacturers claim that zoned systems also reduce consumption of electricity, but that's arguable. Remember the source: the manufacturers and retailers want you to buy zoned systems.
Anyone with a single-zone system (like myself) should have a window unit on hand in case it's needed. You can keep one bedroom comfortable with a window unit, possibly more. If you don't have a window unit, they often are sold in October-November at discounted prices. I am not in an HOA-controlled neighborhood.
I keep my system on a maintenance contract. Besides getting it looked at twice a year -- I'm getting too old to do a lot of work in the crawl space -- it provides a discount on parts that are needed and my experience is that all other things being equal, a service provider will handle its customers on maintenance contract first.
Moving to the coast is not a panacea. Moving to the NC mountains, that's a different story although you'd be trading one kind of weather problem for another.
Mini splits can be a cost effective way to augment cooling in one or two rooms. It can keep the bedrooms cooler or warmer (depending on the season) while the rest of the house is set back to conserve power.
Do not agree to these services that they will hound you on:
UV light - they will show you a photo of your HVAC air ducts and show you how nasty it is, but a UV light will be expensive and replaced every 2 years.
We're in Charlotte and during our maintenance appointment we also got the UV light sales effort.
We talked it over between us after he left and decided that's a nope.
Our HVAC died last summer in that heat wave and we replaced the 10 year old (to the month)builder model HVAC. Whew expensive but got similar quotes from 2 other companies.
Been thinking about getting a place along the coast. Do I really need A/C or heat?
Absolutely, you need heat and A/C on the coast. We have occasional snow in the winter, and the summer temps reach the high 90's, occasionally 100 degree. The HVAC units exposed to salt air can be expected to last only about 8 years.
Been thinking about getting a place along the coast. Do I really need A/C or heat?
lol, yes! It's different than on the Pacific coast. While coastal temps in NC are moderated slightly, the climate is basically the same as the rest of the state. You'll have all 4 seasons.
lol, yes! It's different than on the Pacific coast. While coastal temps in NC are moderated slightly, the climate is basically the same as the rest of the state. You'll have all 4 seasons.
3 of them are Mold Season.
Gotta keep the humidity in the house under control.
Anyone want to throw out specific recommendations for HVAC companies? Not repair needed at this point, just looking for names out there when it happens.
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