Paid to have A/C fixed and it is not fixed! WWYD?

[damo]

Our AC wasn't cooling like it had the season before so we had someone come in to check it out. They told us that the unit was too small for the house and did nothing but charge us $150 for the house call. Since it is a new house, we called the people who did our home inspection because they didn't mention anything about the unit being too small. They sent their AC company out to look at it. They filled it with freon and it has been working great and cooling the entire house with no issues. Some companies are just money suckers. We should have called them back, but we didn't.

 

[torinsmom]

OP I'm curious as who you used. It seems we don't live to far from one another and I had the same thing happen with mine. We paid 150.00 and he cleaned out the coils and filled it with freon. Still we had problems and had to have someone else come out and replace the coil. Not cheap by any means but the 150 dollars spent 3 weeks earlier really steams me. Was his name Bobby by any chance??????

I used Keith's Heating and Air Conditioning out of Hillsborough.


I do have blinds on all my windows that are always closed.

Funny thing is that I went to my mom's for the whole day and the house was still at 71 when I got home. It was cloudy outside today, so I don't know if that was it, or if maybe the freon took awhile to kick in. I guess I will know in the next few days.

Marsha

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I used Keith's Heating and Air Conditioning out of Hillsborough.


I do have blinds on all my windows that are always closed.

Funny thing is that I went to my mom's for the whole day and the house was still at 71 when I got home. It was cloudy outside today, so I don't know if that was it, or if maybe the freon took awhile to kick in. I guess I will know in the next few days.

Marsha

Not sure if this will apply to your a/c, but our service tech said that sometimes as the system is freezing up, it will keep things very cool and then back to the problem again. Maybe keep an eye on it.

Did you confirm the condition of the filter?

 

[torinsmom]

I had replaced the filter about two weeks ago with a really good one. I have allergies, so I get the higher rated ones. Anyway, when the guy checked the filter Friday, it was already fairly dirty. He took it out and replaced it with a cheap one. He said they are just as good and I should check it more than once a month since I have inside pets.

We'll see how it stays today. I have someone coming to give me an estimate on a new system tomorrow. Free quote, so I figured why not?

Marsha

 

[arminnie]

Sounds like the problem we had with ours a couple of years ago: refrigerant leak somewhere.

These are NOTORIOUSLY difficult to locate and fix.

True. Most repairmen will try the freon first as it often works. The process to check for the leak is pretty expensive just for the test. Then next steps might be the coil and then maybe the whole unit. (costs going way up with each step). I don't think you should wait to call when it is still not working. You probably wouldn't have a second service call charge if you call back right away. (that's been my experience in several states)

I've seen people in several threads note that the a/c will only cool say 20 degrees cooler. If the unit is not malfunctioning it probably means that the a/c is undersized for the home (or maybe two units are necessary for a large or two story home). And having a new home does not necessarily mean that your a/c is big enough for extra hot conditions.

An average size a/c may be appropriate in areas of the country that don't have long really hot summers an But on really, really hot days you would need a bigger size. It's really a cost factor. Do you pay more to get a bigger unit/zoned multiple units or just enough for 95% of the time?

 

[Brian Noble]

The next step is probably replacing/recharging the refrigerant. That's not super expensive to do. After that, you are probably looking at a replacement of part or all of the system. 11 years is a little early for a replacement, but not exceptionally so.

We just did a full replacement of our 30 year old HVAC system. We have a 2300 sq ft house, in the upper midwest, so the heat demand is high, but the cooling demand is moderate. Usually, our summers aren't too bad, but this summer has been *hot*. With the current rebate structure being offered by both the manufacturers and the feds, a top-shelf unit nets out at about the same price as the average line. But it is still many thousands of dollars.

I'm really happy with it---and I'm not the guy that likes spending money. If you do end up going the replacement route, it's worth thinking about getting multi-stage units if you don't already have them. That way, when you only need a little cooling, that's all you get at a more or less constant rate, rather than the on-again/off-again cycles you get with an all-or-nothing unit. And, the multi-stage units tend to more easily make the efficiency cut-offs for the federal rebate.