Lesson learned about A/C companies

[Navy Jr.]

Our A/C circuit breaker tripped for the first time in its 12 year history. I reset it only to have it trip again, so I called the company we bought it from to come out and see what was wrong.

It's $99 just to shake hands and say "Hi!" He took the cover off and checked the wires connecting the condenser to the house, then removed the cover to the compressor. "Oh, not good," he said. The three wires going into the compressor were fried. One of them must have shaken off after years of vibration and shorted across the other two.

"Need new compressor," was his diagnosis. $2300 installed, but he'd credit me for the $99 service call. I'm thinking it's 12 years old, so maybe I should just replace the whole thing. He said that would be his recommendation and calls the office to have a salesman come out the next day.

I actually got 2 quotes to replace the A/C. Both were very expensive.

Then I googled A/C repair and came across something that explained how those shorted wires could be repaired with a special kit made just for such instances. Using Craigslist I found a list of A/C guys moonlighting for some extra cash. One of them came out and put an ohmmeter on the condenser and said it was still very much alive. The $99 guy didn't do that test.

The new guy said he wasn't surprised they tried to sell me a new unit. He didn't have the special kit in his truck, but he rigged up temporary connections and fired it up. Worked great. He then disconnected it all until he could get the special kit.

A couple of days later he returned and installed the kit. The next day the dew point hit 70 degrees. A/C works fine.

Even though our A/C is 12 years old, we really don't use it that much here in Minnesota, so I figure there must still be some good times left in the old girl yet. Lesson learned.

 

[LW Hiway]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

Congrats on investing in yourself to be more self-sufficient at home concerning home repairs or the love of doing it yourself attitudes.

I'm sure that with a little more researching on your part you probably could have made the fix correctly yourself totally.

Too many people rely on the 'professionals' to always advise them of the best direction to head. Sometimes those that are honorable, do so, others that aren't, will just up their wealth with your money.

Knowledge is for everybody.

LW

 

[642mx]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

A/C is one thing I know little about. Good job on double checking the advice of the service tech. Sounds like you saved a ton of cash.

 

[triumphrick]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

Good Job, Navy. every so often the local TV station sends the consumer guy around to some house, disconnects a wire on an AC unit and calls all the AC companies. Maybe 25% give a legitimate repair estimate or fix it right there for the service charge. Everyone else says you need a new unit.

Another big scam here is the Water Softener people. They charge $4000 for that $600 unit you can buy at Sears. Also warn you not to drink the local water after they show up and precipitate a little solids in your water.
Good post, keeps us all thinking...

Also, welcome aboard LW, saw it was your first post..

 

[bhammer]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

Down here, they have you by the ba, ah I mean the round things... No way can anyone go that long without a unit. Probably like for you going without heat for a couple days here and there, just aint gonna happen. What did we do before A/C?

I just looked at my units thermostats and the upstairs unit ran for 14hours and the downstairs for 13.5 hours and with it 90 out right now, i;d guess it'll run for another 30 minutes.

that is great you found that link and saved you the cash. the sales guys hit the nighborhoods hard around this time and promise to save you $$ with ultra high efeciant units. Now that the houses are hitting 5+ years old, I am sure they are making a killing on repairs and replacments.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

I see Charlotte is not the only place the AC repair scammers are at. Last time my condensor fan stoped I had 2 differant big name companys come and check it (aprox 75 bucks for each call) . They both said I HAD TO HAVE A COMPLETE NEW UNIT.cost between 7 and 9 k. I said screw dat and replaced the friggin fan myself for less than 2oo..Its been a year almost and its ice cold in here . They must teach them in ac scammer school that everyone is a moron and will believe anything they say. not so!

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

Yep, same here. Last week I noticed the AC wasn't cooling and thought condenser motor too, hopped up on the roof to confirm, quick $200 trip to Grainger for a motor, cap and fan... Back in business in a few hours

There are at least 10 new AC units in my neighborhood and one guy had 2-3 different AC companies out the last week trying to get his unit repaired,,, instead of replaced. A week later and the 4th guy out they finally got it repaired

 

[Nandy]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

I also had A/C problems this season. Lucky me it was just the condenser. It cost me close to nothing. I would call that company and give them an earful and alert as much people as I could....

 

[millwood]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

Just got scammed the other day. I had a zoned system installed about 3 years ago in our new house. The company insisted that we install an expansion valve to increase the life of our A/C unit. We did and hen this summer all of a sudden the thing quit putting out cold air. It was cool, but not cold. Checked everything over, and then had the wife call. $149 later we had coolant added to the A/C, but there is a leak in the expansion valve. Now they want $220 to fix replace the valve plus the cost to ad any additional coolant. I told them to take a hike, they should have come prepared to fix it to begin with, and then they wanted to charge me again for a second house call to install the new part. Screw them!

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

Its hard for me to believe that an experienced tech would have automatically assumed that the compressor was bad without putting a hemitichecker on it to verify the amp and voltage drops of the compressor. I've witnessed many compressor changes when only they had a bad start capacitor, starting relay, and burnt wires.

Compressor terminals are subject to heat. Once the terminals are heated and cooled so many times, they lose their hardness and become weak. Once they become weak they become loose making a bad connection making the situation worse with each cycle. This eventually will burn the copper wire into.

Being a tech myself, I would suggest that you call that company and mention that you should be entitled at least a partial refund due to their techs lack of further troubleshooting. Then mention the BBB if they refuse.

For all the different makes and models of units out there, it is impossible for any tech to carry all the parts for them. This is one reason you should try to go with the company that has the service for that brand. They are more likely to have the part.

It is always hard to find a real tech vs a parts changer. Parts changers will baffle you with a lot of BS to hide the fact that they don't know what they are doing.

 

[cpubud]

Re: Lesson learned about A/C companies

i have been in the hvac field for over 36 years.boss is always telling me to stop fixing and start replacing.i cant screw poeple over like that plus i enjoy trouble shooting and repairing to much..