Latest AC story

[Stormin Mormon]

Might be easier. And who knows, the new PVC might clog the same way, next year.

[Ralph Mowery]

When the pipe plugs I usually use the shop vac to suck out the line. Just easier to get to in my case.

[Tekkie®]

Robert Green posted for all of us...

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German cars have over engineered expensive parts.

[micky]

He shouldnt' have done all that work without knowing it would work when he was done.

He should have explained the problem to the customer and told him the customer has two choices, A) For the repairman to put enough refrgerant in the system so he can test the system. If it tests good, he'll be able to re-use what he uesd when he evacuates it and then puts it back in. The customer will owe for the refridge and fixing the leak. $m

If it tests bad, the customer has to pay for the refrirgerant and the service call. $n Or he can go ahead and fix whatever else is broken. $p

Or, he should tell the customer at the same time, B) I can just fix the leak I found, but the system might not work because of other problems. I'll tell you what's needed then and you can decide whether or not to go further If you say no, then you'll just owe for my fixing the leak, and recharging, which is $m, like above.

If you say yes, it's $p.

The expensive complete repair comes out the same price.

The two paths to get there, if not completed, are different prices,

Don't tell me the right choice is to sell the man an AC he doesn't need.

[trader_4]

Good grief. There are all kinds of repairs where you don't know for sure if it's going to work or if it's going to last. A repair guy isn't superman with X-ray vision. You could fix one leak and maybe they know from experience that with the crap systems today that only last 10 to 15 years, that once you have one leak, you typically have more in another year or two. I'm not saying I know that for a fact, just that just maybe the companies involved may know from experience more than those of us that don't service these every day. Also, these systems are greatly affected by the competence of the installers. If you don't give a damn, contaminate the thing when you install it, then they are not going to last, have a higher failure rate, etc. How about the tech sees a tag on the eqpt that says "XYZ HVAC" and he knows they are shysters and their systems have lots of problems?

As reported, he topped it off a month or so ago and it worked for a month until apparently the refrigerant was gone, again.

And then after $500 or $1000 worth of work, the customer says "you didn't fix it, I'm not paying". You obviously don't have experience with how many people operate today. They forget what was told to them and/or ignore what's in writing. Or you fix it and six months later, it craps out again. Many customers are going to be kind of like you..... "Mr. Repair guy, you should have made sure that it was going to last before you fixed it." With a new system, you avoid all that.

You're jumping to the conclusion that a new system is totally unjustified. It's possible the companies have experience and know what often happens and are basing their advice in part on that. And I never tried to tell you or anyone that the right choice was a new system. In fact, in the original post, I said that if it were my system, I would have insisted they search for the source of the actual leak and then make the determination. But on the other hand, these systems seem to last 10 to 15 years today. This one was already 5 years old with most of that previous history unknown. I'm not sure how much more I'd put into it. That original service call was probably $200+. Fixing a leak, even if it doesn't involve a new evaporator, etc is going to cost hundreds more.

[Boris]

"Robert Green" wrote in news:mormp6$2er$ [e-mail]:

I couldn't agree more. I used to do all my own repairs (home, appliance, auto, electrical, etc.) but can't anymore. Technology has taken over, and what used to be a simple auto repair takes lots of tech knowledge and sometimes special tools and meters. I gave up about five years ago. Now I hire repairmen, and I have to ask myself 'do I trust this repairman, or not?', and live with the consequences, good or bad.

Long story short...A few months ago, my 18 year old AC was not cooling. A new fan was installed, but the problem persisted. Then I was told it was the compressor, and that they could replace the entire system, including the furnace, for $10K. I called another company in for a second opinion. The second opinion was that the first company installed the wrong fan. It turned out they did install the wrong fan. I went back to the first company, and they had egg on their face. They came out and installed the proper fan, and it's been cool since.

I complained to their customer service manager, that they almost cost me $10K, and I asked for reimbursement for the second opinion. They reimbursed me for the cost of the second opinion, and gave me a 12-month service contract on both my solar and HVAC equipment, free.

This left/thing has always fascinated me. I once heard that left handed people were on average, smarter than right handed people. I began observing left handed people, and they were mostly my bosses. I'm right handed.

[Dana F Bonnett]

And the most profitable, considering a fat markup on the equipment plus the labor.