[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jrref

Good points. I think the decision point is as follows.

If you have a heat pump system and If you are able to do the following:
1) Clean the condenser and evaporator coils once a year.
2) Pour hot tap water down the condensate line every month or so.
3) Be able to open the condenser unit once a year and test the capacitor to see if it's out of spec. and change it as necessary.
4) Check the amperage of your Auxillary heat strip in the Air Handler.
5) Be able to get a temperature probe and test the Delta-T at your Air Handler.

If your are able to do tasks 1-5 above then one would say you don't need HVAC maintenance by a professional once a year. I would bet if you were able to determine how many Villagers would be able and willing to do all the tasks, it would be a very small number compared to the total population.

If you can't do the above tasks then you probably want to spend the money and have HVAC maintenance done for you.

If you don't have a heat pump system and have a furnace, I would recommend getting a HVAC professional to check your system once a year. If you are a DIY'r and make a mistake with the furnace you are gambling with your life vs spending the $200/year for maintenance. Not worth it unless you have the equipment and know 100% what you are doing.

I will be skipping 5, 4, and probably the testing part of 3 per the thoughts in the message your replied to.

My gamble will be that the compressor/coolant system will either fail without warning or will last until I choose to replace it. I might lose that gamble.

The last two failures would not have been detected by the yearly inspections.