Do You Get Your HVAC Inspected/Serviced Once Or Twice A Year?
 

We have been with the same company for 7 years and have always paid for a twice a year maintenance contract for $217. Now, they are only offering a once a year contract for $187. I am all for saving money, but I think our HVAC systems should be inspected and serviced twice a year. How often do you have your's checked out?

Once a year with Broward

:ohdear: So for the last 7 years did they kiss you first...... :popcorn:
Ours is serviced once a year by the company that installed it and at a fraction of that cost. CHUCK FARRELL is the BEST :ho:

I have never paid anyone to service my HVAC system. I think that the only things you can do to prevent a failure or to extend the life of your system are to replace the filter, add vinegar or flush out the condensate line, and make sure the outside unit coils do not get dirty. Do these things yourself on a regular basis, and there is no need to pay an HVAC technician to come to your house for a "tune up" or whatever service they call it.

Twice a year is an overkill. My son-in-law (up north) who works in HVAC said I am wasting money having mine done once a year, but I get it done anyway. Also put a cup of vinegar down drain line once a month which is a good idea no matter how many times a year it is serviced.

Once a year.

Been here 10 years, Never. Guess I've saved over 2,000 already.

We've had our service for 7 years, and they come by twice a year. So far they've replaced our capacitor for free just to be proactive in case anything would go wrong in the future. Lately, they replaced for free a very rusted out AC coil, which took 3 hours to do. So far, very happy with their work.

Are you paying for routine service checkups, or for repairs? Because neither of those items would be performed by most companies who sell regular service checkup contracts.

A/C once a year and furnace once a year. It's staggered so it works out to someone here every six months.

Although we're all very aware which of the two systems tends to be problematic in this climate!

Once a year with Munns

We pay $200 a year on our service contract and get a free filter with it. And they service us twice a year.

Twice a year. Did that also at our house before moving to TV. The unit was 17 years old and still working properly when we sold the house. Do you drive your car 100,000 miles without a service?

Pretty much. I change the oil and buy new tires and brakes when they wear out. But a car costs about 7 times as much as an HVAC system. The HVAC units in The Villages come with a 5 year parts and labor warranty, and a 10 year parts warranty. I don't know of any regular maintenance tasks required to maintain that warranty. Routine maintenance contracts are big money makers for the HVAC companies, but most of what they do will not prevent your system from breaking down or make it last longer. It will probably last 15 years or longer without any inspection or service by an HVAC technician.

Same for us. Chuck once a year

Up in NJ, installed a Sears system in 1971 when we moved into our A/C-less home, never serviced in 28 years other than filter, then got a new Goodman system installed in 1999 with all the money we saved on check-ups. :) that too was never serviced in ~18 years other than filter ...... then moved out in Jan 2017. Only problem we ever had was the 220 junction box outside "broke." We did have a small condensate pump that did die a couple times over the years that drained into the laundry room sink. There was no pipe just some plastic tubing that never clogged. Of course it wasn't used as much as here but still ....... We had 10yr P&L warranty from dealer but never used it. It did not include "checkups."

Sunshine has changed from twice to once per year. If you feel uncomfortable with that, call their office and they will explain what they used to do twice per year, and what they are doing now. I feel that we are getting the exact same service with one visit. If you also buy their Care package, your service calls are included on weekends and holidays if there is an emergency (like an insurance policy, if you find that level of service important).

Servicing of AC units ,
 

You are spot on, save your money , this coming from someone that has over 40 year's in the HVAC business.

When it does break down, and it will, see how long it will takes someone to your house to fix it.

Sure hope you've changed your filter regularly though. Can't imagine how crazy dirty it would be otherwise! I personally think twice a year is much better for filter changing, but certainly easy to do yourself.

Same here.

During maintenance visits
 

Yes, that is one of the reasons for the maintenance visits. About one out of 4 that I Service everyday has a weak capacitor The hat I change during the visit. Also if we find the system low on refrigerant we look for the leak and make repairs. Most of what I Service is still under warranty so no charge to customer.
To the topic question, you only need one visits as long as you are changing filter when needed and adding the vinegar to drain line. My charge is 99.95 and lakes me 1.5 to 2 hours for the full service of cooling and test the heating.

One or two
 

Yes, that is one of the reasons for the maintenance visits. About one out of 5 that I Service everyday has a weak capacitor that I change during the visit. Also if we find the system low on refrigerant we look for the leak and make repairs. Most of what I Service is still under warranty so no charge to customer.
To the topic question, you only need one visits as long as you are changing filter when needed and adding the vinegar to drain line. My charge is 99.95 and lakes me 1.5 to 2 hours for the full service of cooling and test the heating.
For those that do not get their system serviced take a look inside your air handler sometime. Most are filled with mildew. This is very typical in the air handler. This grows all over the wiring, labels and the plastic parts.
Really not trying to be smart but your air that comes thru the vents that you breathe everyday passes over this. Some people don’t do a lot of things like get their teeth cleaned regularly. I choose to keep things as clean as I can.

what company are you with

If you are up for changing your filter a couple times a year and making sure your drain line is open, there’s really one main reason to have a service contract: if something goes wrong, you are already their customer, so maybe you will get a faster response time.

Of course, there are also people who pay thousands for a home security system in one of the safest towns in the U.S.

(But who am I to talk. I have both hurricane coverage and flood insurance.)

Twice a year by Munn’s. Well worth the expense IMO. A/C still running faultlessly after 14 years.

Munn’s inspects annually for less than that - no contract.

Once per year.

It is "Preventative" maintenance.

I check my filter once a month and probably replace it every 2 to 3 months. Once a year is not good. If you have an outside air intake filter you can probably check that every 3 months.

Make sure you tend to the drainage system each month.

When we asked the service person we were told twice a year is a waste of money down here. Just change your filter

I'd be interested to know what company that was, and how much it cost to replace the AC coil. Sun Cool is telling us we should think about replacing our whole system and showed us our AC coil with some rust on it. They said +/-$1700 to replace the coils and +/-$3500 for the outside part. But they want $7500 to replace the whole system. We think not. It's 9 years old.


We're thinking about changing the maintenance over to Chuck Farrel, if he has a program.

If they are servicing your system, why did it rust? Sun Kool's 21 point HVAC tune-up says that they will apply a foam spray to the inside unit coils and wash and "wax" the outside unit. I have never heard of waxing an air conditioner. Is it possible that their foam spray caused the rust? They also say that they will "visually" inspect for refrigerant leaks. I don't think you can actually see a small refrigerant leak. The 21 point tune-up says nothing about inspecting or proactively replacing the capacitor, which is the most vulnerable part in your system. But, I have not found any company's HVAC service tune-up that includes proactively replacing the capacitor as part of a regular maintenance service.

There are many services that I hesitate to pay for as basically "insurance" but twice a year with Sunkool I view as mandatory because of the duty cycle that our A/C unit has to meet here in Florida, basically all day every day for months on end ! So far so good.

HVAC Service
 

this past weekend we recently experienced a difficulty with our AC and called the company whose sticker was on our unit. we moved in in November and never got around to having the unit serviced Charlie from Holiday came out and did a service for us got us back up and running and we have a contract with Holiday for 150 for two times a year cleaning and service very happy with the company.

I believe that to maintain your warranty, you have to have it "serviced"/inspected at least once a year. We had once a year for years 1-8 and have now gone to twice a year as the demands of heating and cooling put different stresses on the system. If maintenance work is done, the waranty covers parts but not the labor but with the annual maintenance contract they also offset the labor cost.

My Carrier system warranty does not require any service or inspection. The unit is about 4 years old, and Munns replaced a defective capacitor a few months ago. There was no charge because of the 5 year parts and labor warranty. I called them on a Saturday morning and they were at my house within 3 hours, even though I don't have a service contract with them.

On my rental properties, I have twice a year maintenance service contracts. Renters don't tend to change filters and pour vinegar down the drain line as requested. The inspections also let me know the condition of the units and they have prevented improper use. I also have them check mine twice a year even though I change filters and use the vinegar. I use All Weather Heating and A/C. Worth the insurance of about $217.00 each. Also no service call if I get a service complaint from a tenant or I need them to check something.

Hvac service
 

Twice a year. We use Sun Kool.

Our air-handler has a UV bulb inside installed by original owner that goes on when system is running. I replaced the bulb recently when checking out the inside of the air-handler since it (the bulb) was probably over 10 years old but was still working. Question is, does that UV bulb really serve any useful purpose in the air handler ? I understand what it is SUPPOSED to do but not sure it really helps. Reading online it says "UV lights kill microbes, mold spores and viruses in air-handlers" but generally in relation to hospitals. Never heard much discussion about their usefulness in home systems. Everything I read about them is from some company who sells them.

Sun Kool proactively replaced our capacitor during a semi-annual check up. Last year, when we checked on our filter, we found it soaking wet. We called Sun Kool and they replaced the very rusted out coil, free of charge.