HVAC Maintenance? How much are you paying?
 

With all this talk about Munns increasing their maintenance prices 45%, how much are you paying, who's doing the maintenance, how many times a year, and from what you can tell, how long are they there doing the work?

If you don't do maintenance, tell us that too and tell us if your condenser has a "fur coat".

Also, if you had a capacitor changed, tell us how much it cost and which company did the work and if it was an emergency or not.

Also, tell us how old your system is. Let's see who has the oldest system running in the Villages.

Great post.

Last week Munns was to come for pm (scheduled 6 months in advance) and the day before get reminder and by the way we are raising your price by 45% and seems like we did not tell you.

Since they did not think to tell us about increase and we are long term customers asked them to hold price for this trip. Told us no.

Told them to cancel and we are looking for replacement.

HVAC maintenance
 

I use no one for regular maintenance. I changed filters regularly and put 50% solution of white vinegar and water down the condensate line twice a year. My 19 year old Trane condensing unit is still purring along. I have never had a service call on it. Maybe it is hard to stop a Trane! And that’s coming from someone that sold Carrier equipment in five states for 30 years! I even wax my old Trane unit at least once a year. It still looks new. I use to train dealers to always wax the outdoor unit of the customer that is receiving the maintenance service. More customers felt like their unit ran like new when it looked good again!!!!!!

Do you ever clean the outdoor condenser coils? If not, it must have a fur coat by now.

Fur coat on outdoor coil
 

No, the old spiny fin coil on my 19 year old Trane unit is still shiny and bright. Trane got that all aluminum coil from General Electric when they purchased the GE air conditioning division in the 70’s. Those old GE Weathertron units with the Climatuff compressors were almost impossible to kill!!! Trane had very little residential equipment until they bought the GE air conditioning division.

I have never paid anything for maintenance. I add a gallon of hot tap water to the condensate drain about every months, change the filter every 6 months, and hose off the condenser unit when needed. I think maintenance is the biggest money maker for most HVAC companies. They get paid for whatever they do, and they don't need to fix anything. Also, they don't provide any guarantees for future service or repairs or extended equipment life. Their "verbal" promise to provide priority service or to extend the life of your system is not worth anything to me.

I saw a Youtube video on that Trane system. Someone has one that's 50 years old. Still works although it has a refrigerant leak so they need to keep charging it up. He never does maintenanced on it. Only fixes it when it needs it. It also has a "fur coat" but he says that's what's keeping it running but the outdoor condenser unit sounds like it's sufficating.

That's the funny part about maintenance. "People" say, "It's running just fine". But how do they know because it's coolng? But at what cost? They could be paying double in energy costs because it's old and or unmaintained and very inefficient.

Older units
 

My air conditioning electric usage is very reasonable. If my unit is keeping me comfortable, with no service calls, and very reasonable electric usage; I’m happy. Money not spent on maintenance, or expensive service calls is money in my pocket. If It ain’t broke, I don’t replace it. Believe me, I’ve seen many people put out big money for the latest, greatest systems to be disheartened later from breakdowns, and full of cognitive dissonance. I recommend people purchase a good solid middle of the road unit. Not the builder models, not the trophy units, but the middle of the road units with good SEER rating with low decibel rating for noise. Also, get 3 or 4 estimates and buy from the contractor you are comfortable with, and feel like he will be there for you in the future.

Annual maintenance for me at any cost from Munn's.
In this Florida heat, I'll say again, my 3 year old HVAC Carrier unit is the most important appliance in my house

Interesting many HVAC companies are offering full 10 year labor to go along with the 10 year parts from the manufacturer at a very reasonable price so that tells me the newer Inverter systems are now very reliable compared to years ago.

It seems redundant to pay for maintenance on a system that is still covered by a full parts and labor warranty.

Maybe, but the way they look at it is maintenance is labor you pay to check the system, clean the condenser and evaporator coils, and clean the condensate drain. If they find the run capacitor is low for example, the charge for that part and to replace it is covered under the parts and labor warranty. Does that make sense?

It's interesting that most feel a HVAC maintenance call and any repairs should be basically cheap. For example, maybe change the capacitor for $25 because you can get one on Amazon for $10 or sometimes at Ace Hardware for free. If the HVAC companies charged a lot less how could they stay in business? Who's going to pay the insurance, expenses for the trucks, salaries, any benefits? Ask yourself, if you knew how to do this maintenance and repairs, would you do it for minimum wage for a living?

10 year labor warranty
 

If contractor is offering 10 year labor warranty to go along with 10 year parts warranty from the manufacturer; that labor warranty is only good as long as that contractor is still in business. If it’s a third party labor warranty; many of those have vanished and left people with no warranty. I tell people all the time when purchasing a new HVAC system; Buyer Beware. I have seen prices on the same equipment range from $7000 to $28,000 . Unfortunately, in these times, I see more fraudulent, almost criminal crimes against seniors than previous eras.

Not really. I have never paid for any HVAC maintenance and my systems have all lasted at least 15 to 20 years, with no real issues.

It would interesting to know how many people, who pay for regular maintenance, have actually had the capacitor replaced during the maintenance visit, and how much extra they were charged.