AC and Furnace Tune-Up

[kidicarus13]

Necessary? Preventative? Worth it or just lining the pockets of HVAC companies?

[theGinsue]

Probably a good thing to do about every 5 or so years.

[fitterjohn]

On a commercial system yes. On your house, look for the same things, but there isn’t much tune up to do. Wash your coil, change your filter, oil the motor of it has ports, make sure there is no rubbing. Commercial rtus, chillers, rack systems are a bit more involved. But that’s just one techs opinions….. oh wait I’m supposed to say yes you do need to get someone to come out do do a tune up at your house, but make sure it’s one of the cheap ones you hear about on the radio, I’ll bet they find a reason the furnace and a/c both need to be replaced. Maybe I am jaded

[bryjcom]

Do it every year. Just make sure it’s a smaller company doing it and not one of the companies that spends a lot on advertising. Those companies are just sales techs

The main thing is keeping the AC coil clean. If you do that it will almost pay for itself with the electrical savings.

[fitterjohn]

I’d agree with what he said. Just make sure it’s a trust worthy company, like his I’ve heard. I am just jaded by so many techs I’ve run into that find a furnace that needs replaced every single day, then find out they get a 100$ bonus for every furnace and ac they find to replace. Then had one tell me,(when I didn’t have my service van at my house), that they are replacing the one next door they would be happy to check mine, told them it wasn’t very old I think it’s fine, they said well we can see it still uses a metal flue so we are almost certain it is bad. I had just installed it a year ago….

[Great-Kazoo]

I’d agree with what he said. Just make sure it’s a trust worthy company, like his I’ve heard. I am just jaded by so many techs I’ve run into that find a furnace that needs replaced every single day, then find out they get a 100$ bonus for every furnace and ac they find to replace. Then had one tell me,(when I didn’t have my service van at my house), that they are replacing the one next door they would be happy to check mine, told them it wasn’t very old I think it’s fine, they said well we can see it still uses a metal flue so we are almost certain it is bad. I had just installed it a year ago….


Bryjcom's hvac was always standup when it came to doing business.

[cableguy11]

Bryjcom's hvac was always standup when it came to doing business.

I can second that as well!

[eddiememphis]

A furnace inspection is necessary, especially on older units. They will check the heat exchanger and the air/ fuel mix among other things.

The fuel ratio is important for efficiency. Inspecting the exchanger is a must to rule out carbon monoxide problems. Inspecting them is a pain on 80% and HE units so it is good to have someone that knows what he is doing.

[fitterjohn]

I’ve heard from more than a few people he is a stand up guy, and wasn’t trying to imply he isn’t, sorry if it came across that way, I was talking about some larger company’s on the Fort Collins area that do a lot of advertising that I wouldn’t trust. Hvac is still one of those trades where you get so many shade tree techs, I hear from guys all the time that you don’t even need a meter to do diag work, just put a flame sensor, igniter, limits, and roll out switch cuse it’s got to be one of them

[Great-Kazoo]

I’ve heard from more than a few people he is a stand up guy, and wasn’t trying to imply he isn’t, sorry if it came across that way, I was talking about some larger company’s on the Fort Collins area that do a lot of advertising that I wouldn’t trust. Hvac is still one of those trades where you get so many shade tree techs, I hear from guys all the time that you don’t even need a meter to do diag work, just put a flame sensor, igniter, limits, and roll out switch cuse it’s got to be one of them

I didn't take it that way. As for larger companies, 100% yes on that. I doubt most of them know how to troubleshoot.

[JohnnyEgo]

Bryjcom is a pretty stand up guy who actually diagnosed my AC issues and gave me a couple of options. John's also a stand up guy, so you are getting a lot of good advice from some upright dudes.

Last year, my neighbor, whom I like a lot, sent his 'guy',, a friend of his son, who worked for Swann. It was not a good experience by any measure. There is a difference between a technician, and a salesman with some gauges. The experience with Bryan's crew was completely different in the best possible way.

[hollohas]

I had an AC place replace my dual cap last year and they charged me $500. The guy then offered to do a tune up for like another $500. I told him his company had advertised the tune up for $29 and he told me, oh that's just an inspection the full tune up is more. Then I told him his company was advertising a full rejuvenation for $259, he told the rejuvenation was actually $1130.

That kind of bullshit makes me hate service techs.

I get that they've gone through the effort to learn and buy all the tools, but $500 for a literal 5 min job and then trying to charge me 17x the advertised rate for add on service after I already paid to get him there is robbery.

Guess what, I watched him change the dual cap, I'll do it myself next time for $20.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220716/4e9f8508db2820d41ecf2b4779cc6102.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220716/f197f430c3e6d72ebc7ae809af52cd81.jpg

[thebolt]

The Office of the Attorney General accepts complaints of this nature. They can't pursue these scammer companies if people don't report them.

[fitterjohn]

I had an AC place replace my dual cap last year and they charged me $500. The guy then offered to do a tune up for like another $500. I told him his company had advertised the tune up for $29 and he told me, oh that's just an inspection the full tune up is more. Then I told him his company was advertising a full rejuvenation for $259, he told the rejuvenation was actually $1130.

That kind of bullshit makes me hate service techs.

That’s the very thing you got to watch out for. Seems really expensive to me and I’m sure we have a much higher labor rate for commercial systems.

I get that they've gone through the effort to learn and buy all the tools, but $500 for a literal 5 min job and then trying to charge me 17x the advertised rate for add on service after I already paid to get him there is robbery.

Guess what, I watched him change the dual cap, I'll do it myself next time for $20.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220716/4e9f8508db2820d41ecf2b4779cc6102.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220716/f197f430c3e6d72ebc7ae809af52cd81.jpg