What should you look for in a heating and cooling maintenance plan?

Posted by Steve on May 31, 2012 No comments

RED FLAG #4 – MISLEADING MAINTENANCE PLANS

Have you ever seen these ads?

 “$39 Heating Inspection!”

“$59 Cooling Tune-up!”

“$49.99 AC Service!”

“$69.99 Winter Heating Safety Check!”

“$129 Annual Maintenance Plan!” 

Pretty confusing if you ask me.  I mean, my profession is heating and cooling and I’m confused by all the different jargon out there.  What’s the difference between the $59 cooling tune-up and the $49.99 AC service?  I know I couldn’t even begin to guess the differences, but unfortunately consumers fall into the trap of thinking all these are the same and the only difference is the price.  WRONG!!!  Not all maintenance, tune-ups, service, inspections, and/or checks are created equally.

Let me be very clear on this point: regular-annual maintenance is CRITICAL for your A/C system.  Failure to have maintenance is like never changing the oil in your car or never rotating the tires.  Your system will fail sooner, run less efficiently every year and keep your home less comfortable due to neglect.  Beyond that, 70-80% of all repairs could have been prevented with proper maintenance.  Beyond that, failure to have proper annual maintenance may lead to voids in manufacturers warranties.  Do not skimp on maintenance, but also don’t waste your money on insufficient and vague tune-ups, services or checks. 

Follow these guidelines when selecting a heating and cooling contractor and a proper maintenance program:

  • Get in writing what tasks and cleanings the company is going to perform as part of their maintenance program.  Never allow someone to come out and do whatever they feel like that day.  A quality company will have a detailed list of tasks they will provide you up front to make your decision.  A good company will also provide you, after the service, with a fully filled out document stating every task they completed.

 

  • Ask if the company has built there maintenance program based on any industry standards.  Most will probably say they have based their program on “experience” and “our XYZ years in business.”  This is unacceptable.  A quality maintenance program will be based on set industry standards such as ACCA Standard 4, not whatever each heating and cooling feels like doing.  At Hamstra, our Choice Service Club Gold Package meets all ACCA Standard 4 guidelines, which are very detailed and extensive.

 

  • Proper record keeping is crucial.  Is your maintenance company going to keep detailed and accurate records of all your service visits?  If they care about your interests, they should.  Manufacturers are beginning to require us to provide them with maintenance records before they will honor parts warranties.  They are even beginning to ask for copies of all maintenance task sheets for each maintenance visit we have made.  They want to see that the proper maintenance tasks were completed and were completed annually.  Without proper records of maintenance, you may get stuck coming out of pocket for repairs that should have been under warranty.

Don’t get fooled into thinking all maintenance and /or service plans are created equal.  They are not.  Do some research and make sure you follow the guidelines above.  You will not regret the extra time spent, as it will save you money over the long run.

Need ac repair or a new air conditioner installed? For prompt, professional help with all of your air conditioning, heating or ventilation needs, please contact Hamstra Heating & Cooling today at 520-629-9833.

Are heating & cooling estimates accurate when given over the phone?

Posted by admin on May 22, 2012 No comments

THE STATE OF OUR INDUSTRY – Buyer Beware…

RED FLAG #3 – NEW SYSTEM QUOTES OVER THE PHONE ARE NOT ACCURATE!

Every single day at Hamstra Heating & Cooling, we get calls from customers who would like an estimate for new air conditioning equipment, and everyday at least one of those callers asks for a quote over the phone.  “Mr. Hamstra, I have a 15-year-old 5-ton Rheem A/C with a gas furnace located in a hall closet.  My home is 2,000 square feet and I have done my research, I want a 5-ton Lennox system.  How much?”  We really wish it were that easy, but it is not.

Our response to this question is always “anywhere between $5,000 and $15,000”.  Why such a big range?  Because there is that large a range of variables when performing a system replacement.

Here is a small list of reasons you should never accept a quote over the phone:

  1. We need to run a load calculation.  Even though the current system is a 5-ton, it does not mean it was properly sized originally.  Also, the home might have experienced changes since the original system was installed (new windows, added insulation, added addition, more internal heat loads like appliances, TV’s, computers, people).  All of these factors will effect the system size that the home needs.  The only way we can ensure proper sizing, which leads to better comfort, energy efficiency and longer system life is to visit the home, take all the proper measurements and run a computerized Manual J load calculation.
  2. A Lennox 5-ton may not be the best equipment for the application.  When it comes to brands of A/C equipment, not all 5-tons are created equal.  For example, a Lennox 5-ton machine has about 15% more cooling capacity than a 5-ton American Standard/Trane machine.  We also have the issue of physical unit sizes.  If the customer’s indoor furnace is located in a hall closet, we will have to come out to measure to see if a Lennox furnace fits the space.  It may be too wide or too tall.  We run into situations all the time where we have to install Brand X over Brand Y because Brand Y does not physically fit the space we have to work with.  A quality heating and cooling contractor, who is looking out for you, will make sure the brand of system they propose will indeed meet cooling capacity and will fit in your home.
  3. We cannot forget about the ductwork.  Again, a quality contractor knows that ductwork is a critical component of the system.  Any customer looking to get new air conditioning equipment should also be concerned with making sure their duct system is adequate.  If the duct is overlooked, a customer may get sold a high efficient 18-SEER unit that functions like a 13-SEER due to leaky ductwork.  It would be like putting a brand new Ferrari motor on an old Yugo chassis.  It is not going to deliver great results.  In order to deliver a proper solution, we need to inspect the system as a whole.  Not just focus on the box (equipment).

This list could go on and on, but these are the basic reasons the BUYER SHOULD BEWARE when a company willingly offers a quote over the phone.

Hamstra Heating & Cooling has been serving the Tucson area since November of 1983, as your full service heating, air conditioning and ventilation company.  We offer complete air conditioning installation, air conditioning repair, air conditioning maintenance and air conditioning service and tune-up. We also offer heater and furnace installation, heating and furnace repair and heating unit maintenance and tune-ups. We also offer high-quality heating and air conditioning duct systems that are known for their quietness and performance.  We are proud to be Tucson and Southern Arizona’s exclusive provider of AeroSeal duct sealing, the most effective, affordable and viable method of sealing the central heating and cooling duct work for your home. In addition to duct sealing, we also sell duct system designs to builders, architects and other HVAC companies.

Need ac repair, or a new air conditioner installed? For prompt, professional help with all of your air conditioning, heating or ventilation needs,  please contact Hamstra Heating & Cooling today at 520-629-9833 or contact us here.

Heating & Cooling: The State of our Industry – Buyer Beware

Posted by admin on January 24, 2012 1 comment

 

 

As we head into year 2…or 3…or 4…or 5 or whatever of the “Great Recession”, the term “Buyer Beware” has taken on a whole new meaning.  As consumers budgets tighten and as companies become ever desperate for business, customer service and quality are approaching new all-time lows.  The scams you read about in the news are becoming more aggressive and, with consumers looking to save every place they can, vulnerability is at an all-time high.  The heating and cooling industry unfortunatly is historically notorious for poor service and scams.  In fact, in Southern Arizona, the heating and cooling industry has the most complaints with the Better Business Bureau from consumers, with more than used car dealers, pay-day lenders, insurances companies, etc.  Embarassing and sad to say the least.

The following are some red flags to watch for when seeking out a heating and cooling company for repairs, maintenance or estimates on replacement systems.

RED FLAG #1 – THE LOW-BALL PRICE

Ever see those ads that say “$39 Heating Tune-Up!” or “$2,900 A/C System Installed!”?  Sounds great doesn’t it?  Here’s a little perspective…a decent heating and cooling service technician makes at least $18 per hour, add in the costs of fuel to get to the home, the service van, overhead expenses for a basic office, people to answer the phone, schedule calls, process paper and the average HVAC company has, at bare minimum, hourly expenses of $50 per hour.  Do you honeslty think when you call for that $39 special that all you are going to pay is $39?  It’s called a bait and switch.  Low-Ball pricing to get themselves in your home where they can then find costly and always “necessary” repairs.  These companies actually train their technicians to deceive customers so that they can make a profit.  As for the $2,900 installed air conditioning system, this is so far below the cost of even cheap equipment, let alone to cost of the labor to install.  Any whole house A/C system replacement that is properly engineered and sized for your home, and is properly installed by trained installers, is going to cost you more than $5,000, and that is with low-end value level equipment, not the highly efficient equipment you would want.  If you see a price that is much lower than the competion and seems like an amazing deal, it’s either a scam or an unreputatble company you are dealing with.

RED FLAG #2 – THE 400 SQUARE FEET PER TON OF A/C “RULE OF THUMB”

Just about any consumer who has researched buying a new A/C system has read about or had a contractor tell them about the Rule of Thumb for equipment sizing:  “Mr. Johnson, your home is 2000 square feet, at 400 square feet per ton, you need a 5-ton air conditioning unit today.”  This is the most bogus and lazy lie that exists in our industry.  It doesn’t even stand up to the easiest of logical tests.  Say House “A” is 1,000 square feet with 12 feet high ceilings and a ton of large low quiality single pane windows.  Now, house “B” is 1,000 square feet as well, but only has 8 feet high ceilings with a few small quality double pane windows.  House A is absolutely going to need more cooling capacity than House B because of its larger cubic volume and the large heat gain from the windows.  Using the Rule of Thumb, each of these homes would get a 2.5 ton AC system.  Unfortunately, the occupants of House A are going to be miserable because their AC system is too small and can’t keep the home cool in the Summer.  Every reputable heating and cooling company will insist on performing a Manual J Engineering Load Calculation to determine the size of system you need.  This process takes a lot of education and extra time to perform, but is essential for proper sizing.  A system that is not properly sized will not keep a home comfortable, will drive up energy bills and will decrease equipment life.

So, if you hear a contractor tell you about the Rule of Thumb, walk away and walk away fast!

To be continued…

Do yourself a favor, check & change your air conditioning filter(s) monthly

Posted by Steve on August 9, 2011 No comments

I know, I know, I know! This is something you’ve heard a thousand times. Changing the filter in you air conditioning system monthly isn’t some new and exciting message. Every blog and news article you have every read about energy efficiency or “green” homes has told you to change your filters regularly. Every heating & cooling contractor that you have dealt with has delivered the same message. But the fact remains, despite all the efforts to educate, remind, and convince homeowners to complete this simple task, clogged filters remain one of the leading causes for system underperformance and failure. Our company, Hamstra Heating & Cooling in Tucson, Arizona, runs over 250 service calls a week during the summer, and over half of those calls could have been prevented with proper filter changes and regular maintenance. The message is not being received and is costing homeowners big time.

Make a point at the first of every month to pull that old filter out of your system and inspect it. If your system uses standard paper filters or washables, hold it up to the light. If you can’t see a significant amount of light coming through, throw it away and immediately put in a new one. The average filter is less than $10, that’s a small price to pay to keep your system running efficiently and keep it running for a long time.

Want to know the average price of a repair on your heating and cooling system these days? About $300. Want to know the average price to clean a clogged coil due to improper filter maintenance? About $600 if it can be easily accessed, and $750 plus if it requires a difficult removal. How is $10 a month sounding about now? Pretty good huh? It should get even clearer when I tell you that the average full system replacement is going to run you around $8,500, if done properly by a reputable contractor. $10 a month for a filter and a couple hundred bucks a year for a proper tune-up is a drop in the bucket, and I haven’t even discussed the savings you will realize on your electrical bill from regular filter changes. Do yourself a favor, CHECK & CHANGE YOUR FILTER(s) MONTHLY.

Wade Hamstra
GM, Hamstra Heating & Cooling
Tucson, Arizona