We had our annual, start of the summer air conditioning season health check on our home’s central unit. The whole idea of these health checks is akin to looking for trouble with a flashlight, because we are basically paying someone to find problems that they can then charge us to fix. This video shows the service tech looking for and finding a freon leak in the condenser coil, which is part of the outside half of the air conditioner. The technician proposed $1,500+ to try to solder the leak or $3,000+ to replace the leaking coil. The tech left but also left questions.
I called the operator and tried asking her my questions, but she got flustered and punted, by dispatching a salesman. The salesman did a drive by, but he was gone before I could ask him any questions. After he was gone, I noticed that the A/C unit was not running anymore. It turned out that it had been disconnected, without telling me, which pissed me off. Especially, since their tech had turned it on, left it running, and then just left. I was so pissed at them.
Then I decided to not get mad but get to work. Our unit is ten years and eight months old. Our warranty was only good for ten. On the internet there is the $5,000 rule. On any air conditioner, multiply its age in years times the repair cost. If this exceeds $5,000 then replace. Even with the proposed somewhat dogie repair, we are way over that line. Although we are way beyond ozone eating refrigerants, our current unit uses still unfriendly to global warming gas. A new unit would be more ecological. I’ve already scheduled another bid and are still awaiting the first. The next week looks reasonably cool, so we have time.
