I have lived in my new house for two years. It's not that old, only about 18 years. That might be near the end of the life of the HVAC systems, but with proper servicing and cleaning twice a year all is well, right?
Isn't it? It can be, if you get the PROPER things done. Or rather, if your servicing company does the proper things. When we bought our house, our home inspector recommended an HVAC inspection. The HVAC company said to have the units serviced. It was done. (Wasn't it)?
Last year, we called out a servicing company to check our air systems, especially the upstairs unit, because it was HOT. They told us we just needed the system cleaned and serviced. No problem, we've done that before (we thought). I accompany the technichian upstairs and ask him if he was supposed to open the top of the unit (where the coils are). No he replied, there is never a reason to open that part of the unit. Hmmmm.
Fast forward to this year. Our upstairs unit finally conks out. It froze. No air was coming through the vents. On a weekend of course, a holiday weekend. This time we called Comfort Zone. I spoke with Mike Spence. This guy knows his stuff, I could tell that from our phone conversation.
The bad news came on Monday morning. Oh, the AC unit was fine, but the fan blower/motor in the heating unit wasn't. This part was expensive (it's an old unit after all), so the decision was made to replace the unit.
While we were at it, we needed both units serviced, and THAT is when we found out that proper servicing MATTERS. Watch what they do, and know what they do.
Our units were FILTHY. The condensing coils of the outside downstairs unit were black, grungy, gross, and way beyond just one year of buildup. Didn't anyone ever actually CLEAN this unit? We thought they had. Ditto for the upstairs unit. Oh, the coils weren't as dirty, but we found out what killed that motor. Filth. Grime. Dust. Dirt. Thanks for nothing, oh prior AC servicing companies.
So much for your "service".
Now that I have blown off THAT steam, here's another plug for Mike Spence with Comfort Zone. Not only is this company less expensive that the other "bigger names" I have used, Mike is a pleasure to deal with, is on time, answers his phone, communicates well and will do what he can to try for the less expensive route first. (Thanks for trying the Capacitor first Mike, too bad it was the motor after all!).
Oh, and by the way, our upstairs unit is blowing air like never before. We can actually feel it coming through the vents. Is that what a clean system does? Thanks, Mike!
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