Heating and Air Conditioning Scams to Watch For
Be on guard for those rascally repairmen.
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Lies They Tell
Click AUDIO to listen to commentary.
“Freon is illegal.” or “It’s illegal to add.” or “It’s liquid gold.”
It’s no longer made, but it’s not illegal. Your AC only needs Freon or Puron if it has a leak. Fixing leaks is not required. On 7/19/24 Freon and Puron cost as little as $28/lb and $11/lb. AUDIO
Silly Names for Parts / Can’t Get Parts
Some contractors give absurd names to common parts so you can’t find them online. Others say old parts are unavailable when, in most cases, there are modern equivalents. AUDIO
“Your (working) motor is drawing excess power / amps.”
Inrush amps don’t change, so it’s not a useful metric. If they say running amps are high then ask them to document their readings, including the operating conditions and the motor’s rating. AUDIO
“Your (working) compressor has failed.”
If they used a megohmmeter to condemn a working compressor, they could be wrong. The real problem could be carbon tracking, a misapplied test, or a misunderstood tool. AUDIO
“Your heat exchanger is stressed / scorched / etc.”
Such language is nonsense. The furnace’s heat exchanger either has a crack and/or hole or it doesn’t. If they say it has a crack or hole, ask them to document its location. AUDIO
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Click here for the audio commentary.*
Heat Pumps
When comparing the best of gas heating to the best of heat pumps, heat pumps cost more per BTU in our area because of our incredibly high electric rates. Your bills can go down with a new heat pump if the ducts are also improved and/or you add zoning, but that would be the improved ducts and/or zoning that’s saving you money—NOT the heat pump. Or if you have a MASSIVE solar array on your roof that was specifically engineered to offset an electricity guzzling heat pump, then maybe you’ll have lower bills. Besides that, heat pumps are often noisier, less reliable, and less comfortable compared to a comparable natural gas burning furnace. Heat pumps can seem great at first. Then the repairs come. If you want reliability, buy a relatively simple (not ultra-low NOx when possible) gas furnace and electric AC. If you want frustration, buy a heat pump and wait a few to ten years. Then marvel as technicians from highly-rated contractors have a tough time fixing them. Then pony up the dough as you find yourself replacing it at 15 years when the gas burner could have lasted 30 years.
Fake Freon
If the can doesn’t say “R-22”, it’s not Freon. Most Freon substitutes don’t cool as well. Some can cause compressor failure if misapplied. And none of them should be mixed with real Freon.
Duct Cleaning & Air Purifiers
Duct cleaning is usually useless†. Most air purifiers are unproven at best and harmful at worst. Blame Star Trek for the confusion.
Maintenance Programs
A lot of tune-up programs† are just thinly veiled sales calls. Real maintenance costs a lot more than $88. It doesn’t have to be twice per year and it may not even be needed every year.
Hard Start Kits / Compressor Savers / Boosters
Most of the aftermarket hard start kits I see in the field were never needed in the fist place. PTCR versions are junk. And even potential relay versions can kill your compressor.
Cheap Capacitors
Most contractors install cheap run capacitors that may only last a few years. I favor OEM grade NG capacitors, which are sold as Mars Blue Box, Mars USA, and others. Learn more here.
† Opens a new tab to my new site dedicated to education.
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Truth They Swell
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It’s Too Old!
The average HVAC system’s lifespan may be <20 years nationally, but we get more locally. I routinely work on 20 to 30 old systems. Even if it’s older than that, “old” is not a diagnosis.
Burned Circuit Board!
Darkening on some circuit boards is perfectly normal. If your circuit board was working just fine before they discovered the burn, then you may be the one getting burned.
So Many Problems!
Most breakdowns are caused by a single failure, not two or three or many. Minor secondary issues are common. However, a cascading failure of expensive parts is not.
So Many Pictures!
Some contractors bombard you with ugly pictures of your equipment. “Ugly” is not a diagnosis. In some cases those pictures may not even be of your equipment.
Rust and Dirt and Oil, Oh My!
Rust and dirt are not automatic indications of impending failure. Rusty coils and oily motors are perfectly normal up to a point.
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Practices They Fail
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The Non-Specific Diagnosis
“It’s shot.” or “It’s old” or “You can’t get parts.” is not a diagnosis. A real diagnosis is specific and understandable. In most cases they should offer to repair even if they want to replace.
The Undocumented / Undisclosed Diagnosis
Some repairmen only diagnose verbally so, if a second repairman “calls them out”, they can deny it. Others willfully fail to mention secondary issues due to the difficulty of correcting them.
Overbooking / Waiting on Parts
Some contractors book more repairs in a day than are possible to perform, so they just diagnose and then tell you’ll they’ll return on another day with a part that’s sitting in their van.
The Repairman – Salesman Switch
Call for a repair when it’s busy and, if they know you have an old system, they may send a salesman instead of a repairman. There aren’t enough repairmen to go around when it’s busy.
Misapplied Sealant and Other Additives
Sealant is not a cure-all for refrigerant leaks. It can, in fact, make things worse. Acid neutralizer, leak detection dye, etc. may also cause problems. Use with caution.
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Equipment They Derail
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The Disconnected Wire
Over the years, I’ve found several ACs not working because of a wire that was disconnected by the company that did the furnace check-up the winter before.
The Crossed Wire
A customer was told she needed an expensive part. She didn’t trust them, so she called me. The part was fine, but its wires were crossed. Had she turned it on before I arrived, it would’ve fried.
The Loosened Core
A customer was told he needed Freon in a system that cooled just fine. He didn’t trust them, so he declined. A week later I found the AC had lost all of its Freon due to loosened Schrader cores.
The Planted Evidence
A duct cleaner who was cleaning a dryer vent wanted to convince his customer to clean the HVAC ducts too, so he threw dryer vent debris into the ducts and showed her pictures of it.
The Wrong Capacitor
If your AC has a failed 40 MFD run capacitor, they may install an 80 MFD capacitor. The AC may seem to work fine for a while, but eventually the compressor will die.
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* This audio commentary covers all five scams in this category. The information is excellent, but it may not exactly match what’s written. I’ll break it down into individual commentaries as time allows.