Central Air Just went out

[Wedgy]

You live in DEATH VALLEY?

Santa Clarita, CA northern part of Los Angeles county. It got stupid hot because the air gets trapped in our valley and no breeze like normal. It's back down to 98F now, feels like 80F after that heat wave.

 

[cohunt]

People complain about the "mark up" on a/c parts and service------ it's a business, that needs to make money just like any other business,- I'm not saying some companies don't over charge-- but my local chevy dealer is $195/hour for service with a 400% markup on parts. And my local "non- dealer" auto tech is still $125/hour plus a 200% mark up on parts ( but his parts cost is higher than a dealer)

You need to look at the way your a/c service company charges --- some have free or low gimmick service fees but huge parts mark up, some use flat rate book type fees, some just charge time and materials

By the way, in 2025 all new equipment must be A2L refrigerant ( slightly flamable) R-454b and r-32 will be the new refrigerants used

In a side note, we all know that a magazine and a clip are not the same--- what we use in air conditioning units is called "refrigerant" not "freon" --- freon is a brand name--- kinda like kleenex is a brand name for tissues ( sorry, just a pet peeve of mine and a way to tell if someone actually knows what they are talking about)

If you dont understand the "A B C's of air-conditioning and sub-cool and super heat measurements" you shouldn't be adding refrigerant to your system --- just because you can buy tools and refrigerant on the internet doesn't mean you know what you are doing.

Too much refrigerant is as bad or worse than too little (just last week i pulled 12 pounds of 410 out of a system that was only suposed to have 6 pounds--yikes!!) - and I don't know how many times I've seen unsealed jugs of refrigerant being sold on ebay, craigslist, or fb marketplace ---, do you all know that refrigerant can be pulled out of a system and "mixed" in those jugs? How do you know you are getting "pure- clean" refrigerant ? Has it been mixed? Is it r-410, or r-22, or even r-12 or r-134 or r-1234yf -- there are ton more too I would never buy refrigerant off the internet unless it's a reputable source that actually asks for a copy of your 608/609 certification license

Check out the market price of r-22 now-- it is like rl26 in what the price has done recently since ot can no longer be manufactured in the u.s.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

People complain about the "mark up" on a/c parts and service------ it's a business, that needs to make money just like any other business,- I'm not saying some companies don't over charge-- but my local chevy dealer is $195/hour for service with a 400% markup on parts. And my local "non- dealer" auto tech is still $125/hour plus a 200% mark up on parts ( but his parts cost is higher than a dealer)

You need to look at the way your a/c service company charges --- some have free or low gimmick service fees but huge parts mark up, some use flat rate book type fees, some just charge time and materials

By the way, in 2025 all new equipment must be A2L refrigerant ( slightly flamable) R-454b and r-32 will be the new refrigerants used

In a side note, we all know that a magazine and a clip are not the same--- what we use in air conditioning units is called "refrigerant" not "freon" --- freon is a brand name--- kinda like kleenex is a brand name for tissues ( sorry, just a pet peeve of mine and a way to tell if someone actually knows what they are talking about)

If you dont understand the "A B C's of air-conditioning and sub-cool and super heat measurements" you shouldn't be adding refrigerant to your system --- just because you can buy tools and refrigerant on the internet doesn't mean you know what you are doing.

Too much refrigerant is as bad or worse than too little (just last week i pulled 12 pounds of 410 out of a system that was only suposed to have 6 pounds--yikes!!) - and I don't know how many times I've seen unsealed jugs of refrigerant being sold on ebay, craigslist, or fb marketplace ---, do you all know that refrigerant can be pulled out of a system and "mixed" in those jugs? How do you know you are getting "pure- clean" refrigerant ? Has it been mixed? Is it r-410, or r-22, or even r-12 or r-134 or r-1234yf -- there are ton more too I would never buy refrigerant off the internet unless it's a reputable source that actually asks for a copy of your 608/609 certification license

Check out the market price of r-22 now-- it is like rl26 in what the price has done recently since ot can no longer be manufactured in the u.s.

We got 12 lbs of R-22 -RICH$$$$$
Is not A2L made from Natural Gas???

 

[LRNut]

People complain about the "mark up" on a/c parts and service------ it's a business, that needs to make money just like any other business,- I'm not saying some companies don't over charge-- but my local chevy dealer is $195/hour for service with a 400% markup on parts. And my local "non- dealer" auto tech is still $125/hour plus a 200% mark up on parts ( but his parts cost is higher than a dealer)

You need to look at the way your a/c service company charges --- some have free or low gimmick service fees but huge parts mark up, some use flat rate book type fees, some just charge time and materials

By the way, in 2025 all new equipment must be A2L refrigerant ( slightly flamable) R-454b and r-32 will be the new refrigerants used

In a side note, we all know that a magazine and a clip are not the same--- what we use in air conditioning units is called "refrigerant" not "freon" --- freon is a brand name--- kinda like kleenex is a brand name for tissues ( sorry, just a pet peeve of mine and a way to tell if someone actually knows what they are talking about)

If you dont understand the "A B C's of air-conditioning and sub-cool and super heat measurements" you shouldn't be adding refrigerant to your system --- just because you can buy tools and refrigerant on the internet doesn't mean you know what you are doing.

Too much refrigerant is as bad or worse than too little (just last week i pulled 12 pounds of 410 out of a system that was only suposed to have 6 pounds--yikes!!) - and I don't know how many times I've seen unsealed jugs of refrigerant being sold on ebay, craigslist, or fb marketplace ---, do you all know that refrigerant can be pulled out of a system and "mixed" in those jugs? How do you know you are getting "pure- clean" refrigerant ? Has it been mixed? Is it r-410, or r-22, or even r-12 or r-134 or r-1234yf -- there are ton more too I would never buy refrigerant off the internet unless it's a reputable source that actually asks for a copy of your 608/609 certification license

Check out the market price of r-22 now-- it is like rl26 in what the price has done recently since ot can no longer be manufactured in the u.s.

Not sure if are an AC technician, but my guy Harry earns every penny he charges. Honest as the day is long. He knows when it hits 110 or higher in AZ, he is going to be sweating like a blind lesbian in a tuna fish cannery, but he still goes out. Harry is at my beck and call for one reason: I don't argue about price and I always pay quickly. Amazing how people don't.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I started this thread in Aug 2021, then in Aug 2022 we had replaced our old Heat Pump with a New Trane. Probably talked about it in another thread. Then July 5th our unit was not cooling enough. We had a tech come down and since it was the Holiday we didn't get the Tech that helped put the new Trane in and do the service on it. Well the new Tech didn't really know the system and just put some more 401A in and we started getting cool air because the secondary system kicked in. The tech really should have checked for a LEAK since the system should not need more 401A, BUT to his defense he said that maybe the system was not filled correctly and checked when the system was in the 1st pump system.
Cost us $89 for a service call. Well on Wednesday July 10th the same thing started. we did get our regular service Tech and he found the problem within 3/4 hour. There was a micro crack in the "Expansion Valve" in the Air Handling system. Since the system is under warranty we got the part for free, but had to pay for Labor. Cost us another $250. no charge for Service Call since we paid on July 5th. It took about 5 hours all together. Our Tech went back to the shop and took an expansion valve off another new unit at the shop and drove back instead of waiting several days to get one from Trane. We didn't get charged for the extra 401a refrigerant since changing out the expansion valve. The Tech put extra 401A into the system to find the leak and then backed up the 401A into the compressor. Jill and I have a 25# tank of 401A and asked if there was a need to put more into the system and the owner said we could use our own 401A if it need it and then no charge. That was real nice of the owner. Most companies will want to charge you big $$$ for 401A and forget about if you need R22.
So all in all we paid $349.00 for the two service visits BUT NOW WE HAVE COLD AIR!!! we are glad to have an honest company to service our Heat Pump!
We ended up giving the Tech a real nice Hand Made Damascus Blade Stage Handle folder knife for doing a good job!!!

 

[LRNut]

I started this thread in Aug 2021, then in Aug 2022 we had replaced our old Heat Pump with a New Trane. Probably talked about it in another thread. Then July 5th our unit was not cooling enough. We had a tech come down and since it was the Holiday we didn't get the Tech that helped put the new Trane in and do the service on it. Well the new Tech didn't really know the system and just put some more 401A in and we started getting cool air because the secondary system kicked in. The tech really should have checked for a LEAK since the system should not need more 401A, BUT to his defense he said that maybe the system was not filled correctly and checked when the system was in the 1st pump system.
Cost us $89 for a service call. Well on Wednesday July 10th the same thing started. we did get our regular service Tech and he found the problem within 3/4 hour. There was a micro crack in the "Expansion Valve" in the Air Handling system. Since the system is under warranty we got the part for free, but had to pay for Labor. Cost us another $250. no charge for Service Call since we paid on July 5th. It took about 5 hours all together. Our Tech went back to the shop and took an expansion valve off another new unit at the shop and drove back instead of waiting several days to get one from Trane. We didn't get charged for the extra 401a refrigerant since changing out the expansion valve. The Tech put extra 401A into the system to find the leak and then backed up the 401A into the compressor. Jill and I have a 25# tank of 401A and asked if there was a need to put more into the system and the owner said we could use our own 401A if it need it and then no charge. That was real nice of the owner. Most companies will want to charge you big $$$ for 401A and forget about if you need R22.
So all in all we paid $349.00 for the two service visits BUT NOW WE HAVE COLD AIR!!! we are glad to have an honest company to service our Heat Pump!
We ended up giving the Tech a real nice Hand Made Damascus Blade Stage Handle folder knife for doing a good job!!!

You mentioned "the owner" - the owner of the HVAC company?

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

You mentioned "the owner" - the owner of the HVAC company?

Yes the owner of the HVAC Company that installs commercial/residential Heating & Air Conditioning Systems. He was going to allow the Tech put our 401A into the system if we needed more so than we not be charged the HVAC Prices.
We do have a New Sealed 25 # Tank that is the same brand that the HVAC Company uses. I refurbish our De-Humidifiers and older Heat Pumps so have bought both 401A and R-22. When I bought the 401A 25# Tank we paid around $200. The r-22 was in 10# tanks and years ago maybe $150.
Now HVAC Companies will probably charge you (I Think) $30-40 a pound of 401A. But some HVAC people on LRH will know better.