Air conditioners (and contractors) RANT

[addiebee]

Last June, my old AC unit quit on me. Hey it was something like 23 years old... so I had a contractor come out and evaluate it. Was also told that the heat exchanger on the furnace ( same age) was shot... long story short - replaced BOTH plus the water heater (same age) which was also not working.

$5,500!!!!! OK - had to be done. That what equity lines of credit are for, right?

Well, this spring, go to turn on my still-really-new AC - and it is NOT cooling the house! Grrrrr!!

Service call!

Guy comes out and says the valve stems on the coolant lines are faulty and that they are having lots of problems. Mfg went to nylon instead of rubber and they SHRINK in the cold weather. Huh!!!???? So all that coolant went into the atmosphere. Nice, huh?

OK - replace the valves, charge up the unit - ....

I also told him the blower motor is making really loud noises - whining and it sounds like it's laboring. I am a layperson but not stupid. It doesnt' sound right. He says it's working fine, but agreed to order a new one. THREE WEEKS GO BY - no word. I call... they say we will check on it. Next thing I know I get a call that they are on their way to install it ... this was last Friday. I didn't confirm this with them and I say - I am not there and won't be for quite a while.

We reschedule for Tuesday.

Last night - we walk into the condo and it is HOT in there!!! The motor is whining really loud and NO air is moving. Aaarrrgggghhhhh!!!!

Gotta shut it off. So humid and hot last night that opening the windows was not a solution. Set up a bunch of box fans and put cat beds in the basement in case the boys needed them.

So now I am in contact with the technician and we will see if they can come out today and replace the

blower motor that I SAID was not good.

This company sells Amana and York. I have an Amana unit - I did a little homework online this morning - man - they get trashed in reviews on line... but so do most of the mfgs. What up with that?

Sigh... so my Sunday is likely ruined waiting to hear from this tech. And I may have to wait until my scheduled appt to get the new blower. I am just not around much tomorrow.

At least this is a warranty call so it won't cost me money, but you can't put a price tag on the aggravation.

 

[c1atsite]

cooling vibes for you

i use a box fan in conjunction with the a/c here. it boosts the cooling effects significantly. speaking only about my hvac unit, it's rather loud, sadly-- it's the way it is in this building i guess (again, talking about mine only, not accusing you of a lack of knowledge or anything)--- i know exactly what you mean about any machine making laboring sounds and not sounding right. you just know

My old refrigerator in my 2000-2004 apartment labored when it got old (well -it was already old lol) and the change in sound was very noticeable and unpleasant.

 

[strange_wings]

I'll mention this to my FIL later and see what he says - I wouldn't be surprised if he says Amana are POS since he works for Lennox.

A little tip to everyone, though. Before you turn your AC on in the spring/summer call someone out for a maintenance call. Taking care of these units keeps them working - and always make sure the coils are clean. If there's debris in it either call someone to clean it out for you or learn to do it yourself.
The same goes for fall before you turn the furnace on, get some maintenance done on it.

For those of who have cats (especially multiple cats), we need to also be pulling our fridges out every few months and removing the cat hair. If they get full of cat hair and other debris in back they start getting very loud and won't cool, then eventually quit working.

 

[catsallaround]

We had some issues after buying a house. Windows installed incorrectly anything they touched was messed up-floor paint in cats play room is all up, House fan is in wrong spot(a huge 3x4 hole was cut and down road needs to be recut and moved. I finally kicked them out and we are having ALOT of issues with our loan company cause its a federal loan... Also were going to get central air-in nj and its to be upper 80's with all these cats and my asthma no good.


Think positive but dont take any crap and it will all work out

!