Posted: 7/31/2006 8:14:06 PM EDT
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I posted a few weeks ago saying my AC was not cooling very well. Well the AC guy came out and checked everything. It turns out the evaporator coils in the air handler probably have never been cleaned. I saw them they were nasty. Everything else is good. They are going to charge $275 to clean them and then make sure the pressure level in the unit is good. Does this sound right? Will it make a difference? My AC won't cool the house below 82F. Now I'm not happy. He came and cleaned it, It was nasty. Now the difference in coolant temp is 12 degrees from and the difference in air temp is 15 degrees. This is much better than yesterday. However my house is not cooling any better.  I guess my next step is to install wind vents. Hopefully cooling my attic will help. Is it possible to install a new air handler without installing a whole new furnace unit? |
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I think it is on the high side for just cleaning the coil and checking the charge, but if they clean the coils, and check your blower motor(oil if it is not the sealed bearing type) and fan to make sure the fan isn't caked with dirt, change the air filter and make sure the unit is properly charged then it sounds like a good price. Squirrel cage fans lose the ability to move air when those curved blades are full of dirt. |
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Unless your unit is especially hard to get to and work on, that is too much money. You are probably paying for the fact that everyone is super busy due to the heat wave and so prices tend to skyrocket while everyone will pay whatever it takes to get the house cool. Sometimes it simply costs more to get people to even come out and take a look to see what is going on. They probaly won't do anything more than spraying on some "coil cleaner" and hooking up the gauges to check your pressures. IF they are pumping down the system, removing the coils, cleaning them and putting them back in and charging the system, then this might be a fair price. You can by the coil cleaner at the HVAC supply store and do it yourself in about 5 minutes and wash out the condensing unit coils outside with the hose, change the filter and see if that takes care of it. Your A/C unit shouldn't be low on coolant as it is a closed system. If it is low, you may have a leak and that can entail a lot of work as the newer units use a different type of coolant and leaking piping, or a coil cannot usually be fixed. |
If you haven't been running it all of the time, try leaving it on during the day. Most units, even when sized correctly, take hours to catch up in the evening. The heat takes time to move through your insulation and continues long after sundown. You'll do better to leave it set at 82 during the day, than turning it off completely. You can also cheat and put some water on your outside condensing unit with a sprinkler and it will help the unit provide more cooling as the water is much more efficient at removing the heat than air. Some people rig up misters to supply water to the coil area, but if you have to resort to this your unit is probably just undersized. Venting the attic, closing up any air leaks, caulking, more insulation, window blinds/curtains - all of these will help. But if your unit is marginally sized, there isn't much else you can do since it can only supply so many Btu's of cooling. All you can do is limit the heat gain. You can get a new A/C unit and coil without getting a new furnace (assuming you have gas heat and not a heat pump). If your unit is over 10 years old, you might even save some money on your bill with a more efficient system (higher SEER rating). The minimum SEER is now 13 for residential units and you can get units that are in the 21 plus SEER range. Each point you go up on the SEER is supposed to save you 7, or 8% on your cooling bill. www.roscoebrown.com/13%20SEER.htm Here are the 2005 most efficient models www.aceee.org/consumerguide/cac.pdf |