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Maintaining Your System
by Tom Olecki, Owner, Broadview Heating
From the Experts
Maintaining Your System
An interesting phone call came to me last month from my cousin who has a winter home in Arizona. Recently widowed, she called me for advice concerning her furnace and air conditioning system.
She called a random HVAC company out for a checkup on her system because they advertised a whole system checkup for $25. Her system is only two years old so there shouldn’t be anything wrong, she just wanted it cleaned.
The technician inspected her system and came up with recommendations totaling over $800. Some of these recommendations were valid, but the advertised “checkup” turned out to be no more than an inspection and included nothing as far as actually cleaning or adjusting her system. Something as important as cleaning the outdoor unit coil was an extra charge of $200. An in-warranty part was found out of specification. The part was under warranty but the labor to replace this part was quoted at another $200. Other recommendations were to add a surge protector to the system ($400) plus some minor wiring corrections.
I’m not bashing this company for doing anything wrong, just pointing out that low-dollar advertised “checkups” are always just a way for a company to get in the door. I’m sure this company never once left a customer home with only a $25 charge. The amount advertised will not even pay for the wages and gas to get there. Not to mention overhead costs.
My recommendation is to ask questions when scheduling a system checkup. What does it actually include? Will the inspection actually clean important parts like coils, heat exchangers and burners or just look at them and then charge you an extra fee to clean them? Are filters included or an extra charge? How long will the checkup take? 20 minutes is not enough time to thoroughly clean and inspect a system.
The best value is to purchase a maintenance agreement that covers both furnace and air conditioning. The cost of an agreement is usually less than the cost of a single checkup and includes perks that offer discounts on parts, labor and overtime. Most offer priority service and automatically notify you when it’s time to have your system inspected so you don’t have to remember next year. Most plans can be paid for on a monthly basis and the best plans cover parts or labor for life as long as you keep the plan active.
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Questions are always welcome. For free help with your heating/cooling system, ask Tom@broadviewheating.com or call 440-526-7310.
Opinions and claims expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ScripType Publishing.
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Broadview Heating
Questions are always welcome. For free help with your heating/cooling system, ask the experts at broadviewheating@sbcglobal.net or call 440-526-7310.
Opinions and claims expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ScripType Publishing.