House electrical question

[skaredshtles]

The warranty on the equipment is fine, the problem is the change in company ownership and the fact that I didn't take the new company's highest-level warranty service when it was offered. To save $100/year I cost myself some coin. If I had coughed up the cash this would have been free to me. D'oh!

The system is almost new and I really didn't think it would need major repairs and I knew I could upgrade the service in later years without penalty if I wanted so I figured I'd keep the cash for now. Oops. Not their fault, I signed a contract that spelled it out, I knew what I was doing and it backfired.

Oh - this wasn't a mfg'r warranty? Warranties like you describe are generally a scam.

[iceman]

The equipment is on the manufacturer, the labor is on me at this point because I didn't pay the service company when they asked. The manufacturer covered parts and labor for a year, just parts after that up to 5 years.

[SumJongGuy]

I got lucky as all hell last year.. 220 volt AC and heat unit in kitchen went out. Found the receipt and manual and started making calls to find a repair shop to look at it. Found out nobody would work on it but turned out to be under warranty for 5 years. Was exactly 4 years and 10 months old. Frigidaire called Lowes. Lowes called me to bring in the old one for an exchange to a new one, zero charge, ya, it was only a $800 giant window 220 volt heat/air conditioner unit but I chalked it up as HUGE WIN that day.

As for breaker boxes, ours is actually -GASP- OUTSIDE! And, we even still have a fuse panel inside. Passed inspection when we addded on to the house 4 years ago. Electrician that came out to add an outlet last year hardly believed it passed. I have every intention of getting all the old house wiring redone sooner or later. But, at least we've got great home owner's insurance.. assuming we're alive to file the claim if the house burns down before we get to the wiring job. Plumbing is probably going to need upgrades sooner.. House was built in the 50s. Half the plumbing is still original iron pipes. Wiring in the main part of the house pre addition is also that old, but I did replace the outlets and grounded them to the boxes. My guitar amps hum like crazy when on overdrive settings..

[warthog]

Missed this the first time. Thanks for the call out Jackstraw.

Spent the whole day on a job site trouble shooting daylight harvesting and occ sensors with ARC devices. What a pain in the ass for minimal returns in energy savings.

Yes, GFCI are now required to self test, and if they test bad, they will not reset. We are now seeing a lot of track homes using AFCI/GFCI breakers only. I can't imagine having to trek to the garage to reset a breaker when the hairdryer trips the GFCI, but that is how they are building now, to save money. I see it coming back around soon though.

[Nobody Famous]

okay, on this same general topic, my AC system needs a new coil. The system is only 3 years old, it's still under warranty. It appears to be an installation error and a super super slow leak that took the 3 years to show up when finally the system conked out because of low refrigerant. I'm told a couple drops of solder won't fix it. $2000 for labor (not covered under warranty), and parts are a lot more but under warranty. As some here know, my house is for sale.

The warranty issues are complex, the installing company got bought by another company, who now does the service and found the problem. They're willing to handle the warranty issues but not the labor. The system works fine but will need the work done eventually and there's 2 years left on the warranty. If I don't fix it I'm dropping a time bomb in the buyer's lap, especially so if 2 years go by before they notice the problem, which would make the $2000 job more like $6000, and I'm sure it can be proven that I know about it if they figure out who does the maintenance now.

edit: I'm gonna get it fixed but if somebody can convince me i shouldn't bother...well I'm listening.

Karma and my desire to never fuck anybody over in my life both say pay the $2000 and get it fixed. but...$2000 out of pocket that I definitely won't get back. WWMD?

Is the labor warranty between you and a) the original company and it's assignees/designees/succesors, b) and the equipment manufacturer, or c) and a third-party labor warranty provider? It sounds like you have this figured out, I'm asking in case you don't.

Residential HVAC contractors who provide parts and labor warranties typically -- but not always -- purchase (labor) or supplement parts warranties (extend from x to y years) through third parties and roll that into the installed pricing. Then they deal with any and all claims and to you and I the consumers it all looks seamless. Where they kind of push the envelope in this is they quietly state somewhere 'warranties are for original owner' meaning any buyer gets no tangible benefit.

Call around a bit and see if you can find a one man shop(older guy). See if he can make a decent repair and recharge the system. My experience with HVAC guys have not been good. Most places don't want to do any repair work, just sell you new gear. Younger techs don't have the experience to solve problems, only replace parts.

Comments on the bolded statements. You just need to look around more. There are still some HVAC companies out there that are really good at repairs, but many are as you describe. The trick is finding the good ones, and it's well worth it. Ask around to a trusted GC who their preferred HVAC guys are and why the GC prefers them.

Here's a recent example, shows there are still some reliable guys out there. Last week I had a fall/winter PM check up done on a new (8 mos old) heat pump system. Called the the original installer, the system came with a parts and labor warranty through them. I had been hearing some odd noises from the outdoor unit and mentioned it when scheduling the service call. Two guys show up, one older guy, and a younger apprentice guy getting training in maintenance (a good sign, rinky-dink contractors don't do this). After doing the usual pm things, check filters, pressures, temps, freon/puron etc. they say noise you reported is from fan blades being out of balance, which probably adversely affected fan motor. We recommend changing both parts out. I say, under warranty right? They say, yes of course, oh and we can get the parts here today, can we install today? I say yea, sure. The two guys send some email, make and answer a few phone calls, and then make a lunch run to a local deli, it's a friday they explain, other days of the week they pack a lunch.

Five mins after they depart for lunch their parts runner drops off the replacement parts at my place (it was just luck that my place was a convenient first stop on the runners return travels after picking up parts at a distributors warehouse). The two guys return from lunch and proceed to install the parts. Total time from start to finish was 2.5 hours, not counting their lunch break. The outdoor unit now runs as quiet as a normal conversation (I checked using a sound meter app on phone).

You don't see this kind of coordination very often. Yet this was the second time they exceeded expectations, first was the work on the install.

Lesson learned in this is yes, there are some really good HVAC contractors out there, finding them is the biggest obstacle.