Thread: The luxury of air conditioning...

I think he might mean a hard start kit. Which it should not need if it is new. What brand did you get? If you say Trane I am going to have to scream - they are Ok but you pay way too much for the name. Trane also has the worst warranty on the market.

York is pretty good. I just replaced my 23 year old Carrier with a new Carrier. As for the Coleman/York sticker. Here is the truth about A/C systems. ALL A/C companies make several different brands under their umbrella. The coleman is probably the same as a york they just have different pricing. For example Rheem is made and owned by Ruud. You can get a Rheem for a lot less than a Ruud - the only differences are the color of the unit and the price - every part number is the same. I only went with another Carrier instead of a Bryant (same just different pricing) is that our Carrier salesman gave us good pricing on that unit since I work for the A/C contractor and I pay the bills.

Originally Posted by dv8grl

Did your insurance company give you any money?

We were in South America when our AC blew, AC guy said it looked like it got struck by lightning. Insurance company came out & wrote us a check.

Which of us are you asking. Mine actually didn't quit working - it was still working but it was running high head pressure which is a sign the compressor is going out. Fortunately I work for an A/C contractor and got it done for cost.

As for lightning - an A/C contractor can only list it as "apparent" lightning strike unless they were actually standing there and saw it get hit. The reason is that there are lots of things that can make it look like lightning that is why the word apparent must be used. I have worked too many years and seen too many things that were listed as lightning strikes by the owner of the unit and we would not list it that way and they got pissed at us. One in particular wanted us to say lightning damage when it was actually "Smith & Wesson" damage and we could tell since the bullet was still in the unit.

Originally Posted by justme23

No, actually we didn't even call them cause we were told they would only fix it if it was lightning damage and at that point it hadn't rained in more than a month (although it did rain the very next night, go figure)... so it clearly wasn't... but we have been finding out we should be able to claim it on our taxes at the end of the year... I guess we'll find out then.

We probably could have tried to fix it w/ American Homeshield... if we had it... but an a/c guy told me several years ago when we actually had it that they try to find ways to decline it... like using the wrong filter and so forth... which we don't do, the damn filter costs 30 dollars, and I wouldn't spend that much if it weren't the right one!

The $ 30.00 filter is a crock of stuff. You can get a 3 pack of excellent filters for less than $ 8.00. Those are the one's that our A/C contractor tells people to use and it does not VOID the warranty. However you need to change your filter once a month - I always tell people when you pay your mortgage or rent to change your filter that day.

Originally Posted by Ambrianna

Isn't that changing it an awful lot? At 3 months, you'd be close to $24.00. If the $30.00 filter is changed every six months, that's saving money to get the more expensive one.

I thought my husband changed our filters every 6 months, I've never heard of doing them every month.

No your math is wrong. 3 filters for $ 8.00 would be $ 32.00 per year for 12 filters. You should change them every month changing them less often can void your warranty. Not changing them often enough can also cause the coils to become dirty and clogged which is a nice expensive service call to clean them. Trust me I would love to let you answer some of the many many service calls I have to answer from people that don't change their filters and then complain when it costs a couple of hundred dollars to clean their coils. Guarantee I don't have to lecture them about changing them often again.