Austin Air Companie Blog : Posts Tagged ‘HVAC new equipment installation’

New Air Conditioning System

Saturday, March 12th, 2016

It’s that time of the year again in Katy, Texas when you start contemplating the hot summer and realize it might be time to replace that old air conditioning system and maybe the heating system as well.

Some times this may be done at the spur of the moment when it’s already 90 degrees or more in your house and you’re under stress to just get it done. If you happen to be reading this earlier in the season before the summer arrives you have a bit more time to make a more informed decision.

Many people tend to approach this as just finding the lowest price possible to replace the AC unit. In some cases this may be all that’s needed if you plan to sell the home a short while later. However, with the current real estate market near the top more people are deciding to stay in their homes longer. This is a fine balancing act to decide exactly what you want. To complicate this further air conditioning manufacturer’s make so many different models, different SEER ratings, different configurations, more features, differences in warranty coverage that it’s enough to make your head swim.

To top all of that off, you call a few HVAC companies for a AC replacement quote and you may determine that these are merely salesmen looking for a quick score. For those of you that don’t know, a salesman only gets paid to sell. The problem with that is more times than not they don’t have your best interest at heart. Sorry, but the only way to sell “crap” is to embellish what it can do and how cheap they can install it for. The salesman however won’t come back once the sale is complete.

HVAC manufacturer’s make HVAC systems. That is how they are designed is as a complete systems. So if you only replace “part” of your HVAC system you are getting what is often called a “piece meal” AC system or “mismatched AC system” meaning that the parts of the system are of a different model design and in some cases a different manufacturer. On top of that, if you are buying a complete system it may be an inferior model, an outdated model, a system that has been sitting in a warehouse for an extended period. Do you want an older model because it’s cheaper? Do you want a new model that is better, fresh off factory floor with better features? How will you know this difference if you are talking to a salesman?

The piece meal option doesn’t always mean anything bad, other than the less of your system you replace typically the more likely it is that it will break down again. Additionally what it also means is that it likely won’t be quite as efficient as the rating of the new equipment suggests. This depends greatly on what your current HVAC system configuration is. No two homes are alike in this regard.

Everyone likes a “good deal” when it comes to just about anything. Are you going to measure a good deal in price alone or are you going to measure a good deal in quality, features and performance?

A good deal in price alone is often fleeting because the electric bill is coming to your house every month whether you like it or not. Your air conditioning system efficiency and performance makes up the majority of that bill, so if you skimp on one side you pay for it on the other. To top that off if the price one company is offering is very low compared to other quotes, they are cutting corners somewhere. There is no way around that, and you will wind up paying for it at some point.

A Good Deal For A New HVAC System

When it comes to these things I often say “the devil is in the details”. You are buying an HVAC system for comfort. If it doesn’t truly fulfill that purpose then why buy it?

Your installing HVAC contractor is who you should be calling if and when the system breaks. All AC brands can and do break down, don’t be fooled into thinking otherwise. If you can’t depend on the HVAC contracting company that installed your AC system then what are you left to consider?

It’s not uncommon for me to repair a dozen or so HVAC systems a year that were installed by other companies. These aren’t free calls, the manufacturer doesn’t warranty improper installation, systems that were purchased over the internet or any other illogical method that some people consider.

If the HVAC system pays you back thru reduced utility cost, provides you the comfort you desire and you have a professional licensed HVAC contractor that can repair your air conditioning and heating system when that need arises why would you want anything else?

Thank you for visiting with me today. I hope I might have saved you from making what could be a costly mistake. National average life of an AC system is 15 years. That is a long time to live with a mistake.

Make your new HVAC system a GREAT one!

Choose Austin Air Companie

About the author of this blog:

My name is Ray Austin. I am the owner and operator of Austin Air Companie, a HVAC Service Company serving Katy, Texas | Cypress, Texas and some surrounding areas. I am a Texas Licensed HVAC Contractor with over 20 years experience in Air Conditioning and Heating Systems. I hold an AOS degree in HVAC/R, EPA universally certified to handle any refrigerant and NATE certified in HVAC installations and repairs.

 

Austin Air Companie

832.475.6895

“Your home comfort from A to Z”

Air Conditioning | Controls | Heating | Zoning

 

For more information:

videos, tips and everything air conditioning and heating

for your home you can always visit me on my main website @

www.austinairco.com

Better Stuff. Done Right. On Time. Guaranteed.

R22 FREON & R410a PURON LEAK CAUSES AND SOMEONE TO BLAME

Sunday, September 6th, 2015

LOL this blog topic is going to be a good one. Simply because everyone these days enjoys playing “The Blame Game” in regards to air conditioning system failures and R-22 Freon or R410a Puron leaks. Step right up… you can play too….

First you have to realize what causes the majority of Freon leaks in your home HVAC system Evaporator coil. Building material manufacturer’s that use formaldehyde’s in their products, such as carpeting, wood flooring, cabinets and just about any home furnishing you can think of.

What’s the problem with formaldehyde? It seeps out into the air of the home and this air is drawn into the air return of your HVAC system and then some of it condenses with the air when it hits the evaporator coil and forms condensate waste water. This condensate waste water then drains into a pan and the evaporator coil sits in this pan. The formaldehyde becomes formicary acid and attacks the copper tubing of the coil this leads to small pin hole Freon leaks that are invisible to the naked eye. Formicary corrosion only effects copper tube evaporator coils. The only way to fix this type of leak is to replace the evaporator coil.

Many Air Conditioning manufacturer’s have switched to using all aluminum coils. However this isn’t a perfect solution as if the Evaporator coil is allowed to freeze due to improper maintenance (changing filters among other things) the aluminum can crack or tear causing Freon leaks.

Other problems that cause Freon leaks are… vibration, dissimilar metals contact, improper installation and or maintenance of the equipment, and other forms of corrosion such as:

Uniform Corrosion
General corrosion, or uniform corrosion, occurs in the solutions where pH is either very high or very low, or at high potentials in electrolytes with high chloride concentrations. In acidic (low pH) or alkaline (high pH) solutions, the aluminum oxide is unstable and thus non-protective.

Galvanic Corrosion
Economically, galvanic corrosion creates the largest number of corrosion problems for aluminum alloys. Galvanic corrosion, also known as dissimilar metal corrosion, occurs when aluminum is electrically connected to a more noble metal, and both are in contact with the same electrolyte.

Crevice Corrosion
Crevice corrosion requires the presence of a crevice, a salt water environment, oxygen (Fig. 1). The crevice can result from the overlap of two parts, or gap between a bolt and a structure. When aluminum is wetted with the saltwater and water enters the crevice, little happens initially. Over time, inside the crevice oxygen is consumed due to the dissolution and precipitation of aluminum.

The nature of the HVAC installation business is to get 3 quotes and then go with the cheapest bid of those three quotes. Many of these problems of HVAC equipment failures can be minimized by choosing a licensed HVAC contractor professional such as myself that does “ALL THE WORK”… but no, the HVAC industry would like you to believe in heavily advertised gimmicks that one AC brand is some how superior over another because of the name on the side of the unit regardless “who” puts the system in or works on it. I like to call this syndrome: “The invisible cost of being foolish.”

There is no perfect air conditioner, they all break at some point. But you magnify these kinds of problems even more in whom you choose to be your home comfort provider or AC repair man. The easy way out is to blame the HVAC manufacturer and while they could be blamed to a degree the amount of that blame in my opinion is in the realm of 5%.

How can I say this? As of 2015 I have installed over 7 different brands of air conditioning equipment with equipment failure rates less than 3%. If you put your trust in a name brand and a low, low price don’t expect a miracle. The flip side is a higher price with multiple hands or multiple techs that install the AC system. There’s an old saying that goes like this: “too many cooks in the kitchen, spoil the broth.” How do you suppose this ‘special broth’ relates to air conditioning installation problems?

There’s a reason you found this blog article. Please heed the warning and choose wisely.

The other part of the blame game not mentioned here is equipment bashing because of the brand name of a specific piece of air conditioning equipment. To this day this AC brand name bashing typically refers to the skill level of the HVAC company you are using. If an HVAC service company can’t fix “xyz” AC brand of course they will bash it, because there is no other way.

When considering the above comments of repairing ANY Air Conditioning Brand it is understood I am talking about AC systems that are less than 15 years old and / or worth repairing or fixing.

About the author of this post:
My name is Ray Austin. I am the owner and operator of Austin Air Companie, a HVAC Service Company serving Katy, Texas | Cypress, Texas and some surrounding areas. I am a Texas Licensed HVAC Contractor with over 20 years experience in Air Conditioning and Heating Systems. I hold an AOS degree in HVAC/R, EPA universally certified to handle any refrigerant and NATE certified in HVAC installations and repairs.

Austin Air Companie
832~475~6895
“Your home comfort from A to Z”
Air Conditioning | Controls | Heating | Zoning

For more information you can always visit me on my main website @
www.austinairco.com

Better Stuff. Done Right. On Time. Guaranteed.