About Tim McAuley Expertise can answer general questions on air conditioning & heating. cannot answers questions on appliances.
Experience 19 yrs wholesale distribution of refrigeration & A/C equipment and related parts, 1 yr manufacturers representative for air conditioning & heating equipment, 10 yrs manufacturers of A/C & Heating equipment, 3 yrs with contractors as a mgr of service & sales. Currently employed with a manufacturer of heating & cooling thermostats for residential and light commercial applications.
Education/Credentials high school, some college. Many industry related schools & seminars, manufacturers education programs.
Question I received a proposal to install a central air unit at a new jersey seashore vacation house, about 1,800 square feet. The contractor wants to install a Bryant 123AAV030 13 SEER Puron Condensor and a Bryant Air Handler FYANF036.
He will reclaim Freon, disconnect and dispose old unit, install a new line set from attic to condenser, install a new emergency pan and drain, install new HoneywellPro 5000 thermostat. Not included in charge of $5,300 are the permit charges, painting, patching, ventilation work. All work that cannot be forseen will be addressed prior to undertaking. There is no mention of BTUs, coil SEER if different than the compressor ( I only mention that because that once was an issue with another unit I purchased 8 years ago in my regular home). Should there be more in this proposal? The price seems reasonable, but I don't know if I know enough to make that assessment. Does anything unusual jump out? This company has been reliable in doing my plumbing work in the past and I assume that he has made the proper calculations. Thank you for your time.
Answer Brian - I don't know the Bryant numbers off the top of my head, but it looks like he proposing to install a 2.5 ton condenser (nominal 30,000 BTU's) with a 3 ton evap coil. This is not unusual except that 2.5 tons for 1,800 sq ft seems a little short to me.
1) Ask him if he ran a load calculation, either manual or software generated, on this house. If so, ask him to show it to you.
2) Is he expecting you to pull the permit, paint & patch? What if he accidently puts a hole in your ceiling? Will he be responsible for that or will he point to his proposal and say that he's not liable.
3) He also states that he is excluding "ventilation". Haas he explained what he means by that. He's probably saying that if he finds any ductwork problems, he will have to charge you for them. He should have inspected the ductwork prior to giving you his proposal/quote and included any problems he found during his inspection in his quote.
4) His thorough inspection of the house prior to giving you his quote should have revealed any "...work that cannot be foreseen...". I understand him including this statement in his quote, so I hope he's not setting you up for additional charges for things that he should have noted during his inspection.
5) He should provide you with information showing the matchup he is proposing to assure you that he's installing what he says he's installing.
I know I sound a little suspicious but I know not everyone is on the up & up. All these requests are reasonable from a consumers standpoint.
I suggest you get another quote if possible. Ask for a completed load calculation for this house up front.
Make sure the contractor you use is state licensed and properly insured. You might even check w/the BBB and state contractor licensing board to see if there are any complaints against the company you choose to do the work. The contractors should readily give you their license number if it is not already listed on their quote.
Also:
* Ask what the equipment warranty is and get it in writing.
* Ask the contractor what his labor warranty is. You might even negotiate an extra year labor out of him.
* Ask the contractor to include a free heating season start up to make sure the heating part of the system functions properly.
