Who here gets their HVAC system inspected on a yearly basis? Is it worth it? Does anyone have experience with Service Experts? They've sent a letter soliciting for a maintenance agreement plan, which the previous home owners had... I'm curious if I should ignore this or add coverage to the house... I do have a pretty high end heating unit and the HVAC is about 3 years old now.

4/6/2010 8:29:46 AM

i wouldn't sign any contracts i didn't have to. just open it up and clean the coil once a year.

4/6/2010 8:46:42 AM

yea you definitely should inspect it yourself at least once a year and they do recommend you clean the evaporator coil though I've always rented so I havent actually done this myself yet. It wouldnt be a bad idea to get a checkup/tuneup every few years if you can find a good deal on one though but I don't know that you need a contract.

[Edited on April 6, 2010 at 9:11 AM. Reason : ]

4/6/2010 9:01:31 AM

I personally think its overkill, and it will only end up costing you more money. They are going to look for problems, and from my experience, most HVAC parts are not serviceable, they are only replaceable.

Keeping your coils clean is great, but depending on the unit, you can probably do this yourself and dont need to pay someone to do this.

4/6/2010 9:25:39 AM

Thanks guys. This is what I figured.

4/6/2010 9:28:39 AM

I've done HVAC service work. The value of the service contract all depends on what you get and for how much. Can you provide details?

4/6/2010 10:27:21 AM

Complete Heating and Cooling System coverage ($429/yr) includes:
Condenser Coil repair: $0
Condenser Fan Motor repair: $0
Replace Circuit Board repair: $0
Blower Assembly repair: $0

Annual tune-ups
Replacement allowance toward a new system
No charge on most parts and labor repairs
Complete coverage for all major components

4/6/2010 11:10:31 AM

Looks more like an insurance plan to me.

Might be worth it depending how old your unit is.

You should find out how long the manufacturer warranty is on your major components, and base your decision on if the parts are still under warranty or not.

$400+ is a lot. Its seems that pretty much the two major repairs on an HVAC are coils and compressor, and seem to run about 1200 each for basic systems. I ran into replacing coils, but had I been paying insurance on it, I still wouldnt have saved (would have cost me a lot more).

4/6/2010 1:05:33 PM

^^^What do you think about this one (check the ETA at the bottom first)?

$109 a year (for two units)
-5% repair discount
=3% replacement discount
-One yearly maintenance:
--insp indoor and outdoor coils
--insp safety components
--insp blower assembly
--insp heat exchanger
--proper voltage
--insp air filter
--correct refrigerant charge
--insp motors and contactors
--insp elec connections


We've got a new first floor unit outside (bought last fall), and the upstairs is getting old (12 years). It was charged up a few times over the past three years and the coil froze up a couple times last August. The compressor has a hard start on it. In my head I'm gonna be replacing that one soon. We had a biannual maintence (no contract) with Airmaker's up until last Fall and now it's time to pay for this year or not.


ETA:

http://www.airmakers.com/promo/Bronze.pdf
http://www.airmakers.com/promo/Silver.pdf


Here's the two I'm considering. I'd say I was leaning towards Silver. Which isn't all that stuff I typed out up there.

4/6/2010 1:20:45 PM