Are these worth the ~$75 or so to have done? My furnace and A/C are fairly new(er) <10yrs and I’m just wondering if I should have someone out for a visit. Recommendations?
Last night we put the central air back on and my wife found a good sized puddle underneath the furnace this morning.
You should have it cleaned/inspected every couple years if you’re not doing it yourself. I watched how they cleaned mine and what the inspected the first time and have been doing it myself since.
I do heating and air conditioning.
boilers need more maintenance, but a regular furnace you can clean the flame sensor(not with sandpaper), make sure the burners are clean.
you probably have a condensate drain clogged and its leaking water.
Ive never had mine cleaned. My brother has been doing furnace and a/c for over 15 years and says its a waste of money. If your worried about it just clean off any dust on the heat ex changer and see if you can see any cracks when it fires up.
As far as the leak you need to check the drain line.
Probably should schedule someone to check my Steam boiler has been check since I moved in 2010, was installed new 2009.
I had my boiler serviced last year and it’s made a world of difference. Runs quieter, smoother and more efficient. Not to mention, when the ECU went to shit…they covered the part and repair for free.
Speaking of heating source - what is considered the best heating source for a home that is energy efficient and cost effective. Say you wante dto do a new build and the owner had a choice for HVAC.
Natural gas is the best energy value, if you burned oil a heatpump would help ave some cash but once it’s below 30 you wouldn’t get good heat from the heatpump.
Natural gas is definitely your best bet. It’s SO much cheaper than propane or fuel oil. People using anything else in our climate are doing it because they don’t have access to natural gas.
Boiler vs forced air are about the same efficiency wise but have much different pros and cons. Personally I’d never build without having central air so I’d go forced air heat. Radiant heat is more steady and comfortable but then I’d have to run an entirely separate system for AC, basically paying to install 2 full systems. Not only is that expensive to initially install but you’re going to be paying to maintain the two the life of the house.
I’ve never been a fan of the $70 tune up special just for the fact that any well known company will charge $100 right off the bat to come out and look at your system. I would rather pay someone the $100 to come and not give me the run around on why I need to spend $30 more because they found an “issue”. They might still try to charge me for something, but I haven’t really had to deal with that yet.
The last place to come out got just a few weeks ago, they fixed my boiler and cleaned the pilot light assembly, but after they left, I noticed a strong odor of burnt gas. I went and checked the unit and the flame was way too high. Called them up and they send another guy out @ no charge to adjust it and now I’m good to go.
++ I love radiant heat but in a new build I would always go forced air due to cost of maintaining two systems steming from the desire for Central AC. God do I miss central AC, really keep considering putting a minisplit system in my house.
You’ve got to get a company you trust either way. Just as much risk that the guy doing the $100 checkup is going to rip you off as the guy doing the $70 one.
Understood. I guess I just assume that those companies are looking for someone they can sell parts to that doesn’t know the difference. If I know they charge $100 just to come out, why spend the $70?
Natural gas is the way to go. My parents use heating oil and its usually 2-3 times what I spend a month
A big reason is the sticker they slap on your furnace. When it dies on a cold night are you more likely to pick a number at random out of the phone book, or go with the company you had a good experience with doing a cleaning/tuneup who’s number is right there on the side of your furnace?
Yup, I bought this house with the boiler already installed. When it kept going out on me in the middle of the night, I called the sticker number since they already had the info on record. She told me straight up, it would cost $100 to come just to look at it. If that’s the case, how is anyone making money charging $70? Me thinks that they are going to pick it up on the back end when they find something wrong.
I typically use Angie’s List to find businesses when I need one. They also offer coupons to Angie’s List members for discounted service.
As someone who’s been in several sales jobs I’m really surprised you don’t get this. They’re basically covering their costs on the $70 tuneup. The value to them is establishing the relationship. When something big goes, something they’ll make a lot of money fixing, it’s very likely they’ll get the first call because of an existing relationship.
When I had that waterproofing done downstairs by Franks they threw in a free energy audit and heating/cooling tuneup since they also have a heating/cooling division. I was really happy with the waterproofing work so I took them up on it. The guy was totally honest with me, told me my furnace was old and not very efficient but there was nothing wrong with it. He slapped his Franks Heating/Cooling sticker on and that was that. I guarantee had my furnace stopped working and it wasn’t something I could fix they would have got my business. That’s where they get the value.
Now this doesn’t mean there aren’t scumbags out there using the tuneup as a way to sell people shit they don’t need.
Service calls are more expensive after hours… The tech that’s on call is most likely getting overtime so they have to charge more to make money. My company I work for is 69.95 but then at night it would be like 109.95