Do you pay for yearly maintenance checks on your rental Heat/Air units or wait until they fail?

Question

Each year I tell myself I'm going to get my rental unit heat and air units inspected by a professional, but I never do.  I have been taking the approach of only getting them serviced when they fail.

Do you pay for yearly service checks on your rental HVAC's?

My position is that I feel I'm going to get screwed out of a few hundred bucks a unit per year of unnecessarily expenses.

Joel Owens · Answer

I have a maintenance guy on my apartment buildings change the filters once a month.

You really do not need what I call a "retail checkup".These are big companies with big expenses and they need the retail jobs to tread water.

I have found independant guys with their own companies can do repairs for 50% less and are just as good.You just have to really look around to find them and not call a company out of the phone book.

I have seen some units last 30 years and keep going.I would be more worried about pre-mature failure from non-optimal installation of the product.I see that happen much more than a quality product installed properly failing on you.

I can tell you owning apartment buildings that if you paid retail to get stuff done you would be crushed with expenses.If you are going to do HVAC care and things like that then run those numbers and account for them BEFORE you buy.Don't try to add it later as it will crush your returns.

David Wedemire · Answer

Whether you do it yourself or hire someone, you have to do some form of preventative maintenance. Just like the Fram commercial. Pay me now or pay me later.

David Belote · Answer

I leave extra return filters in the hope that they will get used and the tenant will change regularly, I don't service regulary but it's a good idea just use someone you trust and you even can meet them for the service.

Ed O. · Answer

In 8 years, I have never had a pro do this. I am trained in HVAC, so I have some decent knowledge about the systems, etc. Here is all you need to do:
Change the air filters at important times. At the start of when tenants will be running the A/C, at least once more in the middle of that season (3 months max), and then sometime right before winter.. This is at a minimum. Dirty filters cause probably 25-50% of hvac issues in rental homes... it restricts the airflow, causing equipment to fail or not work correctly. Also, get the cheap fiberglass filters. The higher end pleated ones will require more frequent changing and more $$. Change them yourself. Tenants rarely will. 
The other thing is to keep brush, grass and anything else away from your condenser (A/C). Spray it periodically with vegetation killer and cut back and remove any brush that encroaches on them. This, again, allows for sufficient airflow for that unit to work properly. 
I have used this approach for years and have had reliable system operation for years. Also, A/C's are much more likely to fail than furnaces. They're run a lot harder, under extreme conditions and sometimes the units just can't take it. If I paid a service person to service each unit annually vs the system I use now, I'd be out a ton of money. Not worth it in my book.

Marian Smith · Answer

I blow in a ton of insulation to reduce the workload.  Then I wait for problems.  I had my A/C guy look at units in two properties when I bought the properties and then had problems months later.  So it didn't seem to prevent anything.  So I hose off my outdoor condensers' fins and spray for ants and have been changing filters for my tenants every few months.  I will have the freon checked every two years if there are no problems. But so far I have problems and I have everything checked out or cleaned then.

Scott J. · Answer

Funny you bring up this issue. I work for a major publicly owned utility company in CA and just helped with a report on this topic. We were more focused on HVAC units in commercial buildings, but our analysis showed it was significantly cheaper to have scheduled inspections done by a certified contractor than to fix as problems arise. (I can scrounge up the exact cost comparison if anyone is interested.)

Think of it like a car. It's a lot cheaper to fix little things as you go along then to wait until it doesn't work and buy new.

Matt R. · Answer

I'd be interested if anyone has numbers to show which is better.

Personally I'm a 'stitch in time' kinda guy but...I'm also careful with money.
So, I prefer to have them checked once a year (rather than the twice a year that the AC guys recommend).  I figure it will catch anything major and prevent my tenants getting stuck with no AC at the most inconvenient time.
I also believe it will help keep them running longer if they're maintained - so it's pay a little now or pay a lot later if they are poorly maintained and fail.