All Forum Posts by: Jason Young

@Daniel Guerra

Im hvac contractor I used to do work without having to take a deposit on the job, unfortunately a few bad apples over the years have bounced checks to me or happen to not be at the job and I would have to chase them down to get paid when the project was completed. It just wasted way too much of my time trying to collect. It made me stop doing it at the beginning of this year. What I do now for piece of mind for the customer is I take the deposit it’s usually only the amount what the equipment is (I don’t tell them that) And that day I have the equipment and materials delivered to the job.

@Brad Spuhler

Do you know the brands of the equipment they are quoting? And you should get a few more estimates from lic. Contractors in your area.

@Nick Kimmel

Anytime! there is a ton of misinformation on it out there. A lot of contractors are miss informing people and pushing all new equipment right now because of this.

@Nick Kimmel

There are a few different drop ins for r-22 most use either nu-22 which is a direct drop in but you can’t mix with the old r-22.

The other popular one is 407c it also can’t be mixed with the old r-22 in the system and you have to add some Poe oil to the oil in the system.

Neither are supposed to be used to just top off a system if you are a couple pounds low. You are supposed to remove all the old r-22 then put the replacements in. R-22 will still be around for quite awhile there is quite a stockpile built up of it. Sure it will go up in price but if you spring a big leak or need a coil changeout just use a drop in. So I would just ride out your r-22 equipment until you have a major breakdown and update at that time.

There are other options out there these aren’t the only ones. Just giving you some examples.

@Doug Phillips

You can get a discount at Lowe’s go to the contractor sales checkout it’s in the back of the store behind the lumber dept. (well it is at my Lowe’s) go in and setup a account with them.

@Christina Potosnak

The difference in a heat pump and a reg. Cond. the easiest I can explain it is with a normal condenser the tenant will still just have electric heat if that’s the furnaces your choosing with a heat pump the heat pump will make heat in the winter time but will also have electric heat as a backup heat for when it gets really cold and has to help the heat pump it’s cheaper to run the heat pump than just electric heat strips all the time the only real difference in a heat pump and a reg. Condenser is the heat pump has a reversing valve and a defrost control board inside of it. The reversing valve changes the flow of refrigerant making the outside coil the evaporator and the inside unit the condenser coil. The defrost board comes into play when the temps are really cold and damp the outside unit will start to freeze up and the defrost board will stop the outdoor fan and switch the reversing valve back to cooling mode and bring on the electric heat inside so it doesn’t blow cold air on people inside. It’s kinda hard to explain in typing it out. Heat pumps cost a little to put because of the extra parts but it’s cheaper for the resident on the electric bill in the long run but it does have more parts that break and instead of just running in the summer a heat pump has to run year round summer and winter so will wear out faster than just a reg. Condenser I hope this helps you

@Zach Ballou

The work that he completed satisfactory you need to pay him for the work that your unhappy with make a punch list for him to complete and set a timeframe for him to complete since the job is dragging out. Next time write a contract and have penalties for work that isn’t completed on time.

@John Dellingerare

I’m a hvac contractor and when I bid a job for updating or a changeout, I always tell the customer to get other bids, and if one beats mine to just make sure we bidding on the same playing fields ... meaning equipment efficiency ratings. I usually really stress the fact they should get other bids to my customer. So from a contractor standpoint he shouldn’t be offended at all.

@Shane Woodman

Was it a lot colder temps than normal sounds like the electric heat was having to run quite a bit if it racked up a extra hundred on the bill that fast. As temps drop heat pumps loose efficiency on the first stage of heat and have to fire the second stage in your case that’s the electric heat. I’m asking if you had really cold weather during that time frame they would of seen a increase in their electric bill anyway because the unit would have been running both stages of heat to keep up with the load of the house. So if it was really cold durning that timeframe the electric heat would of been running anyway. So if that’s the case I would say no I wouldn’t help out with the additional cost because it would of been normal. Maybe even a little cheaper if it was really cold because they weren’t running both stages of heat

@David Wagner

Mines a little different from the others here

How I got my second house was I had a couple acres I had purchased several years ago that had a well and septic and old trailer house on it. I sold the trailer house for just a couple thousand it was really worn down, and not something I wanted to mess with. I started searching for houses to be moved. Once I found a house that I liked I bought it the purchase was 1000.00 the people that owned it were wanting to build a new house on the property and were happy to let it go for that. Then I paid a house mover 5000. To move it and a concrete guy 5000. To do a footing and stem wall and then some contractors to tie in electrical, plumbing I’m a hvac contractor so I did that part all in it cost me about 16k outta pocket for the house to get setup and touched up.