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Home Repair Anyone else having issues with their ac unit keeping up with this heat?

Discussion in 'Homeowners Corner' started by L0stS0ul, Aug 15, 2016.

  1. L0stS0ul

    L0stS0ul hmmmm

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    4 years ago we bought a brand new Carrier system from Climatic for the upstairs unit after the builder Goodman unit died. About 3 weeks ago we noticed hot air coming out of the vents so I called up Climatic. After the initial $200 visit, which was for cleaning out the rust inhibitor which our system does not have, I'm told the 4 year old coil is bad and needs to be replaced for $830.

    So, I apparently need another $830 on top of the $200 already spent in repairs for labor to replace the coil. I decided to wait as the weather at the time was in the low 80's and see how the unit does when the heat gets really bad. It was keeping up fine during that time.

    Over the last week, for testing, I have kept both AC units set to 72 degrees in the house. The main unit (goodman) has easily maintained the 72 degrees on the main floor and basement. The upstairs unit has struggled and ran constantly for the last week but has been able to keep the upper floor around 76 degrees. Over the past week that is around a 20 degree spread.

    The diagnostics the tech did says my unit is not functioning properly due to the coil but I have been told that these new units only guarantee a 20 degree spread. Is that true? If the 20 degree spread is the case then I think the unit is working about as good as it should. That's not to say I don't expect better. My point of reference is the Goodman unit we had for 12 years. It cooled the upstairs better when it was working properly.

    A potential $1000 repair for a 4 year old system is disappointing to say the least. Beware if you buy from Climatic that the warranty (at least 4 years ago) was only 1 year labor 5 years parts. It should be 10 on the parts according to Carrier's website but I have not been able to confirm that either way thru Climatic. Note that 1 year labor is the bare minimum Carrier requires for all install partners. I would negotiate that if you can if you have to replace a unit. My father just had a new American Standard unit installed with 5 years parts and labor from a different installer. When my big unit dies the labor warranty will be my number 1 question and I will not be going with Carrier again. This unit has been disappointing all around.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2016
  2. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    That warranty info seems very very low. I know when we replaced our first system about 8 years ago, Carrier was 10 yrs, but not labor included. Then later, they had boosted it to include labor too. I now have two carrier systems that are probably 8 and 5 years old without problems. Did you buy the infinity systems or something lower end? Maybe it's a heatpump and not a regular ac system and that's why the warranties are different?

    Email Sonny at Climatic, he is generally very responsive and customer focused - Sswann@climaticva.com I'd ask him to pull your file, clarify your warranties and how to reconcile what you are getting from Climatic vs what you see from Carrier.
     
  3. L0stS0ul

    L0stS0ul hmmmm

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    Thanks for the info Steve,

    I've been doing a lot of research and calling around and it does seem I messed up on this warranty. We were in a spot when we had to have it replaced so just went with the popular choice on the forums at the time without calling around or paying much attention to the warranty. That is totally my fault and something I will NEVER do again. It's a mid range carrier unit I believe right below the infinity. We didn't opt for the top of the line as it was not really recommended for our home. The parts, from what I'm told are completely warrantied. It's just no labor at all.

    None of the manufactures require installers to warranty for more than a year for labor but only the smaller installers tend to do that. A fact even the lady's at climatic told me when I questioned all of this. I checked all of our paperwork from the installation and what the "office" says is correct. We have a "customer protection plan" but it only covers labor for 364 days after installation. It says 5 years parts warranty and in our case it ends in 2017. All of this is the bare minimum required by Carrier and based off the fact that Climatic is a factory installer we should have the 10 year part warranty without having to do anything.

    That said the "office" keeps telling me 5 years and have not been helpful at all. Pretty much a oh well, it is what it is and be lucky the quote you have doesn't include the coolant. They will never be getting more money from me. I feel like I've been taken for $200 already as that "diagnostic and cleanser" was not for this system. It's for 2013-2014 units that have the rust inhibitor and apparently Carrier requires this service before they will repair the coil or valve. Our's is a 2012 unit. The "office" tells me that they will not roll that $200 in to the $830 repair that I'm pretty sure I don't need anymore.

    The day of the hot air coming from the ducts we had a power outage in the morning. Several flickers and about a minute off. Maybe the system hiccuped but fixed itself because by the time the tech came in the afternoon the unit had started cooling about 30 minutes before he showed up. He did some diagnostics and checked things out and wanted to come back a few days later. That day it still wasn't hot but he said the unit was still showing abnormal but wanted to check again when it was hotter but to be ready to replace the coil. I decided to wait on having the coil replaced or even have them look at it again until the unit failed. Today the unit had no problem maintaining 76 degrees in the house so I'm pretty sure it's fine.

    I've been told by the tech that Sonny was informed of the situation. I've been very clear with the "office" how dissatisfied I am with all of this. In the end I messed up and took a crappy warranty. Won't happen again though and Climatic won't be getting any more of my money.
     
    Last edited: Aug 15, 2016
  4. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Sorry to hear.. I would go right to the source and the guy with the say to make changes or not.. vs being relayed through people that just seem interested in the status quo.

    The reason I like Climatic is because Sonny has been very direct and up front with us. In our first go around I had shopped around and I brought up the warranty delta as a dealbreaker and he countered with something to make the deal. He was also very much on top of ensuring the install matched our conversations. In our second dealing, he made it very easy for us, and again made the efforts to ensure delivery was up to the promises. In my limited service encounters, he's been supportive and not fleecing in any way at all.

    I'm not saying they can rewrite the past, or will fall on the sword to the point of no pain for you - but if you are interested in just cutting the chase and getting closure one way or another. I'd contact Sonny directly. Get it right from the horse's mouth and negotiate with the right people.

    Good luck with your system!
     
  5. vacliff

    vacliff "You shouldn't say that."

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    Do you have an attic fan? Several years ago, we noticed the upstairs unit could not keep up during a hot stretch of weather..
    We installed an attic fan and have never had that problem again.
     
  6. L0stS0ul

    L0stS0ul hmmmm

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    We do have an attic fan but when I went up in the attic with the tech it was not functioning. I checked it and it appears that two of the blades contacted the housing and bent the blades blowing a fuse somewhere. It was installed by van metre and have not been successful in finding the fuse after fixing the bent blades. The fan moves freely after bending the blades back. That one is really odd. I know it was working last year so no clue when this happened. Will replace once it's cooler. Attic fans are a huge help. Was shocked it wasn't working.

    It is possible that failure contributed to the hot air blowing that one day. The unit had no issues maintain 76 today as well and the humidity is in check.
     
  7. Excelsior

    Excelsior Southern Walk||IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO||

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    Down here in the southern part of Broadlands it was so hot that the capacitor blew out on our 12 year-old small Van Metre unit. We called American Home Shield and two days later the repair came out and diagnosed the problem and it was repaired in one hour ($170). We keep lower at 75 and our upstairs at 73 (upstairs has a new Goodman compressor replaced by previous owner in 2013). When it gets super hot, the upstairs cannot keep up. We usually see two or three degrees differential between the setting and what it cools to.

    Thanks for the tip about Climatic. We are considering replacing the older system with one of the Carriers they sell. Maybe we think twice now and pay a few bucks more.
     
  8. Mr Rogers

    Mr Rogers Active Member

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    1) Cold air sinks, so your downstairs unit is helped by your upstairs unit.
    2) The upstairs unit should be bigger than the downstairs, but the geniuses who built our house failed at AC Engineering.
    2) Our bedroom frequently gets up over 82. It always has. It gets pummeled by the intense evening sun.
     
  9. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    Your upstairs unit is never bigger than the lower - it's duct'd to support fewer rooms and less sqft. If sun is the issue, window treatments should knock that down significantly. Also, where is the thermostat vs your bedroom? The system isn't going to cool what it doesn't know is warm...
     
  10. marsasha

    marsasha New Member

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    Less than a year ago I got 2 new AC units and a furnace from Climatic and after reading this discussion pulled out my paperwork. The brochures from Carrier state that there is a 10 yr warranty on parts only if you complete warranty registration within 90 days of purchase. Otherwise it is 5 yrs. No one ever told me about the registration requirement for 10 yrs and I guess I didn't read the Carrier brochure closely enough at the time. I believe I was told the parts warranty was 5 yrs with no mention about the 10 yr Carrier guarantee with registration. The furnace is in the Infinity series and AC in the Performance series but both brochures mention the 10 yr warranty. It would have been nice of them to call attention to the warranty registration requirement unless they simply would rather not have people focus on that. I doubt that they completed the warranty for 10 yrs for the customer since they are quoting 5 yrs. Labor was stated by Climatic as 1 yr unless you negotiated it up front or paid additional--I understood that. Have others been told about the 10 yr warranty from Carrier with registration and actually registered their equipment?
     
  11. flynnibus

    flynnibus Well-Known Member Forum Staff

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    I thought I recall them saying they do the registration for you... But that's memory not a quote :)

    I also remember getting something in the mail about the warranty after the fact
     
  12. CJA

    CJA New Member

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    I bought a new Carrier from Climatic 4 years ago and had to have the capacitor replaced during the heat wave. I too though the parts warranty was for 10 years so I guess I should double check with them on that.
     
  13. jwf

    jwf Well-Known Member

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    I replaced my York units with new ones this year from Cascades. Thank God. House has been perfect so far. My upstairs unit has no problem keeping it at 74 when it was 105 outside. Robert did a great job on the new units.
     
  14. KTdid

    KTdid Well-Known Member

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    Ours is a 16 year old York. Did you replace yours with the same brand/York? Never mind. I see that York is their only brand offered.

    I found this list of brands made by the same manufacturers. It doesn't mean they compare in quality but most will have the same parts and some even roll out of the same plant.

    • Trane, which also makes American Standard
    • Carrier, which owns Bryant, Payne, Tempstar, Day and Night
    • Lennox, which owns Ducane, Armstrong, Concord, Allied and AirEase
    • Rheem, which owns Ruud
    • Goodman, which makes Amana and Janitrol
    • York, which makes Coleman and Luxaire
    • Nortek Global HVAC, which makes Maytag, Westinghouse, Frigidaire, Kelvinator and others
    http://www.consumersearch.com/central-air-conditioners/brands-vs-brands

    My neighbor installed an American Standard and it is so loud it can be heard from our second level so watch your decibels ; even HVACs have a noise rating if that matters to you.
     
    Last edited: Aug 25, 2016
  15. jwf

    jwf Well-Known Member

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    I replaced with the top of the line units. SEER of 17 and the furnaces are 98 percent efficient. They are very quiet too. Can barely hear them run outside.
     

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