SoapZone Community Message Board

So last week I was lying in bed and heard what I *thought* was the unit in the basement just making a weird noise, like it wasn't shutting off or something. I thought "that doesn't sound right" and contacted the previous owner to see when she had last had the HVAC system serviced. No idea when that was, but it wasn't this year. 😐 I had mine serviced right after we moved out and even had a repair done on it.

I first contacted the company I had a contract with at the condo and they never got back to me, so I went with the company I had from 2007-2021. The only reason I left them is that when I needed a new unit the new company was like $2500 cheaper. I didn't like the new company technicians as much, though.

Anyway, they came out to do maintenance on Tuesday. The guy said everything looked great. I told him about the weird noise, he said it was probably the outside unit, not the inside. He went and looked at it and said "it looks fine". I agreed to their service contract, he left.

Yesterday when I went to start getting ready for work I saw the thermostat said it was 78 degrees. We keep it set at 74 degrees, which is what the previous owner had set. And it is usually COLD in there. In fact, the other night I had to wear a sweater in the basement. For the first few weeks we were there, we couldn't figure out how to cancel the schedule and the previous owner had it go down to 72 at night and we were freezing. I leave for work, came home at 11 and it was 80 degrees in the house. Mr. Kris had not noticed. He was folding laundry in the basement and watching a movie. I went to check on Jack (and give him his antibiotic because he caught strep throat from a kid at his sleepover Friday night 🙄). His room was HOT. I turned on the fan, opened the windows, and gave him his meds. He was so sweaty I checked his temp because I thought it might be a fever. I went and opened a ton of windows and luckily it's been great weather here so we were fine overnight.

The guy came back out this morning, I had made a video of what the outside unit was doing at night and showed it to him (he said "I wish it had done that while I was here" like I hadn't TOLD him it sounded off). He went and added refrigerant to it ($200) and then gave me an estimate to fix it, saying that the line seemed clogged? I don't know exactly. The estimate to fix it is $2k. He was also pushing that I should maybe replace the unit. I told him I'd think about it.

Had a guy come out today from the local energy company and give a quote. He says the furnace is fine and should last several more years, but if the a/c is shot then it would be $7k for a Carrier and $9k for a Trane system. He also recommended having a technician from somewhere else come out and do a second opinion, so someone is coming tomorrow to look at the unit. It's $100 but if the unit just needs a part it's worth it.

Oh and the original company is supposed to come Tuesday to give a quote. The tech told me not to turn the a/c on, just to leave the fan circulating. So hopefully the weather will stay nice until then!!!

And the people I have the contract with at the condo still haven't gotten back to me. 🤷🏻‍♀️ guess they don't want money!