*I once got a phone call from a man who had a broken central air system. It was under a year old, so he asked me about the parts & labor warranty. I told him that most contractors warranty their work for up to one year, so in order to get free labor on repairs he would have to contact the contractor who installed his system.
He told me his Uncle Ned put it in, but moved to West Virginia. I had to break the bad news that only Uncle Ned can warranty the labor costs.
Most of the brands Integrity Air installs(Trane, Amana, Goodman) have parts warranties of 5 years and longer. We also warranty our work on both installations and repairs for one year. And we have no plans to move to West Virginia.
*I once got a phone call from a new homeowner who was having trouble with his central air system. Since it was installed less than six months ago when the home was built, the homeowner never saw the air conditioning contractor. He eventually was able to find the installer.
This is why Integrity Air always leaves a business card sized magnet with our number on the air handler or refrigerator so that there will be no question as to whom to call for air conditioning service.
*I once got a phone call from a lady who was shopping around for a new outdoor section to her home central air system. Her old outdoor unit was stolen. She said that the repairman told her that he would have to take the unit back to the shop to repair it.
Apparently this repairman was not in the phone book, so she had no idea how to track her old system down. To the best of my knowledge, there is no situation where a legitimate contractor would need to take your air conditioner away in order to fix it.
Like all professional repairs done in your home, it is always good to make sure that your air conditioning contractor is properly licensed by the state of Florida.
Or call Integrity Air at 932-2665 for your heating, cooling and air quality needs.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Thursday, December 4, 2008
December Internet Special
$300 off the installation of a new Mitsubishi Mini-Split.Ideal for cooling an added room or an enclosed porch.
Mention this ad when you call.
Offer expires December 22.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
November Internet Special
Before The First Cold SnapInspection of your heating system
req $89 now $59
Expires November 30, 2008
Our Top Performance customers already enjoy two tuneups per year under our Top Performance Program.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Before You Replace One Section...
...of your central air system.
I was having a conversation the other day with a customer whose outdoor unit failed. Wanting to save a little money, (which is a good thing) he asked me about replacing the outdoor unit only.
Under normal circumstances this would be a good idea. But these are not normal circumstances.
Most older systems use a refrigerant called R-22. By January of 2010 manufacturers will stop selling central air conditioning systems that use R-22. Actually most manufacturers will stop making these systems sooner in order to empty their inventory. The new systems will use a more environmentally-friendly refrigerant called R-410a. Integrity Air has been selling R-410a systems for the past few years in anticipation of this change.
But I digress. The question before us is: What should you do if only one unit of your R-22 split system fails? The problem you have when you only replace that unit is that R-22 systems are not compatible with R-410a systems. If you install a new R-22 outdoor unit and you indoor unit fails around the fall of 2009, their may not be an R-22 indoor section available. You may be forced to replace the entire system with a new R-410a system.
These are some things to consider when shopping for a new system or partial system.
I was having a conversation the other day with a customer whose outdoor unit failed. Wanting to save a little money, (which is a good thing) he asked me about replacing the outdoor unit only.
Under normal circumstances this would be a good idea. But these are not normal circumstances.
Most older systems use a refrigerant called R-22. By January of 2010 manufacturers will stop selling central air conditioning systems that use R-22. Actually most manufacturers will stop making these systems sooner in order to empty their inventory. The new systems will use a more environmentally-friendly refrigerant called R-410a. Integrity Air has been selling R-410a systems for the past few years in anticipation of this change.
But I digress. The question before us is: What should you do if only one unit of your R-22 split system fails? The problem you have when you only replace that unit is that R-22 systems are not compatible with R-410a systems. If you install a new R-22 outdoor unit and you indoor unit fails around the fall of 2009, their may not be an R-22 indoor section available. You may be forced to replace the entire system with a new R-410a system.
These are some things to consider when shopping for a new system or partial system.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Keeping your home comfortable in the fall
Now that the weather is starting to cool, the Tampa Tribune has published some tips on keeping your home comfortable when you are staring to open windows and let air in.
You can read the entire article here, but here are some highlights:
The article says not only to open windows but to use fans for comfort. Jay Hoover, president of Integrity Air, recommends that you be sure to turn off fans when you leave the room to save energy.
The article says that doing laundry at night when it is cooler helps as well as replacing standard incandescent lightbulbs with the new compact flourescent bulbs, which give off much less heat. Compact flourescent bulbs are more energy efficient, give off less hest and last longer. However, they contain mercury, and must be disposed of with care and time of replacement.
Also running the bathroom exhaust fan for 10-20 minutes after a shower will help lower indoor humidity.
You can read the entire article here, but here are some highlights:
The article says not only to open windows but to use fans for comfort. Jay Hoover, president of Integrity Air, recommends that you be sure to turn off fans when you leave the room to save energy.
The article says that doing laundry at night when it is cooler helps as well as replacing standard incandescent lightbulbs with the new compact flourescent bulbs, which give off much less heat. Compact flourescent bulbs are more energy efficient, give off less hest and last longer. However, they contain mercury, and must be disposed of with care and time of replacement.
Also running the bathroom exhaust fan for 10-20 minutes after a shower will help lower indoor humidity.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
The Benefits of Routine Maintenance
I received a phone call from a customer who wanted to know the age of the central air system we in installed in her home.
"This will be easy", I thought. "I'll just pull the invoice from our file."
The invoice wasn't there. Our current customer files only go back to 2000, and it seemed that our customer's system was older than that. So I climbed up into our attic and found the pre-2000 invoices in a box.
Our customer's system was installed in December 1998. The average life expectancy of a central air system is 12-15 years, and this one was nearly 10 years old and remarkably, had never broken down and shows no sign of doing so. I can look at two reasons for this fortune:
1) The customer invested in quality filters and changed them regularly. This is the air conditioning equivalent of brushing and flossing each day. Good filters will help keep your indoor coil clean which helps with indoor air quality and efficiency.
2) This system had regular tune-ups and inspections under our Top Performance Program. We see this system twice a year, so any minor issues get resolved before they become major ones.
Doing this may not guaranty a long life for your system, but the money invested in a regular maintenance program will help your air conditioner run at Top Performance for a long time.
"This will be easy", I thought. "I'll just pull the invoice from our file."
The invoice wasn't there. Our current customer files only go back to 2000, and it seemed that our customer's system was older than that. So I climbed up into our attic and found the pre-2000 invoices in a box.
Our customer's system was installed in December 1998. The average life expectancy of a central air system is 12-15 years, and this one was nearly 10 years old and remarkably, had never broken down and shows no sign of doing so. I can look at two reasons for this fortune:
1) The customer invested in quality filters and changed them regularly. This is the air conditioning equivalent of brushing and flossing each day. Good filters will help keep your indoor coil clean which helps with indoor air quality and efficiency.
2) This system had regular tune-ups and inspections under our Top Performance Program. We see this system twice a year, so any minor issues get resolved before they become major ones.
Doing this may not guaranty a long life for your system, but the money invested in a regular maintenance program will help your air conditioner run at Top Performance for a long time.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Beware of AC Copper Thieves
You’ve probable read or heard on local news that, with the rising price of copper, there is an increase in the theft of central air outdoor units in the Tampa Bay airwaves.
Copper everywhere is at risk of being stolen. Thousands of dollars of damage are done to half-built houses when thieves rip out the walls for a few hundred dollars worth of copper wire.
In the case of central air outdoor units, the places most at risk are abandoned houses and businesses. For example, bars and nightclubs would get hit in the morning or churches would become victimized on weekdays when no one is there.
Many churches have put chain link fences around their outdoor units. Also available are various kinds of alarms (much like home security systems) to notify you when someone is tampering with your outdoor unit.
The sad thing is that many central air contractors acquire scrap copper from old units they have replaced. Some contractors would be happy to freely give these old units to someone who would take them away. Instead, criminals would rather cost a church or business thousands of dollars in damages to steal under $100 worth of copper.
Copper everywhere is at risk of being stolen. Thousands of dollars of damage are done to half-built houses when thieves rip out the walls for a few hundred dollars worth of copper wire.
In the case of central air outdoor units, the places most at risk are abandoned houses and businesses. For example, bars and nightclubs would get hit in the morning or churches would become victimized on weekdays when no one is there.
Many churches have put chain link fences around their outdoor units. Also available are various kinds of alarms (much like home security systems) to notify you when someone is tampering with your outdoor unit.
The sad thing is that many central air contractors acquire scrap copper from old units they have replaced. Some contractors would be happy to freely give these old units to someone who would take them away. Instead, criminals would rather cost a church or business thousands of dollars in damages to steal under $100 worth of copper.
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