Business ProfileforAffordable Aire Heating & Cooling, LLC

Dishonest, not trustworthy, no integrity. Tried to get me to buy a new system for 7,000 when my system was fixed for 38.00 in total parts cost. The technician name was
Tad D***, in which he spent less than 15 minutes on his diagnostic and told me that my fan motor, compressor, and capacitor were broken and it would be cheaper to buy a new unit. But I had a cousin that came to visit me from out of state, which is HVAC certified, troubleshot and diagnosed it for 1 1/2 hours and the only thing was wrong was the 2 capacitors needed to be replaced. And 1lb of refrigerant and my AC has been working really right every since. I would not recommend Action Aire/Tad D*** to anyone.

As is often the case, not all the facts are being presented here. I certainly spent more than 15 minutes at the home. The compressor was drawing "locked rotor amperage" (LRA), an amount of amps that, per the manufacturer, means the compressor is locked up, which it was at that time. As I told Mr. D********, the compressor was very hot, and after it cooled down it might possibly start up again, but there was no was to know until it cooled off, which could take quite a while. Before I even gave that diagnosis, I had found the bad capacitor he refers to, and installed a new one to try to get the unit going (when it showed the LRA, I removed the new capacitor and didn't charge for it). Also, the condenser fan motor was not operating (it was hot as well), and the unit appeared to be low on refrigerant. Given the age of the unit (we originally installed it for a prior owner back in 2005) and the number of issues it had, I DID recommend replacement versus repair. However, I also gave him options for repair. Since it is an American Standard brand unit, it uses a proprietary compressor that is more expensive than a generic one, and the other parts, such as a coil (which is the most frequent location of refrigerant system leaks) are also more expensive than many other brands. I believe that I told him that if both the compressor and a coil had to be replaced, the repair costs could easily exceed $3500 or more, not even taking into account the fan motor and capacitor, and any other problems that might reveal themselves after those components were replaced. I also gave him an option (if the compressor and fan motor would restart after cooling off) of adding refrigerant leak sealant to the unit, but that there is no guarantee with that (the manufacturers won't guarantee it, so we can't either). Then there is the issue of refrigerant; if I recall correctly, the unit uses R-22, which is no longer being manufactured, becoming increasingly difficult to obtain, and has shot up in price dramatically. As of writing this, we charge $110 per lb. for genuine R-22 (there is no "drop-in" replacement for it), while many of our competitors are charging $150-$200 per pound. I shared all of this information with Mr. D********; given the information, he agreed with me that it probably didn't make sense to put a lot of money into a 16 year old unit. Again, I made it clear that we could attempt repairs, but that I felt that it didn't make economic sense, given the problems that the unit had. I also gave him the option of doing a refrigerant leak search on the unit, but that it would be an additional charge. I told him a new unit would be approximately $6500-$7500, dependent upon what efficiency level he chose. I charged him our standard $60 diagnostic fee (which I had made clear to him during our initial phone conversation), but offered that if he bought a new system from us we would credit that amount toward the purchase price. We agreed that I would send him an estimate by email, which I did, and for which he thanked me in a reply email, saying he would get back to me. That was the last I heard before I was notified of this review.

I am happy for Mr. D******** that his cousin was able to get the unit going for him. It's quite possible that, by that time, the compressor and fan motor had cooled off, and were able to restart. Please note that it is stated he replaced the capacitor (which I had diagnosed as faulty) and had to add refrigerant (which I had also pointed out). However, nothing is stated about the cousin finding and repairing the refrigerant leak. Leaks don't repair themselves-if he didn't find and repair it (which as I stated, could've required a coil changeout), then it is very likely it will leak down again, if it hasn't already. Since the refrigerant also acts as a coolant for the compressor, every time the unit is run while it is low on refrigerant risks damage to compressor (and is most likely why it was drawing LRA when I was there). And any time an electric motor such as the compressor and fan motor overheat enough to shut down, damage is likely occurring. Given that this has been a fairly mild summer overall, and we are going into fall, that may not be noticed immediately, but will likely result in higher heating bills, since the refrigerant is used for both heating and cooling in a heat pump like this.

While I try not to take things like this personally, I view the comments Mr. D******** made as a personal attack. I have been in business over 20 years, and know you can't please everyone, but I feel the comments he made here are inaccurate, inappropriate, and uncalled for. It should also be noted that he posted this on 9/1/21, more than 3 months after I was at his home. He is welcome to his opinion. I have a lot of customers who would argue with him on that, and won't use anyone else; some of them wait for days if we're backed up, because they don't trust anyone else. I'll let that speak for itself.

At the end of the day, the company did not conduct a proper diagnostic and it was easier and more beneficial to them to charge me for a new unit versus doing a good troubleshooting and fix the problem to save me the customer money.