Did AC contractor do the job right?

[plys]

I recently had the condenser unit replaced on the outside of my rental property. It was hit by a car so the insurance covered everything on the outside of the house. The AC company was sub-contracted by my contractor. Everything seemed fine until we got record breaking heat this summer. The tenant is new so she didn't live there last summer. She called and told me it wasn't keeping up. Her dad looked and there was no filter in the furnace part. I called them right away and it took three weeks and two more heat spells of over 100 degrees for them to finally come out and look at the problem. After looking he called and told me that the evaporator coil and blower needs cleaning. That was going to cost another $500.00 to clean it, and left me a bill for $126.00 for the service call. What I am trying to understand is why didn't they check this while they installed the new unit. Or at least call me and find out if I wanted it checked? They knew it was a rental property, and you never know what you will find when a tenant moves out. Shouldn't they make sure everything is in proper working order after installing a condenser unit. The tell me they weren't told to check any thing so they didn't. I feel if this would have been looked at in the first place it would have saved time and money in the long run. They just turned it on and walked away. I know it would have cost me extra to have this done when the unit was installed, but not nearly as much since he was already there. Now it will be two service calls and time for cleaning. I think this was irresponsible on there part. Kind of like a mechanic fixing a tire with out putting air in it because no one told him to. Their reply is they weren't told to check it so it is my problem. In the mean time my renters have been putting up with this unbearable heat for almost month. Am I wrong in thinking common sense would be to contact me to see if I wanted it checked even though it wouldn't be covered by insurance. Any thoughts?

[sylvester37]

This just goes to show the power of DIY. Don't be afraid to get second (free) opinions from competitors. Those contractors see $$ in your eyes every time you call.

[tim]

The heating & cooling company is run by a bunch of charlatans. This is definitely a "cheating and fooling" company!

[adamka]

How about you just stop looking for someone to blame. Its YOUR responsibility to make sure the thing has a filter. In the span of 3 weeks you couldn't spend 20 seconds to look? Really?

The service outfit installed a condenser unit,.... don't ask them to do something that is not their responsibility!

Without a filter in it now its so dirty, cleaning the evap and squirrel cage is pretty much a must-do....

Come on. Man up. Its your property. Be responsible.

Yes they did the job right..... but you apparently don't put too much stock in other people's effort. Now their work is wasted due to your neglect.
You cannot expect people to do all of their job(s) and half of yours too.

Now, take yourself over there and clean the evaporator and put in a pleated filter so the new tenants won't have a $500 electric bill.

[mads]

I go along with Polar on this.
The ac company replaced and tested the Condenser which is what their work order said.
I am going give an experienced guess that on a rental property, the tenant is not concerned with a filter.
A system will cool and heat without it so what do they care, really. The filter may have been located indoors anyway so the techs may not have had access, and they didn't have to go indoors.
Would another company suggest that they check out the whole system, sure.
The chances are very good that the evaporator has been dirty for a while and this heat wave exposed any weakness yours or any system has.

[ailwyn]

For one thing, if just the outside unit was replaced, how do we (you) know it is compatible with the indoor system, in particular the evaporator coil. Depending on how old the evaporator coil is, the outside unit (minimum 13 SEER) may not match up to achieve its rated sensible and latent BTU capacity and efficiency. Does the evaporator coil have a fixed orifice metering device or a thermostatic expansion valve (like it should)?

The other thing is if the indoor blower and evaporator coil were really dirty (dirty enough to affect the operation of the system), a good technician would be able to tell there was a problem when he was charging the system with refrigerant. If they measured dry bulb and wet bulb temperatures, took superheat or subcooling temperatures, they would know the blower and evaporator coil were dirty when they installed the condensing unit.

Unfortunately, there are many "technicians" in this trade who aren't as skilled and knowledgeable as they should be and it appears your contractor may have hired the "low bid" HVAC contractor to replace the condensing unit.