2019 AHR Expo

Just returned from attending the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Expo held in Atlanta Georgia.  Some of the biggest names in the HVAC industry, such as Carrier, Trane, and York, were in attendance.  Along with cooling and heating equipment, those manufacturers that make specialty items such as boilers, compressors, piping, controls, motors and refrigerants were also in attendance.  Visitors, as well as vendors, came from all over the world to see new product lines as well as to showcase their products.  The trend, as has been the case for several years now, is to make machines more energy efficient.  Incorporating electronics to measure different parameters such as temperature and pressure, is now routinely done.  Depending on the type of equipment, manufacturers are also offering options on how the equipment is monitored.  Some owners prefer to let their on-site personnel keep up with the operation of their equipment while others are connected by internet to a servicing agency.

No matter how efficient or how well built a machine is, it will eventually fail.  Hopefully, when it does, there won’t be any property damage or personal injury.  But if there is,  the information collected during the Expo on various products will be invaluable in helping to determine the cause of failure and subsequent damage.  More specifically, the literature can be used to help identify a machine by model number, determine the pressure limitations, or establish the power requirements.

Beware of Dishonest A/C Dealers

From time to time we have reported on air conditioning companies that are less than honest in their dealings with the public. Recently, we had a case where a homeowner had some wood siding replaced with a masonry exterior. During the installation process, some refrigerant lines were punctured by nails from a nail gun. The refrigerant subsequently leaked from two systems and wasn’t discovered until warm weather arrived and the cooling units were needed. According to the dealer, the compressors in both systems were damaged as a result of the refrigerant leak and subsequently justified the replacement of both split systems. Both systems were replaced at a cost of $12,000. However, upon investigating, the cost of repairing the damage and placing both systems back into operation was found to have been much less than the cost of installing two new split system heat pumps. The cost to repair was estimated at approximately $2000. In short, the insurance carrier for the masonry company was only willing to pay for the cost of repair, not the replacement. Since the homeowner had approved the installation, the homeowner was responsible for the additional cost of the installation above the cost of repair. It is unfortuunate, but, there are dealers out there and when they smell an insurance claim, there prices tend to escalate accordingly. Before, agreeing to any kind of replacement, get several estimates for comparison. That way, if you, the homeowner, have to pay anything out of pocket, you can at least have some warnning rather than a rude awakening.