Don’t fall for these AC service specials!
What’s going on? Why do some Indianapolis AC service companies insult your intelligence with these gimmicks? Precision Comfort Systems thinks you deserve the truth about these “too-good-to-be-true” air conditioner service special offers.
We think you should know, Noblesville, Carmel, Westfield and Fishers Air Conditioning service companies are not really making a profit when they visit your home for a $29.95 air conditioner clean and check. In fact, some homeowners have discovered they paid this fee to simply become a target of an in-house sales presentation. Is your 10-year-old air conditioner really about to die? Or worse, is your furnace a safety threat to your family? How do you know the truth?
Precision Comfort Systems recommends getting a second opinion. Our experienced technicians each have many stories about inspecting a supposedly condemned furnace and finding nothing wrong. It’s unfortunate, but there are some individuals who think that any furnace over a certain age is not reliable. These technicians (some who may be pressured with a sales quota) create just enough alarm to scare customers into a purchase that may not be needed. Precision Comfort System has no charge for a second opinion. We have been to many homes in the Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers, Carmel and Zionsville area that did not really have a furnace about to blow up. You would be amazed at how many loyal customers we have acquired by simply giving them an honest answer. We would much rather impress you with our honesty than scare you into a sale.
Now let’s have some fun with those ads and give you a little Precision Comfort insight into your junk mail offers:
Free! To the first five people. (The Precision free second opinion is really free. Our other products and services have a fair price. We find it’s hard to pay the best technicians when we hand out free products.)
Truckload over shipment; our mistake, your fortune! (No one really brings in a truckload of anything anymore. Our distributors do most warehousing and they deliver to us every day as sales dictate.)
Cheap and Quick! (Precision Comfort Systems is more the “Fair and Precise” type. Our customers approve of our strategy wholeheartedly.)
Pounds of free refrigerant for your leaky air conditioner. (This is a great one and worthy of more detail. An air conditioner or heat pump should not be administered a compulsory, seasonal shot of refrigerant for good measure. Overcharging is as much a problem as under-charging a system. But what if your system is actually leaking? Shouldn’t you call the company offering free refrigerant? How better for a contractor to identify who needs a new air conditioner or heat pump? If your system is really leaking refrigerant, you likely need a new system, not more refrigerant. They know this. What you need is an honest and precise analysis of your situation.)
AC is now free, you pay installation. (Do advertisers really think that smart customers fall for this?)
Thanks for your continued trust in Precision Comfort Systems.
DIY test: is heat pump causing a high electric bill?
If you receive a high electric bill in the winter and if you heat your Indianapolis area home with an electric heat pump and if you notice your heat pump runs 24/7, you might presume the heat pump is the problem. The trouble is, you normally have to call your heating contractor to see if the heat pump is working properly. Well here is a do it yourself test to check the heat pump, to see if it is working properly. This test is so easy, you will find yourself checking the heat pump operation every time you pass by. It’s almost as alluring as checking wet paint!
Before we start, I suggest you read an earlier blog (follow link) where I explain that it is normal for your heat pump to run non stop in cold weather. But even though your system is supposed to run often, you should know that a heat pump compressor can fail and the outside unit will still appear that it is working since the outside fan is still running. So how do we know the heat pump is doing its thing?
From the link above, you know a heat pump is two to four times more efficient than your backup electric heat. If the heat pump compressor fails, the backup heat takes over, the heat pump fan never shuts off and 6 weeks later you get a high electric bill, three times what it should be.
Here’s how to test if your heat pump is working. The outside unit is connected to the inside furnace by two copper refrigerant lines. One is the size of your thumb, the other the size of your little finger. In the winter, when the outside unit is running, feel the larger of the two copper lines. It is probably covered by a black foam insulation, so you will need to get under this foam to feel the metal pipe. This line should be very warm to the touch. It will not burn you, but on most winter days above 20 degrees, you will want to pull your finger off pretty quick. This pipe is carrying lots of heat. It was robbed from the outside air and is now being sent to your home.
If the line is not hot:
- Is the outside unit running? Can you get it to run by raising the thermostat? Is your thermostat improperly set to emergency heat? If you cannot get the outdoor heat pump to run… and this is a tough one… it’s broke.
- Is the heat pump in a defrost cycle? (That’s when steam is coming off the unit.) If so, wait until it’s done and test later.
- Do you really have a heat pump? (An air conditioner is not supposed to run in the winter.) Call Precision Comfort Systems and let’s get your electric bills cut in half!
If none of the above apply and the copper line is not hot, your heat pump is probably not working. The indoor electric furnace has taken over and this is costing you two to three times what you should be paying. Call Precision Comfort Systems now and we will find out exactly what is wrong.
Repeating from my last blog (but it is very important and worth a second post):
Some nasty advice is given, even among heating contractors who do not know any better, that you can use the emergency heat setting on your thermostat and “give the heat pump a break when the weather gets cold”. Well take it from me. This switch named “em. ht.” is misnamed. It has nothing to do with getting extra heating capacity or being a cold day setting. It should be named, “DOUBLE OR TRIPLE MY BILLS!” When you switch to “em. ht.”, you turn off your heat pump and now the more expensive backup furnace (toaster coils) are heating your home at two to three times the cost. Don’t do this! Allow the heat pump to run and love it. New heat pumps are very efficient and they are designed to run non stop when you need it most so your heating bill is normal. Even older heat pumps are much better than the electric furnace.
If your heat pump is too old, then its ability to move heat may be less than what it should be. Call Precision Comfort Systems, your Central Indiana heat pump specialists, to evaluate your current heat pump. We can tune it up or eventually replace it so you are getting the most from the current heat pump technology.
Is your heat pump running non-stop?
It is worrisome for many homeowners when they realize their heat pump is running all the time. If you live in Central Indiana, or any state with weather similar to Indiana, then you are familiar with your electric heat pump running non-stop on the cold days. If this concerns you, then perhaps your heating contractor is not a heat pump specialist. A heat pump specialist will explain to you the truth: your heat pump is a very efficient means of heating your home and it is designed to run 24/7 during the cold days and nights. Here is the honest science, compliments of Precision Comfort Systems in Westfield, Indiana, your heat pump specialist for all the Indianapolis area.
Unlike a conventional gas, oil or electric furnace that consumes a raw fuel and makes heat, a heat pump is gathering heat from the outside and moving the heat into your home. In the summer, a heat pump reverses the heat moving process and moves unwanted heat from the inside of your home and disperses it outside. Back to winter heating, moving heat takes much less energy than making heat. How much less?
The efficiency of a heat pump is easiest to understand when it is compared to simple electric furnace. Most electric heaters such as your hair dryer, electric stove/oven or portable heater, are similar to what you see in an old toaster; bright red coils. Since electric heat has no combustion exhaust, we gain any heat made by the electric coils so the efficiency is 100%. But straight electric heat is not the most efficient. That is why the electric heat pump is more commonly used when heating homes. The outside portion of your heat pump does not have any electric coils. Instead, it has a compressor motor that captures the heat from the outdoor air. This heat is actually free, but we do pay a bit to move it. For each dollar that you would spend in an electric furnace to get one unit of heat, a heat pump will use the same dollar of electricity and provide up to 3.5 units of heat. As the temperature outside gets colder this efficiency decreases, but it is still a very efficient 2.5 times better than straight electric coils.
So why does my heat pump run non-stop, 24/7?
Your heat pump is sized for your air conditioning needs and in Central Indiana, this means it will not meet all your heating needs. So here is what happens. In outdoor temperatures above 30 degrees, the heat pump should cycle off and on as a normal furnace. Somewhere between 20 and 30 degrees outdoor temperature, the heat pump for your home will reach a “balance point” where the heat needed by the home is equal to the heat moved by the heat pump. So now it will run all the time. As it gets colder than the balance point temperature, the heat pump will continue to run non-stop, and occasionally backup electric coils will supplement the heat pump. But do not be alarmed by this. The heat pump is designed to run continuously to give you as much of the cheap heat as you can possibly get from the unit, in order to minimize the heat made from the backup coils. As long as the heat pump is allowed to run as it is designed, the backup heat will only account for 10% to 15% of the entire Indiana winter heating needs.
Do not turn off your heat pump!
Some nasty advice is given, even among heating contractors who do not know any better, that you can use the emergency heat setting on your thermostat and “give the heat pump a break when the weather gets cold”. Well take it from me. This switch named “em. ht.” is misnamed. It has nothing to do with getting extra heating capacity or being a cold day setting. It should be named, “DOUBLE OR TRIPLE MY BILLS!” When you switch to “em. ht.”, you turn off your heat pump and now the more expensive backup furnace (toaster coils) are heating your home at two to three times the cost. Don’t do this! Allow the heat pump to run and love it. New heat pumps are very efficient and they are designed to run non stop when you need it most so your heating bill is normal. Even older heat pumps are much better than the electric furnace.
If your heat pump is too old, then its ability to move heat may be less than what it should be. Call Precision Comfort Systems, your Central Indiana heat pump specialists, to evaluate your current heat pump. We can tune it up or eventually replace it so you are getting the most from the current heat pump technology.
Part II: How do you know if your heat pump is working properly?
Honest furnace repair in Indianapolis area
If you are looking for honest furnace repair in the Indianapolis area during the Christmas holidays, you would think it should be as easy as reading the advertisements and calling any one of the many HVAC contractors who claim to be the most trustworthy, reliable, honest and overall best heating contractor in Central Indiana. It should be this easy to find honesty, especially during the holidays! But unfortunately, there are a few sales motivated individuals that cause false alarm and thus cast a bit of suspicion across the entire trade.
But first thing is first. If your furnace is not working properly, please have someone check it now. Think about it. What other appliance do you depend on for so much comfort and safety? It must work properly. So if it’s broke, get it fixed!
Now, assuming you have someone in your home for furnace repair, you may be surprised when they say the furnace needs to be replaced. This diagnosis changes a furnace repair bill of a few hundred dollars to a furnace replacement of several thousand dollars. This is not an uncommon occurrence. But are they telling the truth? Most people never know. What should you do?
Precision Comfort Systems recommends getting a second opinion. Our experienced technicians each have many stories about inspecting a supposedly condemned furnace and finding nothing wrong. This is unfortunate, but there are some individuals who think that any furnace over a certain age is not reliable. These technicians who are pressured for sales quotas, create just enough alarm to pressure customers into a purchase that may not have been needed.
Precision Comfort System has no charge for a second opinion. We have been to many homes in the Westfield, Noblesville, Fishers, Carmel and Zionsville area that did not really have a furnace about to blow up. You would be amazed at how many loyal customers we have acquired by simply giving them an honest answer. We would much rather impress you with our honesty today, and then have the opportunity to impress you with our installation skills in the future.
This green heating contractor recycles
You know from reading my blogs that Precision Comfort Systems in Central Indiana (Westfield to be exact) is the largest geothermal, green heating dealer in the state. But that’s not enough green. This green heating contractor takes it one step farther. After you purchase a high efficiency heating or air conditioning system from Precision, know that your old system did not go to a landfill. As a green heating dealer, we recycle!
Here is a picture of our recycle shop. Each week we bring in dozens of old inefficient air conditioners. First the refrigerant is reclaimed (collected for recycling) by a Precision EPA licensed technician. Then the air conditioner and furnace parts are brought back to our in-house recycle program. Different metal components are processed, sorted and then grouped together. Then they are transported to the recycle centers.
We recognize that the most energy efficient customers are those who are investing in geothermal systems and high efficiency furnaces and high efficiency air conditioners. These are the same customers who would insist in the most environmentally sound, sustainable disposal of the old equipment. Precision Comfort Systems could not agree more. Despite the extra time involved, you can be assured that your old air conditioner nightmare that caused you so many problems, was fittingly dismembered and disposed of properly. Who knows, perhaps your old air conditioner will be part of the next windmill project or a solar collector.
Avoid high Propane Prices in Central Indiana
Are you heating your home with propane (LP) gas? Considering the high propane prices in Central Indiana, you need to read this to save some serious money. The current price of LP gas in Hamilton County, Indiana, is around $2.50 per gallon. This can translate into heating costs of $2000 per year! Imagine how far ahead you would be if you could keep $1500 of this expense every year?
Propane heat is one of the most expensive ways to heat your home. But what alternatives do you have? Here is an easy way to make a quick comparison between different heating systems and fuels. From your past heating bills we can estimate how much heat your home needed last winter. The unit of heat we use is called a BTU. (A BTU is a very small amount of heat so you need several million of these BTUs each winter.)
Let’s say your home needed 65 million BTUs last winter. Your 90% LP gas furnace can make one million BTUs for $30.86 if the gas cost is $2.50 per gallon. So your winter fuel bill ends up being about $2000 because 65 million X $30.86 = $2006. Does this unreasonably high propane bill sound familiar?
Geothermal saves $1000 to $2000 per year!
A geothermal heat pump in your home will not change the amount of heat you need. But the geo system can make (actually, move) the same one million BTUs for a mere $7.53 if the cost of electricity is $.09 per kWh. So now your winter heating bill is 65 X $7.53 or $489. Do some quick rounding and you can see about $1500 per year in geothermal energy savings! In a more extreme example, your furnace may only be 80% efficient and your electricity may only cost $.075 per kWh. Now your geothermal heating savings is over $1800 per winter!
And the geothermal air conditioning savings are added to the winter savings!
Precision Comfort Systems will help you with all your options and even update you on the 30% geothermal federal tax credit. We can help you decide if your next propane furnace repair is a wise decision. Maybe it’s better seen as a good opportunity to invest in a new system. Before you spend more money on your next propane tank refill, or your next furnace repair, or even your next air conditioner service, call the heating and cooling specialists at Precision Comfort Systems. 317-867-2665.
Who performs geothermal service is important
Indianapolis area homeowners with a geothermal heating and cooling system, take note. You were very wise when you decided on the very best energy savings investment. But your need to make wise decisions does not end after the initial investment. Who does your seasonal geothermal service is your next most important decision.
Geothermal service is best when it comes from those most experienced in geothermal technology. When you are tempted to change your service source to someone offering a special tune and clean for a very low price, think again. Many advertising savvy heating contractors are not as familiar with complete geothermal service as they are with traditional furnace cleanings.
A geothermal heating and cooling system, as you know, is very different. This high technology, green energy source needs to be seasonally examined by a trained geothermal technician. But let’s face it, there are probably other techs that could show you their class participation certificate. What you are really looking for is the contractor who deals with geothermal service on a daily basis.
Precision Comfort Systems in Westfield, Indiana has installed thousands of geothermal heating and air conditioning systems in Noblesville, Zionsville, Carmel, Fishers and all of the Central Indiana communities. We are frequently called on to diagnose a geothermal problem that another contractor could not resolve. These customers are lucky that their problem was noticeable enough to warrant a second opinion. But what about the geo systems that are not quite up to their full potential and no one knows the difference? Don’t take chances. Call the pros.
Precision Comfort Systems is a Water Furnace GeoPro Master dealer and we offer geothermal service on all types and brands of geothermal systems. This includes geothermal loop services. Schedule your geothermal service from the most referred geothermal contractor, today!
Condemned Furnace Replacement
For a recent Indianapolis area family, it started as a simple, low cost advertisement for a furnace clean and check. The offer was not from their normal heating contractor, but who could go wrong with a low price that promised to “renew your furnace to its original condition?” Now, it has turned into a very expensive proposal for a complete furnace replacement. Did the low price checkup really discover a furnace about to go bad?
The truth? Yes, a checkup is exactly what you need to be sure you furnace is working properly before the winter starts. If there are safety problems, a good quality inspection should uncover the problems. But here is a different question… Is every condemned furnace and resulting furnace replacement truthful and necessary? Unfortunately… no.
How do we know?
Precision Comfort Systems offers a free second opinion. We have been called to a few homes recently because of our longstanding reputation for honesty and precise, technical knowledge about all brands and types of heating systems. These homeowners were told to replace the heating system as soon as possible for safety reasons. What we found was a 12 to 15 year old furnace that had a little dirt, a little rust, or a small adjustment needed, and then the furnace was otherwise fine.
What should customers do if they are surprised with a condemned furnace from a cheap tune-up? There is no better way for homeowners in Westfield, Noblesville, Carmel, Zionsville and Fishers to know for sure if the furnace is really unfit or if the unfortunate coupon clipper has been the victim of an overzealous sales routine. This bothers us. We understand how dependent our customers are to know the truth. Precision Comfort Systems is in the business to earn your trust first, sell you a new furnace second.
If your otherwise functional furnace is condemned during a routine checkup, this is a serious diagnosis. It may need attention immediately. But call for a second opinion from a local, trustworthy company who is known for their honesty.
Comfort Insights: new site for home comfort info
Of all the Indianapolis heating and cooling contractors, there is one I would like to tell you about!
Hi, I am Energy Man Dan and I have just opened our new website and the new Comfort Insights blog for Precision Comfort Systems. I hope you will add the Comfort Insights blog to your favorites and come back frequently. This is the place to get the best information about home comfort.
Precision Comfort Systems is known as one of the best Indianapolis and Central Indiana heating contractors. How can you know this is true? First, read our website to see how we are the heating and air conditioning contractor you are looking for. (In the future this will be even more obvious as I add more information about how to keep your home and family comfortable and be energy efficient at the same time.) Then, make the Precision Decision and let us prove to you that we stand behind our claims.
Welcome to the new Comfort Insights blog. I hope you browse our new website for the best energy efficiency information. If you have any contacts, send us a message!
Reduce your high energy bill
How can I reduce my high energy bills? Your home energy costs depend on several factors. In an effort to minimize your energy usage, or at least understand where your energy is going, it is important to know which appliances and family habits contribute to the greatest (and least) energy consumption.
Someday we may use sophisticated meters and be able to see our family’s energy use itemized in a statement, just like our grocery bill. Then, if the bill total seems too high, you can simply scan the list and find the items contributing to the high bill. But we are not quite there yet. Read more
