Last month I had a problem with both my Heat Pumps.
Upstairs the coil didnt get cold enough 80 degrees or so with no discernable cause. There also was a horrible piston type sound during its heating cycle
Downstairs the coil was freezing up, but was taking a long time to do so.
Results:
Upstairs: the tech that came out to replace the outside coil fan had the fan blowing the wrong direction down instead of up and out. Thus the refrigerant was not being cooled sufficiently. Unplugged the fan and replugged correctly and all works fine. Cost for stupid problem $70.00
Downstairs: High pressure shutoff switch had rusted and leaked almost all the refrigerant. tech suggested removal of the switch and installed new filter. Works great. Cost of that one $407.00 for about an hour.
I have decided to become an airconditioner guy, they must make crazy money!
Replies
just remeber, every time you talk to a customer, they are going to ne complaining. "Its not cold enough" "Its too hot" "its cost too much"
How cold do you want it? "To hold meat" It not design for that "I dont care, do it, free"
<<I have decided to become an airconditioner guy, they must make crazy money!>>
And there's a shortage of HVAC techs too. I've been advising people to get into this trade for several years now. In many parts of the country the public school adult education programs offer courses in AC and refrigeration...almost free. One of them has a one year night school course; two nights a week, three hours each night. The course materials cost $100 to start with about $500 in required tools purchased as needed. Registration fees total about $150 for the year. No tuition.
In Los Angeles, where an old friend now runs his father's non-union AC business, they pay service techs $30/hr+benifits to start, right out of the adult ed program. $60K/yr to start after a year of free night school. He also said he's happy to hire anyone who's attending night classes, to work on their installation crews, for $15/hr to start.
Part of the reason for the $$$ is that anyone servicing AC must be licensed to deal with fluorocarbons. That's part of the classroom time.
And there's a shortage of HVAC techs toonot here, we have a community college turning out 300 every 90 days. No jobs, most end up working deleving pizzas.
Would you care to share the name of the college? I'll be happy to pass it along to my friend, the owner of a large HVAC business in LA, who will in turn get in touch with their AC department and start hiring some of their graduates. I know he's not the only one in LA who needs help. Every student who starts the LA Adult Ed AC program has a choice of service tech jobs at graduation, all of which pay $30/hr.
I asked a small independent LA AC tech how much he was making. He said $120K a year working eight-nine months. Of course he was putting in a lot of OT during the hotter months but...
I could also suggest that any graduate get on line and look for work, anywhere they'd care to go. Check the LA yellow pages for AC contractors.
if you got over 20 years exprience here, you might make $18 a hour
So?? Gimme the name of the college and I'll see that their placement program has a few contractors to work with. Their phone will be ringing today!
Gotta assume by LA you mean Los Angeles not Louisiana--- Alabama's gulf coast neighbor.
Large demand for AC techs here also ( actually all trades) but the $$$ are not comparable to your AC tech making $120K. Closer to BB's $20/hr. for a top hand. $8-$12 for a helper. Benefits spotty.
Just found out that the liscence for refrigeration costs $101 for the book, cdrom and test. study till you know it, then send the test off and voila. The apprenticeship program at my community college is 3 years long one night a week to get the competencey cert. It is free however you just have to buy the $80 book.
A quick question, is your unit 3 phase? If not what was the real problem?
al
Turns out that the upstairs unit was cooling at the correct temp, pressures etc however the switch that controls the heating coil had gone bad and the heat coil was running at the same time. this caused the air to cool and then heat back to 80 degrees by the time it came back out the registers. I removed the switch and no problem. I dont have heat now so I will have to replace the switch before december for sure. For now I am enjoying the cool! Sad that it is still snowing in some places and I have to have the AC on! lol